Reading The Grown Up made me realise that I still hadn’t got around to reading Sharp Objects; so after caving into the “If you liked this…” section on the Kindle, I downloaded it.

This book was Flynn’s debut novel but she was relatively unknown before the Gone Girl saga.  It follows Camille Preaker, a journalist who reluctantly goes back to her hometown to investigate two missing girls.  She has spent years self harming after the death of her sister which is just part of an unhappy childhood.

But back home she must go, if she wants her name to be associated with career changing ‘breaking headline.’ As is now expected from a Gillian Flynn novel, the young journalist begins to unravel a web of murder that is much closer to home than she could wish.

I must come clean and state that what I thought was the twist, wasn’t in fact the twist. I didn’t pick the novel up for a whole day thinking: How obvious was that, I saw it coming a mile off.

The smugness was soon sucked from within, as I realised I was wrong.

I really have to give Flynn credit, as she really catches you with the unexpected. Especially when all of her audience are anticipating a nice twist.

I can’t wait to see how she’ll catch us out post-Gone Girl.

Section that stayed

“I am a cutter, you see. Also a snipper, a slicer, a carver, a jabber. I am a very special case. I have a purpose. My skin, you see, screams. It’s covered with words – cook, cupcake, kitty, curls – as if a knife-wielding first-grader learned to write on my flesh.”

This is the first book I’ve downloaded on my new Kindle – my old one broke about 2 years ago – as I like flitting between print and digital.

It us about 40 pages long, this thriller has a couple of really great twists and kept me hooked throughout. The narrator who is a con artist gets drawn into a twisted revenge plot; but who is telling the truth, well, that’s for the reader to decide.

This got an award for best short story 2015, but I do wonder if it was based on the author’s credentials rather than the story.

I mean everyone is going mad for Gillian Flynn at the moment!

Overall, a really good way to spend an hour-or-so.

This collection of 37 short stories mainly focus on:  Booze. Sex. Horse Racing. And those of you who’ve read Bukowski before won’t be surprised.

Bukowski writes about ‘the low life’ with absolute perfection. The subject matter and simple style may seem easy to replicate, but no one pulls it off quite like ‘The Buk!”

Like any collection of a writer’s work; you’ll love some and loath others. I didn’t loath any in this collection, but some passed through me with a certain ambivalence.

The thing with Bukowski is that he talks honestly about everyday situations. If a story begins with a man walking into a bar; the ending will usually be him exiting the bar.

It’s that simple. The End.  

I imagine that at times the abruptness of the ending may frustrate the reader, but I kinda like it. For example the story, A Favor for Don ends:

“I put the phone back in its cradle and closed my eyes. It was only 10:45 a.m. and I always slept until noon. Life’s as kind as you let it be. (p. 193) 

Likewise, Its a Dirty World finishes with the narrator saying:

“Then they stood and sat and sat and stood waiting for Gloria to get back with the cold beer.” (p. 55)

Simple and ordinary.  The excellent thing about most of the stories is that they are usually no more than 5 pages. The best way to digest them, is by spreading them out, rather than binge reading the collection. Why? Many are based around a simular subject which can get rather tedious – even for a hardcore Bukowski lover.

In opposition to the ordinary endings, there are some captivating openings. In the story, Not Quite Bernadette the narrator opens with:

“I wrapped the towel around my cock and phoned the Doctor’s office” (p.87)

Like the above there are many moments that will  made you  laugh and some that will shock you to your very core.

The protagonist in  The Hangover, awakes to a phone call from his friend about what happened at the previous nights party. He can’t remember what happened at the party and shocked he hangs up the phone and tells his wife:

“Bonnie claims I took JeanJean and Cathy in the closet and took their panties and sniffed their peepees” (P.94)

When you consider that Bonnie is a friend and JeanJean and Cathy are her young daughters, then it’s pretty shocking.  Bonnie decides not to involve the police and it ends with her saying:

“Why do you drink so much?”, The protagonist replies:  “Hell, I don’t know. I guess, mostly, I just get bored.” (p. 97)

The unlikely ending shows the reader that it is just a story, albeit a pretty sick one.

Section that stayed

“Kevin sat down to crap. Crapping seemed so safe, so warm… Kevin finished, wiped, flushed, washed his hands like a civilized man and walked into the kitchen.” (Not Quite Bernadette, p.94)