TITLE: The Grownup
AUTHOR: Gillian Flynn
PUBLISHER: Orion Publishing
RELEASE DATE: November 3, 2015
GENRE: Short Fiction, Thriller
PAGE COUNT: 64
This award-winning short story by Gillian Flynn is underwhelming. Fans of her dark novels, Sharp Objects, Gone Girl, and Dark Places, will be divided.
The unnamed narrator is a young woman making ends meet as a soft-core sex worker and phoney psychic. Telling customers what they want to hear normally does the trick… Until she meets Susan Burke. Susan fears that her house is haunted, and the violent behaviour of her 15-year-old stepson adds to her terror. When the young woman visits the house, evidence of past evil challenges her skepticism.
The narrative voice starts out strong. The opening sentences succeeded in gripping my attention and luring me in:
I didn’t stop giving hand jobs because I wasn’t good at it. I stopped giving hand jobs because I was the best at it. For three years, I gave the best hand job in the tristate area. The key is to not overthink it … I quit because when you give 23,546 hand jobs over a three-year period, carpal tunnel syndrome is a very real thing – page 1
In these opening lines, Flynn establishes a distinct voice. She develops this throughout the opening pages by using short statements and repeating phrases such as “the key is”, “that’s my guess” and “which was true”. However, she doesn’t maintain this strong voice throughout the story. The repeated phrases that make the narrator compelling discontinue midway, leaving me disinterested. I found that inconsistent or indistinct voice was an issue in Gone Girl as well.
The pacing is also inconsistent. The first half of the story patiently sets the scene and introduces the characters. However, the second half races to info-dump as many plot devices as possible. This results in a tangle of plot lines, none of which Flynn commits to. I know non-endings have a time and place, but in this case it felt unconvincing.
At only 67 pages long, reading The Grownup is a short time commitment. I’m interested to hear if you liked this short story and why. Fans of non-endings will probably appreciate it more.
I’ve heard quite a bit about this book and have read select passages – someone on my Twitter feed snapped a shot of when the narrator is talking about handjobs – and I’m so curious!
Sorry you didn’t love it, though, and I hope your next read is better. 🙂
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Starting out, I loved the kookiness of the narrator. I was sad it was all downhill after a quirky opening 😦
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Yeah, it’s really too bad! Have you read Flynn’s other books?
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Yes, I read Gone Girl earlier this year with a lot of the same criticisms. I actually liked the movie more! It didn’t struggle with voice inconsistencies the way the book did. Although, Flynn did help develop the screenplay, so maybe she just got a chance to tweak everything 😉 Do you like her writing?
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I own this and have yet to finish it. I agree. The beginning sucks you in but it doesn’t hold your attention. Considering it’s so short, I should probably finish reading it.
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It’s such a shame it doesn’t live up to the high standard it sets with that riveting opening. I’d love to know your opinion on the story as a whole if you get around to finishing it! I think the ending will be controversial.
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Yeah, that’s a shame. It’s so short. I think I’ll read it later. I’ve been going through my Kindle lately and reading all the half finished books. I’ll make it a point to add this one. 🙂
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Sounds productive 😀 What are you reading at the moment?
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This week I finished It Ends With Us, Far From You, and I’m currently finishing up The Darkest Part of the Forest. I started The Summer That Melted Everything and Throne of Glass, and I’m partially finished an NA romance. I have a habit of reading a lot of books at a time this way I don’t get bored. 🙂 What’s next on your list?
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Sounds exciting 🙂 I’m about to start reading Me Before You, which has been hyped up a lot for me. Hopefully I still enjoy it.
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