The Grownup

“People are dumb. I'll never get over how dumb people are.” The unnamed main character in Gillian Flynn's short story is exactly the kind of character you would expect from the writer of [b:Gone Girl 19288043 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg 13306276] and [b:Dark Places 5886881 Dark Places Gillian Flynn https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354988288s/5886881.jpg 6873353]. Having been forced to panhandle on the streets as a young child, the protagonist eventually finds herself answering an ad for a “receptionist” that turns out to be a position as a sex worker in a shady spiritualist shop. After an on-the-job injury she is promoted to “aura reader” while continuing to occasionally service some of her regulars. She's like many of Flynn's female protagonists - intelligent, from a less-than-ideal childhood, and in this case a con-artist. Even though there wasn't a lot of room for background given the short story format there was a surprising amount of character development. I wish she could be featured in a longer story...I have the feeling her life would make for a fascinating read. While in her new position, a customer, Susan, offers her an opportunity to make some extra money “cleansing” her home. Our main character jumps at the chance, despite having no experience and not actually being psychic. Slamming doors, blood stains on the wall appearing out of nowhere, and strange smells convince her that perhaps she's in over her head. With an absentee father, the uneasy relationship between Susan and her stepson Miles comes to the forefront, and our protagonist questions how much of Susan's story is true and how much is the result of a stepfamily struggling to adjust to their new circumstances. In the end the story takes a few unexpected twists and turns until finally plopping the reader down in the midst of an unresolved ending, which has gained Flynn criticism from readers looking for a tidy resolution. The ending leaves the reader unsettled, conflicted, and perhaps even a little frustrated. Some called it a cop-out. I call it the perfect kind of ending. Who wants a melodramatic villain unmasking when you can have an ending that leaves you lying awake, wondering...?

This short story made me feel so joyous with all its creepy shit. I fucking loved the way the house is described in the beginning and the feeling the main character gets from it is projected through the pages very well. Although I feel it went through the different narratives very fast when Miles is talking to her those last few lines really make up for it. Excellent ending.

The Grownup is a mystery novelette about a scammer who ends up dealing with a family who might be living in a haunted mansion. It's very short. Why is it so short?

AAAAHHHH I LOVE GILLIAN FLYNN WHY ISN'T THIS A NOVEL?

Flynn's story got me trying and failing to second-guess everything, and it felt great. All of her characters are nasty, and I love them. It's very different from Gone Girl, and yet I can see some similarities. I can't really explain why, but I loved this book very much. I just wish it was longer, really.

Gillian Flynn has yet to let me down.This was a fun, quick read with lots of twists for a 65-page story.The homage mentions of books like [b:The Turn of the Screw 12948 The Turn of the Screw Henry James https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567172392l/12948.SY75.jpg 990886], [b:The Haunting of Hill House 89717 The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327871336l/89717.SY75.jpg 3627], and [b:Rebecca 17899948 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386605169l/17899948.SX50.jpg 46663] put it nicely in the right zone for the spooky October season.

“I'm a self-didact. (Not a dirty word, look it up.) I read constantly. I think. But I lack formal education. So I'm left with the feeling that I'm smarter than everyone around me but that if I ever got around really smart people—people who went to universities and drank wine and spoke Latin—that they'd be bored as hell by me.”

Now this is how you write a short story.

This was definitely a very creepy story, but as with all of Flynn's books it fell short for me. I guess it must be me, not her, since I appear to be in the minority here three books in a row. I listened to the audiobook version, which clocked in at under an hour and a half, and while enjoyable, I did not find the ending as satisfying as some other reviewers.

When I was done with this what went on in my mind was, “WTF did I just read?!?!?!”.All I knew going into this was that this was written by [a:Gillian Flynn 2383 Gillian Flynn https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1232123231p2/2383.jpg] and it is a short story, that's it.I expected it to be dark because after all this is [a:Gillian Flynn 2383 Gillian Flynn https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1232123231p2/2383.jpg] we are talking about, but not at this level. Before starting it I thought 60 pages huh? It will be a breeze. But was it!? Noo the boy Miles was super creepy and I found myself constantly saying WTF?! WTF?! WTF?!!!. And THAT ENDING!!! I was so spooked in the last few chapters(prob coz I read it at around 2.30am lol) And even though I enjoyed the book I was so glad when it ended.I found myself empathizing with Susan coz I feel like most of the stuff she went through I related to it.

For Gillian Flynn fans, I would rate this as a must-read as it has her great writing style and offers a slightly different story to read with the slight horror aspect to the story. This was a good book but it fails on just on point: it's a short story/novella. It's not that they are bad, but there isn't enough time to develop characters properly and the plot progresses too fast without being fleshed out enough to make it really good. This story did have a very good, original plot and it probably would have a 5-star worthy story were it an actual full-length book.

I have not yet read any of Gillian's novels, but I pay attention to book lovers' recommendations. Therefore, I thought that this book would be an excellent introduction to Gillian's writing style. I thoroughly enjoyed it and immediately ordered her novel “Dark Places” as I was left wanting more. Highly recommend it's only 67 pages and gets to the punch quickly.