Review: The Grown Up by Gillian Flynn.. And no, it's not just another Gone Girl
Although I have seen the film of Gone Girl, I came with fresh eyes to Gillian Flynn’s latest work The Grown Up because I have never read any of her books before. I was pleasantly and irrevocably gripped. I’d heard, from others, that Flynn was a one trick pony, falling into the same kind of style and subject matter. But The Grown Up seemed very separate from this.
Following the life of a con spiritual medium with a sarcastic, vulgar sense of humour – I particularly loved the opening line of the first novel which set the tone for the entire thing – The Grown Up is a really interesting read of a woman’s encounter with a woman who believes what she says is true and her creepy stepson who seems to have a hold on her. On first glance the novella seemed to fall into quite a sinister mood, though it still retained the amusing asides from the narrator, but by the end I felt that the novel had taken quite a dramatic turn from what I’d been expecting and not in the same way as gone girl.
Unlike most, I enjoy novellas and fiction that often doesn’t have a point. People argue that a story has to have a plot, and though The Grown Up does, it relies heavily on the narrator talking about her experiences as a hand-job prostitute and a medium, which was the most interesting factor for me. By the end, the book does fall into plotting, but the characters by this point are well established and the main character’s decision doesn’t seem to be down to the need for a plotted ending, but instead what her character, and the realness of her character would do.
I enjoyed The Grown Up despite it’s negative reception and previews. I thought it was a refreshing turn away from the Gone Girl, thriller side that she’d become known for. It’s a very daring thing to publish a novella and such a short one too and I applaud her for that. This book had a really refreshing and gritty female voice and this is something the market and readers want.
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