Updated on January 26th, 2025
Most bookstores in Denmark have only a couple of shelves with English books, but the Arnold Busck in Copenhagen has a substantial section. I purchased a few books including The Grownup by Gillian Flynn, which I wanted to review here.
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The Grownup was originally titled “What Do You Do?” and it was in the anthology Rogues, which is a compilation of 21 stories by authors including George R. R. Martin. The Grownup is about an unnamed con artist who works at a psychic shop called Spiritual Palms. When the narrator meets Susan, she takes advantage of Susan’s instability with her marriage and stepson by setting up an aura-cleansing business for her Victorian home.
The book is rather short and only about 60 pages long, which took less than an hour to read. I was skeptical that Flynn could tell a good story in only a few pages, but she is the author of Gone Girl, so I was hopeful. I found the beginning of the story shocking, but it helped set up the narrator’s back story. The middle part of the story was the best because it was the creepiest, and I did not know what was going on. The last part of the story was confusing to me with all the twists and turns, and the ending was left ambiguous.
I really did not like the ending because I felt like the plot was just getting interesting and I wanted to know more about what was actually happening with Susan. Even though I did not like the ending, I still enjoyed reading the book and I would recommend it if you like thrillers with a supernatural element. However, the price of the book is a bit high considering the length of the story, and if you do want to read it, I would recommend purchasing Rogues instead.
Overall, even though the ending is ambiguous, The Grownup is still a good short story.
Your English is perfect.