Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Having read Gone Girl by Flynn, one should expect more than the run of the mill murder mystery. Sharp Objects is a triple murder mystery that is also a psychological thriller with so many other themes thrown in. It is disturbing, exciting, thought provoking, and a page-turner.

Camille Preaker is a journalist for a small Chicago newspaper who is assigned to report on a double murder in her hometown of Wind Gap. Her editor, Frank Curry, thought she would have some insight into what was happening in that village and would give her an opportunity to go back home for a bit. Two young girls were brutally murdered within a couple of weeks of each other and there were only a few leads as to who the perpetrator was. Curry was unaware of the cold relationship Camille had with her mother and her step-father, Alan. Her family life was dysfunctional to say the least. She had been born to her young mother, Adora, and never knew her father. Her sister Marian had died at a young age and then another sister, Amma, born when she was a teenager and 13 when the story commences. 

Adora inherited her family's hog farm and was independently wealthy. She suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy for the way she needed to be in control and garner attention from the townspeople. Her sheer indifference to Camille made it difficult for her to return home. Likewise, how so many people and the town itself hadn't changed hearkened a time from which Camille had escaped. She meets Richard Willis who is in town to help with the murder investigation and the tow become close as they work to solve the murders. Upon discovering that Camille was a cutter and had scars over her body, he removed himself from her company, but not after helping to solve the mystery. 

Amma is a central character to the case and transforms from the perfect daughter playing with her dollhouse and dolls, when Adora is around, to a vile drug-dealing, and promiscuous teenager when away from home. Camille tries to reconcile their relationship, but it is difficult. 

As the facts about the murders become clearer, so does Camille's internal struggles and the horrible truth that emerges. The character development is one of Flynn's hallmark written qualities. From beginning to end the novel will keep you on the edge of your seat as you deal with the psychological struggles, the reactions and personalities of the townspeople, and the familial relationships. 
 

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

Admittedly, I am a fan of mysteries and "who dunnits." I Have Some Questions For You is an unconventional murder mystery with twists and turns that also deals with the social climate of our country in a very pointed way. Bodie Kane is the narrator of the novel, written in the most part as a letter to a high school music teacher, Mr. Bloch at the Granby School in New Hampshire. 

Just months before graduation in 1995, Thalia Keith is murdered after the performance of Camelot given at the school. The murder is investigated and a black man, Omar Evans, is arrested, convicted, and jailed for the crime. Evans had the opportunity and motive, so the police thought for committing the crime. Students were interviewed and the crime scene examined in a very perfunctory manner. 

After 20 years in 2018, Bodie is invited back to the school to teach a short class on film and another on podcasting, both of for which she has been acclaimed. Her students in the podcasting class are to come up with a topic of their own for the class. One young woman chooses the murder of Thalia and as Bodie helps her, she becomes obsessed with the crime and eventually thinks that Evans was not the murderer. In chapters that follow Makkai creates a scenario for anyone who had been with Thalia the night of her death as to possible motives and opportunity for each to kill her. It was a fascinating way to explain the way that Evans could not have been the perpetrator of the crime. The reader becomes convinced that each of the many characters could have been the murderer. The conclusion is a bit of surprise in some ways, but the manner in which it is proven is ingenious!

The men in the novel are, for the most part, all seemed to have demanded Thalia acquiesce to their demands. Writing at the beginning of the Me Too movement, Makkai has made a strong statement as to what situations such predators demand of women, while at the same time acknowledging the facts that in 1995, women were ill-equipped to handle such advances, let alone bring charges up on those men.  Concurrent to her time back at Granby, Bodie is going through her own marital struggles and at times the reader feels she should just cut that cord!

 

I Have Some Questions for You is a brilliant book and a page turner. It has appeared on almowt all the Best Books Lists for 2023 and understandably so. Hearing Rebecca Makkai speak on the book for Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures added another layer to the understanding of some of the characters and the process by which she wrote the book. 

