Good reads

After watching Gone Girl, which I thought was one of the best movies of 2014, I was eager to investigate a bit on the author of the book, Gillian Flynn’s other work. So after being done with Paula Hawkins Girl on the Train, I dove into Sharp Objects and Dark Places.

They are both very well written. Flynn's greatest gift seems to be creating deep and well developed characters. You can almost picture her scribbling on some paper an enormous amount of background story on each character she invents. In Dark Places she carefully takes us through the minds of several members of the Day family, focusing on the current life of disturbed Libby (the youngest daughter of the family who survived the massacre), and happenings on the fatidic day for Patty (the mother and head of the household) and Ben (the oldest brother and presumed killer).  For Patty and Ben the book evolves in a good pace, as in each chapter you find out yet another detail of their lives that helps put together what realy happened on the night of the murders. For Libby thought, the pace of the narrative seems too fast, she deserved a little more self-discovering time. The character goes from traumatized brother hatter to lets save Ben which is a pity since the story had a lot of potential. The ending is not what you would expect but Flynn like original. 

On Sharp Objects the entire book is seen through the point of view of Camille, a disturbed young woman who has developed the obsession of cutting herself. Just out of psychiatric hospital in Chicago, Camille returns to her hometown in Missouri, where she hasn’t been in several years, as a reporter to cover the creepy story of two young girls who were strangely murdered and had their teeth pulled out. Back home she is forced to face old acquaintances from a past she is trying to forget, which include the death of her beloved younger sister, a tense and distant relationship with her mother and the beginning of her depressive self-destructive behavior. As dark and twisted as it could be, the book is less centered on the killings and more on Camille’s bizarre family. A stepfather whose presence is barely noticed, a younger sister Camille barely knows and who seems to be desperate for attention, and a mother you simply cannot figure out. You will spend the entire book trying to understand why Camille and her mother have such a tense relationship and why do they act on such a hurtful way towards one another. Only in the end will the truth be revealed. 

One thing I do admire on Flynn's endings is that she provides closure but doesn't try to make it a fare ending. Do not except her long hurt troubled characters to just be ridding into the sunset to a bright future ahead.