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Emily May's Reviews > The Grownup
The Grownup
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The first part of this short story is... expected. It is exactly what I would expect from Gillian Flynn. An unnamed female narrator manipulates people every day in her job - from giving hand jobs to wealthy men to reading people's "auras".
She's smart, ambitious and perceptive. She has a laid back attitude towards sex, even as a form of manipulation. And she isn't afraid to screw people over to better herself. This is a character we would expect from Flynn.
However, the middle part of the story was, for me, the strongest. It is definitely very creepy and leaves you wondering whether this is a thriller or whether something supernatural is happening. Very psychological, very scary, and with twists and turns I didn't see coming.
The final third of the book, though, was where things got a little nuts. "Reveals" and "twists" went back on themselves (or did they?) and the ending gives us nothing. Ambiguous endings work sometimes, but this was a little too much of a non-ending for me.
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.
She's smart, ambitious and perceptive. She has a laid back attitude towards sex, even as a form of manipulation. And she isn't afraid to screw people over to better herself. This is a character we would expect from Flynn.
However, the middle part of the story was, for me, the strongest. It is definitely very creepy and leaves you wondering whether this is a thriller or whether something supernatural is happening. Very psychological, very scary, and with twists and turns I didn't see coming.
The final third of the book, though, was where things got a little nuts. "Reveals" and "twists" went back on themselves (or did they?) and the ending gives us nothing. Ambiguous endings work sometimes, but this was a little too much of a non-ending for me.
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Reading Progress
August 12, 2015
– Shelved
September 24, 2015
–
Started Reading
September 26, 2015
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 52 (52 new)
message 1:
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Luke
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Sep 24, 2015 04:08PM
Emily, please don't read this next to any sharp objects, as it might take you to some dark places.
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And then you might be gone, girl!
I read Gone Girl and didn't like it. it dragged for me. I was interested in this one but seems all her books / Blurbs sound the same
Did you ever read the Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber? It has modern humor in older times about prostitutes.
So this sounds as though you would have given two stars but it had a shred of something redeeming?
Diana-christie wrote: "Did you ever read the Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber? It has modern humor in older times about prostitutes."Nope. Is that a short story too?
Laura wrote: "So this sounds as though you would have given two stars but it had a shred of something redeeming?"Actually, I was leaning towards 3.5/4 in the middle, despite the mediocre start, because I loved what Flynn did with it. It was the weird last part that knocked the rating down for me.
How do you get a copy of this?
Christy wrote: "How do you get a copy of this?"It's available for request on netgalley: https://s2.netgalley.com/catalog/book...
But it is also the same story featured in the anthology Rogues.
Your review is exactly how I felt while reading this short story! =)
I read this in Rogues, I thought it was terrific. But, it definitely could have been more satisfying. Still, this was one of the better short stories I read in that collection. That may say more about the form than anything else.
Thanks for reading and writing this Emily. The fact you didn't see a number of twists and turns coming may be reason enough to get the Kindle version for $2.99
Rogues is cheaper on Amazon than The Grownup - no brainer.
Wow, Emily - I could not agree with you more! I myself just was thinking how the first 3/4 of this book was soooo enticing and rich, then it just sweeps completely another direction (and one I wasn't super pleased with). Kinda wish she had continued in the first direction and just really went with it!
I couldn't agree more about the non ending. I was left a little disappointed. Your reviews are the absolute best btw. Everything you've reviewed that I've read is so spot on with what I thought about the book . Get out of my brain! :)
I agree. 100% with the 3 stages. The middle one is the best, when you don't know what is going on.
Non-ending was just annoying!
You guys are thinking rtoo American. I read mostly foreign fiction and a non-ending is much more common. I loved it, gives you something to think about.
Barbara wrote: "You guys are thinking rtoo American. I read mostly foreign fiction and a non-ending is much more common. I loved it, gives you something to think about."I'm not American!