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Both Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures and the Gables Book Club are reading The Candy House so in the interest of continuity I picked up the earlier book that featured the same characters. Visit was probably the quirkiest book I have ever encountered. It won the Pulitzer Prize min 2010 and has received exclamations as the perfect book.  Many critics have written how it haunts them as they revisit the myriad of characters introduced in the novel. Actually, it reads more like a collection of interlinked short stories. It is hard to describe as the stories move back and forth in time (1970s to 2020), place (New York to California to Africa), and connection with each other. 

The reader is introduced to Bennie Salazar and Sasha in the first chapter and they weave their way in to succeeding chapters of the novel. Bennie is a member of a Punk band that gets a break from Lou, who is a record producer and eventually a tragic figure. Sasha is introduced as a kleptomaniac, stealing a wallet in a woman's restroom before she meets with her therapist. Both incidents give insight as to how their lives will change through the decades.

Throughout the novel various scenes give hints to tell the story of the lives of the characters. Bennie moves up through the recording scene and eventually has his own record label. He marries twice, obsessed over his impotency to the degree that he ingests gold flakes to help improve it. Sasha had a sad life that finds her running away with a rock star and traveling all over the world. One of the most stereotypical characters is LaDoll, a slutty publicist in New York City, who is also mother to Lulu. The novel, in chapter 12, projects into the future as it is a series of PowerPoint slides called "pointers" and is written by Sasha's daughter, Alison. 

At times this was a very frustrating read because of how the novel shifted time, place, and characters. It perhaps is worth a second read, but I am not sure I could do that. I found it hard to connect with many of the characters and was even repulsed by a few. I sure hope that The Candy House is a more satisfying read.

 

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

This novel was chosen for our August book club meeting. There are a number of threads

that come together in this novel. There is mystery, murder, a romantic involvement, empathy for an autistic person, and righting a wrong. 
Joe Talbert is a struggling college student who must right a biography of a hero for a class. He travels to Hillview Nursing Home to pick his subject. Suggested by the receptionist and director of the nursing home, he meets with Carl Iverson. Carl has recently been moved from prison to the nursing home because he is suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer. As they were becoming acquainted, Joe receives a phone call from his mother, who has an alcohol problem. She is in the process of being arrested and needs Joe to drive the 2 hours to come get his brother, Jeremy, who is autistic and needs to be in someone's care. This sets up the struggle that tears at Joe - his college career and his devotion to his brother. When he brings Jeremy to his house, he meets Lila, who seems to understand the needs of and his able to communicate with Jeremy.

Iverson had been in prison for 30 years, convicted of the rape and murder of Crystal Hagen, his next door neighbor. As Joe begins to interview him and hear his denial of guilt, Joe becomes convinced that he may actually be innocent of the crime. Enlisting the aid of Lila, the two set out on a course to delve deeper into the facts surround the crime. They manage, with the help of a professor, to obtain copies of the trial transcripts and evidence. In the evidence they find Crystal's diary, part of which was written in code. They deduce that the code is the key to the murder and set about to decode it, something that was never done during the trial. 

Throughout the novel much is revealed about the secrets and guilt that each of the characters carries with them. Iverson reveals what happened in Viet Nam, Lila discloses parts of her lurid past, and Joe, recounts the details of his grandfather's death. Each one of these revelations has been buried in their past, giving meaning on a philosophical level to the title of the book and substantiating the theme of guilt and second chances . 

To be able to prove Carl's innocence before he dies, Lila and Joe embark on a dangerous and risky journey that puts their lives in peril. This hazardous course proves to be the crux and climax of the novel. They enlist the aid of police detective Max Rupert, the central figure in a number of Eskens books.

The Life We Bury a fast-paced and satisfying read and with its premise of rape and murder, was also a disturbing one. The reader is drawn in quickly and follows the characters to the resolution of the mystery.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The theme of unreliable narrators in popular fiction continues in The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. The novel has held the top spot on the New York Times list for 12 weeks and rightly so. It was a page-turner, psychological thriller, and mystery rolled into one. 

