"I smelled, as my mother would say, ripe."
"When I had you inside of me, when I was a girl - so much younger than you are now - I thought you'd save me. I thought you'd love me. And then my mother would love me. That was a joke." My mother's voice swept high and raw, like a red scarf in a storm.
"I was a baby."
"Even from the beginning you disobeyed, wouldn't eat. Like you were punishing me for being born. Made me look like a fool. Like a child."
"You were a child."
"And now you come back and all I can think of is "Why Marian and not her?"
Rage flattened immediately into a dark despair. My fingers found a wood staple in the floorboard. I jabbed it under my fingernail. I would not cry for this woman.
"I'm not so pleased to be left here anyway, Momma, if that makes you feel any better."
"You're so hateful."
"I learned at your feet."
My mother lunged then, grabbed me by both arms. Then she reached behind me and, with one fingernail, circled the spot on my back that I had no scars.
"The only place you have left," she whispered at me. Her breath was cloying and musky, like air coming from a spring well.
"Yes."
"Someday I'll carve my name there." She shook me once, released me, then left me on the stairs with the warm remains of our liquor.
pp. 149, paperback edition of Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Vulgar pit stains on my French [black] blouse. I smelled, as my mother would say, ripe.
pp. 23, paperback edition of Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
- When I was expecting with you, I thought you’d save me. I thought you’d love me, and then my mother would love me. Even from the beginning, you disobeyed. Wouldn’t eat, like you were punishing me for being born. You made me feel like a fool, like a child.
- You were a child.
- And now you come back here and all I can think is...
- What? What, Mama?
- You smell ripe.
- When I was expecting with you, I thought you’d save me. I thought you’d love me, and then my mother would love me. Even from the beginning, you disobeyed. Wouldn’t eat, like you were punishing me for being born. You made me feel like a fool, like a child.
- You were a child.
- And now you come back here and all I can think is..
- What? What, Mama?
- You smell ripe.
- When I was expecting with you, I thought you'd save me. I thought you'd love me, and then my mother would love me. Even from the beginning, you disobeyed. Wouldn't eat, like you were punishing me for being born. You made me feel like a fool, like a child.
- You were a child.
- And now you come back here and all I can think is..
- What? What, Mama?
- You smell ripe.
I really thought that these quotes, from the miniseries and the book were really important. These quotes showed how horrifying it was that a mother would liken her daughter to something to be eaten. I was so glad that the miniseries showed Adora giving a baby a bite. I typed out the whole dialogue from the book because I think the book does a better job than the miniseries at showing Adora's narcissistic abuse.