The Grownup
by Gillian Flynn
Genre: Short Stories, Horror
Length: 64 Pages
Release date: November 3, 2015
Blurb via GoodReads:
A canny young woman is struggling to survive by perpetrating various levels of mostly harmless fraud. On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the “psychic” visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan’s terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan’s teenage stepson, doesn’t help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.
The Grownup is a short story which features what seems to be the archetypal Gillian Flynn protagonist: a dark, gritty woman with somewhat of a chip on her shoulder and an unapologetic attitude. She is pragmatic and has grown up doing whatever needed to be done for survival; as a child, that meant begging for money with her mother, and now it means giving handjobs to lonely businessmen or telling fortunes to gullible customers. Honesty is for people who can be sure where they’ll be getting their next meal. She doesn’t have the luxury.
The story was fun and creepy. Flynn writes full-length novels so well, and I had wondered how her skills would transfer to a short story, as she seems to be a master at crafting slow-burning stories. The pacing of The Grownup was quick and engaging; I practically got whiplash trying to keep up with the plot twists.
Flynn seems to have a penchant for leaving the reader hanging in a moment of tension. While this worked really well in Gone Girl, it left The Grownup feeling somewhat lacking, perhaps due to the shorter length of the story. (If you’re only going to give me 64 pages to enjoy, at least give me a resolution at the end of them.) The ambiguous ending felt frustrating rather than tantalizing.
I loved the story, but I need some closure here, Gillian Flynn.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound
Thank you for reading! Have you read any good short stories lately? Share in the comments!
You can also follow me Tumblr, Facebook, or GoodReads!
I also gave this 3 stars. It was too fast and did not have the usual magic of Gillian!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree. I was interested to see how she’d write in a different format than her usual novel-length stories, and it definitely ended up lacking something.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is the only G Flynn story i haven’t read yet. I was kinda holding out because i don’t normally like short stories. Seeing it was kind of meh, i think i might just skip it 🙂
LikeLike
Nice review! It’s been a while since I read this, but I felt the same. There was a lot of detail early on, but then it wrapped up so quickly and vaguely that it seemed like this story should’ve been part of a longer work. Flynn’s writing is always engrossing, but this one did not impress me the way her novels did.
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] have reviews up for One of Us Is Lying, The Grownup, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Nightingale was an ARC and a review will be up on its […]
LikeLike
[…] The Grownup, Gillian Flynn ⭐⭐⭐ […]
LikeLike