The novel is narrated by three women - Rachel Watson, an alcoholic who travels daily on the train from Ashbury to London every day, divorced from Tom Watson; Anna Watson, Tom's new wife and mother to his child, Evie; and Megan Hipwell, a former art gallery owner and nanny to Evie. As Rachel rides the train everyday she becomes immersed in a fantasy world as she passes the same houses and people on her commute, including the home of Megan and her husband Scott whom she names Jess and Jason. But then Megan disappears and all the characters are entwined in an eddy of conflicting facts and circumstances.

The narration shifts back and forth among the women and perplexes the reader as to what is real, what is imagined, and what is less than accurate. It reveals deceptions and interrelationships that are frightening and abusive. Back stories are brought to light and illuminate some of the motivation for actions of the players. In our book club discussion, one member likened the novel to a Hitchcock move, especially Rear Window. Hawkins also creates a bit of confusion with the timing of each woman's narration. In one chapter Megan is present and narrating only to be followed a few chapters later as a missing person. It is a technique that can be a bit perplexing, but effective in the way that it intensifies the narrative. In the end, all the characters are suspect and the reveal and resolution are startling and unpredictable.

The Girl on the Train has been compared to Gone Girl for the psychological manipulation of the reader. Like Gone Girl  it will be a successful move. But read the book first. It is not to disappoint.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

One of the most rewarding outcomes of belonging to a book group is the impetus to read outside your comfort zone. One of the members of the Gables Book Club is a hospice nurse and so suggested and led the discussion of Me Before You.  It is probably not a book I would have read without this stimulus.

The book has but a few characters, but their voices are strong and developed. Louisa Clark has been working at a café in the shadow of a castle in a tourist village in England. As a primary breadwinner for her familial unit, the puts an undue amount of pressure on her to find another position quickly. Louisa lives with her parents, her grandfather, and her sister who is a single mother.

Will Traynor has it all - a wonderful job, a gorgeous girlfriend, and penchant for adventure travel. He has climbed Mt. Kilamanjaro, hiked Yosemite, and explored exotic locations like China and Kenya. Then his world changes one morning when he is struck by a motorcycle on his way to work. He is a quadriplegic who has endured mental depression, physical therapy, and a life confined to a wheelchair watching movies. His mother, Camille, looks to hire a companion for him to help ease the depression and perhaps convince him that self-determined death is not the answer. Will's father has basically given up and retreats to a mistress. Nathan is the medical aide, who helps with the daily routine and manages his medicinal life. 

Lou(isa) is hired to become that companion for a six month tour of duty. Will maintains a tough exterior, but soon succumbs to the wit, humor, and care of Lou. She plans excursions and even a major travel adventure for him. Unfortunately, he gets ill and cannot go, but that won't stop her planning. As she pours so much energy into cultivating a good life for Will, Lou begins to distance herself from her inattentive boyfriend. Her life really is a series of unfortunate consequences. And then she overhears a conversation that Will is determined to go to Dignitas to end his life. As she attempts to deal with this, the reader shares in her struggles and ponders the dilemmas that she feels.

The theme of this book that touches so many lives. Is it right to end a life that will never be fulfilling to the person living it? It was well written and thought provoking and as would be expected, fueled a lively discussion. Moyes writes with a pen skilled in the journalistic way. She presents facts, but gives them a face and voice. It was a very good read and one that will come back with resonance as the reader revisits the problems exposed in this novel. 

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian

Alternating between 1943 and 1955, Bohjalian crafts a mystery, historical fiction and psychological thriller in his book, The Light in the Ruins. Interspersed with those chapters is a narrator's viewpoint on the murders he has committed and is about to commit. 