Sometimes I agree that non-endings can be very effective, but here it was just messy. It wasn't cleverly ambiguous, but instead felt unfinished (in my opinion).
I agree with this review, it was such a non-ending I thought my Kindle had screwed up & only given my half the story. Very frustrating, for me it stopped short just when things had gotten interesting. But I hear she just sold the movie rights for 6 figures. Maybe they'll add an ending?
I agree with the non-ending, Flynn left the ending waaaaayy open , so open that you didn't really know how to grasp it :/
I felt the same about the ending. It fizzled out for me.
Agree with the non ending, too many loose ends not tied up for it to be an effective thought-evoked
I couldn't have reviewed it better myself. I've read all of her books but this short story didn't fill the "no new Flynn books" void.
The ending is driving me mad!
Completely agree. It was like she gave up!
Yes! Too much of a non-ending.
Exactly. the first part was expected, but the middle one was...unexpectedly creepy. It scared me, and trust me, "scare" is a mild word I am using here, gave me stephen king kind of vibe. She definitely should write in the horror genre, will scare the shit out of everyone
Agree with all. It seemed like there would be an afterword alerting readers to look for the sequel.
Thank you, thank you thank you for revealing that the ending was actually a "non-ending." My pet peeve. I was thinking about reading it but you have saved me aggravation. Thanks again!
I actually thought the ending was perfect. This character is manipulative. She meets another manipulative character that is manipulating her. She's looking for a way to manipulate further, coming full circle to using her mother's own tactics from her back story in theory. But she also is keenly aware that the boy could be dangerous. The open-endedness of the ending is necessary. A resolution wouldn't possess the psychological questioning as you'd expect with a Flynn story otherwise.
I so agree. I loved the beginning and the middle but the end kind of fell flat.
I am with Amanda- well said,on point.
Exactly this. I completely agree!
The ending was horrible.
I generally hate open endings but I like this one since she actually showed how it would work each way.
I don’t have a problem with open endings — anyone seen Inception? — but the creepy setup in act two was too good to just abandon like this. Ms Flynn, I challenge you, not to give me a happy ending, but at least a scary one.
This is such a great review and I agree 100% with it. It was so anticlimactic and I was so disappointed. I couldn’t put it down because I was so excited to see what happened and that I nearly threw the book when I was done. It took me a week to process if I even liked it.
Amanda, I agree.. the ending was brilliant! Yes, it could have gone on even longer..but that’s just ‘cause I was enjoying reading it.
I liked the story very much,was quite scared at a couple of points, amused and laughing in others and transfixed for mostly the whole time. You obviously appreciate the finer points of things..
Thank you Amanda.
Zether.. good point! :-)
Totally agree !! It was left hanging
I personally liked the ending. She's trying to convince herself she has nothing to worry about. Her entire life was about manipulation and now she's trying to manipulate herself. I found it brilliant.
Is Flynn just done writting then? No more books? She got the big hit with gone girl and took the money and ran I guess lol
Jake wrote: "Is Flynn just done writting then? No more books? She got the big hit with gone girl and took the money and ran I guess lol"I don't know about right now, but I know last year she was working on the Sharp Objects miniseries as a producer.
Oh, I just checked the wikipedia page and I guess she is working on a new TV series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian...
I enjoyed the story line, but for me the ending was a disappointment. It almost felt like she didn’t know where to go with it so just quit.
I agree Emily May, a non-ending, as you aptly put. 🙂
I loved the “non ending”! Only thing Flynn could’ve done as there had been so many twists and turning things inside themselves, I felt I’d followed them all into the labyrinth and was dizzy with the single sitting read. Yes it tailed off like a loose thread left hanging or joining that part of one’s mind to the psychic ether where unrest and uncertainty loom large… I was left feeling as wired as the protagonist!
Would read the sequel !
The non-ending was not why I took issue with the story. It’s when the twists and reveals get retwisted and the whole phone call in the rain - it felt a bit like “oh I need to increase the word count to justify publishing this as a standalone story”
