The Grownup Review
I’ve never given a book five stars based only on the first half of the first page, but it was very tempting with The Grownup. It starts in a way that feels like it’s in the middle of a conversation, but we’re joining in as the conversation gets good. I was laughing out loud (and not like when people say “lol”).
About a third of the way into the book, the tone started to shift dramatically (incidentally, toward something more dramatic). It felt sudden, though not in any jarring ways.
This part of the story takes place in a house with a mysterious aura. There are definite The Omen or The Good Son vibes during the house tour with the psychic.
In the space of a paragraph, Gillian Flynn conveys the emotional weight of a given scene. The word choice connects so thoroughly that you don’t need to have a similar experience to draw on to feel empathy with the characters.
The twists and turns leading to this short story’s end were great, but I think the short length hurt the pacing. It felt like the characters were telling us the twists rather than having a more organic show.
4/5