Outside of Florence, there is, what once was a bucolic Tuscan villa - Villa Chimera. Owned by the Marchese and Marchesa Rosati, it is a sanctuary for their family from the horrific brutality of the war. Living with Antonio and Beatrice is their daughter, Christina, and daughter-in-law Francesca and her two children Their son, Vittore works in Florence at the Uffizi and their other son, Marco, Francesca's husband is serving in the Italian army. Life in the villa changes drastically one day when Nazi soldiers arrive wanting to see the caves of earlier Etruscan burial grounds. The soldiers subsequently occupy the villa for an outpost and Christina becomes romantically involved with one

In 1955 Serafina Bettini is working as a homicide detective in Florence when she is called to investigate the chilling murder of Francesca Rosati. The body is discovered in her apartment with her heart cut out. As the investigation continues, the reader begins to learn more about Serafina and her involvement in the war. She has suffered brutal wounds that have left her scarred and without a portion of her ear. 

As the narrative moves back and forth between the time periods and through flashbacks in the minds of the main characters, the connections between the characters begin to be elucidated. The serial killer's narration reveals that his/her revenge will be taken on the Rosatis, one by one.

The Light in the Ruins is another example of the masterful and powerful storytelling of Chris Bohjalian. It is gruesome, to be sure, but is also a gripping chronicle of the war in Italy. The struggle between citizens, the Partisans, and the Nazis shows the multi-faceted effects of a conflict. How does one balance doing what is right when it comes to saving one's family? Its strength lies in historical and political analysis. The revelation of the serial killer is a bit of a shock with so many possibilities - a man, woman, Italian, Nazi, an acquaintance or one who needs to exact revenge on the rich landholders?  The meaning behind the title of the book is illuminated at the end, much as the dock light in Gatsby does for that novel.  Bohjalian needs to be on the list of "must read" authors.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Really not sure where to start with this one. Jeffrey Eugenides will be speaking at the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures Monday night series in October 2012. It is with that in mind that I picked up The Marriage Plot. On the surface and from reading the book jacket blurb, the reader would get the idea that this is a novel about a love triangle with very literary undertones.

"It’s the early 1980s. In American colleges, the wised-up kids are inhaling Derrida and listening to Talking Heads. But Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English major, is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels. As Madeleine studies the age-old motivations of the human heart, real life, in the form of two very different guys, intervenes. Leonard Bankhead – charismatic loner and college Darwinist – suddenly turns up in a seminar, and soon Madeleine finds herself in a highly charged relationship with him. At the same time, her old friend Mitchell Grammaticus – who’s been reading Christian mysticism and generally acting strange – resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is destined to be his wife. Over the next year, as the members of the triangle graduate from college and enter the real world, they will be forced to re-evaluate everything."

The novel begins on graduation day at Brown University with Madeleine's parents showing up to take her to breakfast. She has spent the previous night carousing with friends and is no way going to allow her parents in her apartment. What seems like a very straightforward narrative soon eclipses into a very erudite literary treatise about French theorists and theory. I must admit, not being an English major,  I was and am still very confused by the terminology and the entire concept of semiotics. As the reader follows Madeleine, Leonard, and Mitchell through their year after graduation there are some very interesting and engaging chapters and also some very unmemorable ones that I just wanted to be over.

Madeleine is a very spoiled, rich young woman who really doesn't know what she wants out of life. She is predictably struggling with how to survive after college in an economically challenged environment. She falls back to what was at one time a relationship with a real person and not one from one of her Victorian novels. Unfortunately, she keeps returning to that relationship and is nothing more than a doormat.  Leonard knows what he wants from life, but just can't seem to get there as his manic depressive state gets in the way. Mitchell, for me, was the most likable of the three. Yes, he was reflective to the point of obsession with religion, but he seemed to have a plan and goal and was working through the obstacles to get to it, both in career and romance.

It seems to me that this novel is overwritten. Not having read anything else by Eugenides, I am not sure whether it is typical of his style or if it is unique to this novel. We read the same story in different sections of the novel, not only when being narrated by a different character. Madeleine was whiny and flat. The protracted descriptions of a mentally ill person give insight into the disease state, but at the same time places the reader in an uncomfortable position of being a secret observer to the demons. Throughout the novel it almost seemed that Mitchell was an afterthought - included to complete the triangle of the marriage plot. There is a level beyond the narrative where the author brings the themes of love vs. infatuation, reality vs. illusion, and the physical and secular vs. spiritualism to light. It's unfortunate that the reader must toil get there.

