So, the first episode of new HBO miniseries – Sharp Objects, starring Amy Adams just dropped!

Let’s talk…

Hey, I know you!
 

Art
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

I am loving the series more than the book already ^_-
 
 
 
Amma ‘Evaluating’ Camille
 
 

 
 

“Evaluation” continues
 
 
I guess she passes!
  
Did I say I love the series more than the book already!?!

 
 
 

Damn, shouldn’t have watched that teaser. Gonna be torture waiting!

Ah where to start? Well, when I first learned of this series, which was around the time that the first trailer hit, I was intrigued enough that I went out to buy the book in preparation for it! This is what I had to say about the book…

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Basically, I really did not like that ending in the book!

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Nay, the book had all kinds of problems which I guess is okay seeing as this was the ‘debut’ novel from the writer Gillian Flynn. And I guess that the critics took that in account because I don’t get the wonderous praise it has! Sure it had twists and I am sure that is the main praise for it, those twists that no one saw coming!

But unlike in other stories where clues are there for the twists and where that twist makes sense once it happens when you go back to gather the evidence, the main twist in Sharp Objects was just twist! There was no ‘Oh Shit’ moment! I did not even feel the need to go back and look for clues because it was that unwarranted!

Here is the thing, in the original story (Still hoping for the adapter for HBO to change things, which looks promising so far) Camille and Amma are ‘supposed’ to be the leads in the story! Camille the protagonist and Amma the Antagonist! Or Camille the heroine and Amma the villainess! Amma was the villain of the story! She was the killer that Camille and everyone were looking for!

First problem is Amma’s story time! In the runtime of 100%, Amma appeared in like 18% of it. There was less than 5% of build up to her being the killer! In fact, I am almost completely sure that the story and twist would have made perfect sense had it been Adora (their mother) as the killer instead of Amma! Seriously, that twist got me so out of the story I nearly sent the book back to sell at the second hand shop!

I hate that ending!

And the way everything ended, just so abruptly! That was the second problem with the twist! it just…happened! it wasn’t like Camille was collecting clues and they were building up to her realisation! No, it happened because Amma got sloppy! And speaking of which, we never really learn a good reason for Amma’s mentality! And if it was what I thought it was, then there was no reason for her to continue killing after they moved out! and oh, did I mention that Amma in the book is only like, 13!!! She’s 13 years old but guess what they did to her, they just threw her in prison! That was it! Just locked her away! Even worse we learn that Camille never even visited her! Like she hadn’t been close to Amma in the time she got to know her better than she was with anyone, not even their own mother! or the fact that Amma was more humane towards her than she was with anyone else!

And don’t get me started on the pointless character of Camille and her ‘demons’ and need to cut all over her body, basically Camille and her insanity! Like, this is a thriller! You go out of your way to show how messed up Camille is, you don’t waste a chapter without bringing it up! And yet what does that characteristic of hers does for the story?

Absolutely nothing!

It was just there! It did nothing at all to the progression of the story or conclusion of it! That character of hers did not affect any other character at all! Adora knew about the problem but that was it, she knew. End of story! Amma showed interest in this side of Camille but even she was not affected by this Camille!

What was the fuckin point?! I mean yeah, it doesn’t have to be that important but if you are going to mention it every other chapter I am inclined to think that it would play a major role in the story and its conclusion later on seeing as what genre the story is!

Anyway, enough salting!

Why am I writing about this here, on this blog? Why do I still have the book? Is this relevant? That is the question!

Well, first of all I would like to remind you all of the name of my blog – Yuri GOGGLES! We do remember what those are, right? Good! Well dear Readers, let’s just say that there is something about Camille and Amma! Yes, I said they are sisters! Half-sisters sure but they have the same mother so they are blood-related! Second, it hasn’t been mentioned in the series yet but from the book Amma is 13 years old (but with a killer bod) while Camille is like in her mid 30s. Yeah, there is a lot of red stop signs here but don’t forget who the author is – Gillian Flynn, the mystery writer that brought you Gone Girl!

Basically, just leave your conceptions at the door and to those who have already seen it, you know what I am talking about! Speaking of, I am going to approach this from a comparison stand point from the book and the series.

The series is already so different from the book but if we say that episode 1 ended at Camille ‘finally’ meeting Amma, that would be at page 55, which is about 17% of the whole book, which means that at this pace, in 8 episodes we will be about 40% over the book, meaning that we are very much likely going to get a revised story, which has already happened in the first episode, which makes a revised ending very likely too, which is like music to my ears!

Almost everything has been modified from the book! The way Camille meets the characters she does is different (Richard, the Chief, etc) and the way that Natalie’s body is discovered is also different, wit different witnesses. The biggest difference though is Amma and Camille’s ‘meeting’. The events also happened in a very different order, some were even discarded or maybe they were shifted to later moments in time, who knows.

In the book Camille actually meets Amma a few times before she knows who Amma really is! She had never met her and the pictures her mother used to send her were of a very young Amma, pictures that stopped coming! So Camille did not know how Amma looked currently!

She only knew who Amma was when she finally saw her at her mother’s house! In the book Camille slept in that house for two nights before she got to meet Amma but in the series, she met her after only one night, a night by the way that she did not spend in the house! She went out drinking and was to smashed to drive home so she crashed in her car. In the book that bar scene happens later on and Camille spends the first two nights in her mother’s home.

In the book it wasn’t until in the latter half of it that Camille and Amma started to get along! There was so much animosity between the two in the first half but here in the series, they have had zero clashes and have been physical almost twice the times more than they were in the whole book! They have started off on a positive note that is so far a cry from the book. What has stayed intact is Camille and Adora’s relationship. Which is really going to made me even more mad if they still go with the book ending because I still believe that had it been the mother, that story would have been perfect! Hopefully Ms Noxon gets it and does the Lord’s work!

And so here we are! I kept the book because it had some awesome moments in it between Camille and Amma (keywords – “Rolling Roulette”) and that was all the way in the middle of the third quarter! If we are getting this much affection between Amma and Camille this early on, something that wasn’t in the book remember, I just can’t wait for the rest of the episodes!

Like, that teaser for the coming episodes (hopefully just for the next episode) totally killed me! That first scene alone wasn’t in the book, I can tell you that right now! And from what I have seen in the first episode so far, where some confusing decisions were made about content, I have a feeling I am in for a ride of my life! By decisions I mean that they chose to up the sexual ratings but lower the horror ratings which means that the intimate scenes that were in the book are going to be…and when I remember that this is HBO we are talking about here…

Oh God!

Any way in conclusion – I ship Amma and Camille! What I should I call them I wonder! How about Camma Or Ammille? I will go with Ammille since Camma sounds so much like that bait couple Karma so…