Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I mean, really. SHARP OBJECTS has gotten tons of media coverage and nary a negative review in sight. I usually read hundreds of novels a year, and I really don't get the big deal about this novel at all. This book contains some sharply written prose, but the mystery plotline is quite weak. SHARP OBJECTS is essentially a literary novel that the publisher has labeled a "mystery" to push more copies on unsuspecting consumers. This slow-paced novel is not much of a whodunit and contains almost no suspense. This novel does have a big plot twist near the end, but I found it to be implausable and pointless, tacked on for shock value and nothing more. My major problem with this novel is the characters. All of the major players in SHARP OBJECTS are cartoonishly nasty and dysfunctional. Most of the characters are the residents of a small town in Missouri, and Gillian Flynn seems to have nothing but contempt for most of them. The heroine of this book is an introspective bore, and possesses little personality beyond her self-destructive behavior. I didn't like or identify with anyone in SHARP OBJECTS, which for me is a fatal problem with any novel. I found this book tough to finish. As Stephen King notes in his blurb, this is a nasty little novel. The main question is whether you want to waste your time and money on something like this. In the end, I regretted doing so.