And so I am left ambivalent. At times I was engrossed, but then, at times I struggled and plodded and wanted to be done with it. I will be anxious to hear Jeffrey Eugenides speak about his book. Perhaps I should also read The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex to get a more balanced perspective on this Pulitzer Prize winning author.

 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The buzz about Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl started in the spring with advanced reviews.  It was on nearly every book and entertainment publication as THE must read of the summer. I was so glad that The Gables Book group decided to read this for our September book. A word of caution. Do not start the book unless you can devote all waking hours to reading it. It is, in the true sense of the words, a page turner. Flynn hooks you from the very beginning and then keeps you on the edge of your chair as she weaves one of the most unpredictable psychological thrillers that I have read. 

The reader meets Nick Dunne the morning of his fifth anniversary. He describes his recent move from New York City to North Carthage, MO - how he and his wife Amy had both lost their job, how his mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, how he and his sister Margo (Go) opened THE BAR, and how unhappy his wife was. Immediately we get the hint that this marriage is not on solid ground. And then the scene is set - Amy has disappeared from their house and everything implicates Nick. Using alternating chapters by Nick as he goes through each day's happenings from the time of her disappearance and Amy's diary from the time she met Nick at a NYC party, Flynn's gripping description of two people trapped in a marriage built on lies and deceptions results in the reader not knowing whom or what to believe. He follows his traditional anniversary Treasure Hunt that is not what it seems to be. All the clues are there, but their real meaning is shrouded by diversionary tactics.

Amy is a single child of two famous children's book authors. She has had a privileged life, but has also been on "display" since she is the subject of those books -Amazing Amy..... This, however, does not contribute to the happy life. She is resentful and feels like a pawn in their cause. Her diary is commentary on her life, her marriage, and her happiness or lack thereof and portend the future.

“The question I've asked more often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I supposed these questions storm cloud over every marriage: What are you thinking how are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?”

Flynn's writing is infused with truth and humor that often slaps the reader in the face. One of the most compelling passages is Amy reflecting on Cool Amy or Amazing Amy.

Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, ..., and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.

Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, coworkers, strangers – giddy over these awful pretender women, and I’d want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who’d like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them. I’d want to grab the poor guy by his lapels or messenger bag and say: The bit..h doesn’t really love chili dogs that much – no one loves chili dogs that much! And the Cool Girls are even more pathetic: They’re not even pretending to be the woman they want to be, they’re pretending to be the woman a man wants them to be. Oh, and if you’re not a Cool Girl, I beg you not to believe that your man doesn’t want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version – maybe he’s a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe he’s a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every f...ing thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain. (How do you know you’re not Cool Girl? Because he says things like: “I like strong women.” If he says that to you, he will at some point f... someone else. Because “I like strong women” is code for “I hate strong women.”)” 

The secondary characters, Amy's parents Rand and Marybeth Elliott , Nick's sister Margo, Amy's implicating best friend Noelle, stalker Desi, college friend  Hillary Handy, detectives Boney and Gilpin, and Andie Hardy all add to the twists and turns that the book takes. What actually happened to Amy? How did Nick contribute to her disappearance? Did the police overlook the obvious? Could Amy possibly survive? There is no way to reveal any more about the plot without contributing major spoilers.

In addition to being the summer's greatest thriller, the book transcends that description by serving as a wake-up call as to who we actually are and who is that other person in a relationship. As Nick ponders:  

"What are you thinking how are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?”

The one negative about the book and the reason for some lukewarm or panning reviews is that the ending seems a bit forced, but given the psychological tricks Flynn has pulled, it could be considered the only solution plausible. That's up for the the reader to decide. The only action that is not up for debate is to read this.