I seriously think I got some sort of jaw injury over the number of times my jaw dropped - it felt like every five pages of Gone Girl Gillian Flynn let us onto another piece of the puzzle. And it was never the piece you were expecting - or for that matter, a piece you even thought was part of the same puzzle.
If you haven't read it, you really need to. There's a reason it won just about every award possible in 2012.
WHAT WAS WRITTEN
On the day of Nick and Amy's fifth wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing.
They were not the perfect couple. After both lost their jobs and finding out his mother was extremely sick, Nick packed them up and moved them from New York City to Missouri. Away from the expenses of the city and closer to his family, Nick saw this move as one where he and Amy would be able to get their feet back under them and move on from their past. Once in Missouri, Nick uses the last of Amy's trust fund money to open a bar with his sister. Amy, however, hates her new life in Missouri and longs for the life she left behind.
After Amy disappears, her parents fly in for the rescue search. As more and more details surface and pressure gets intense from the police, Nick becomes the prime subject of the investigation. He adamantly claims that he is innocent and continues to do what he can to find out what happened to his wife.
WHAT MY BRAIN HAS TO SAY ON THE MATTER
This is going to be one tough review to write, because I don't want to give away any tiny little details of the story. Had someone ruined any of this book for me I probably would have flipped out on them, so I'm gonna try and do the same courtesy to anyone out there who has yet to read Gone Girl.
Let's start with this: I could hardly put Gone Girl down. It's a thriller, but it takes its time to burn slowly and deliberately. Flynn only lets you know what she wants you to know and when she wants you to know it. Which made the hours I spent working awful as I agonized what was going on in the book and trying to figure out what bombshell Flynn was going to drop on me next. I think that's a mark of an excellent story - keep your readers completely invested and keep them on their toes.
Flynn also made a mess of my brain throughout this book: one chapter I loved Amy and hated Nick, the next chapter that got reversed. With every detail given I was constantly changing my mind about who these characters were, what they had done in their life, and my attitudes towards them in the process. It felt like whiplash at times. I never knew who (if any) to root for through the story.
And the ending? Wow. Let's just leave it at that, okay?
I still can't tell if I liked Gone Girl, per-sey. I know I enjoyed it and was completely invested in reading the book. But how can you really say you liked this book. Those of you who have finished it know exactly what I'm talking about right now.
This is going to be one tough review to write, because I don't want to give away any tiny little details of the story. Had someone ruined any of this book for me I probably would have flipped out on them, so I'm gonna try and do the same courtesy to anyone out there who has yet to read Gone Girl.
Let's start with this: I could hardly put Gone Girl down. It's a thriller, but it takes its time to burn slowly and deliberately. Flynn only lets you know what she wants you to know and when she wants you to know it. Which made the hours I spent working awful as I agonized what was going on in the book and trying to figure out what bombshell Flynn was going to drop on me next. I think that's a mark of an excellent story - keep your readers completely invested and keep them on their toes.
Flynn also made a mess of my brain throughout this book: one chapter I loved Amy and hated Nick, the next chapter that got reversed. With every detail given I was constantly changing my mind about who these characters were, what they had done in their life, and my attitudes towards them in the process. It felt like whiplash at times. I never knew who (if any) to root for through the story.
And the ending? Wow. Let's just leave it at that, okay?
I still can't tell if I liked Gone Girl, per-sey. I know I enjoyed it and was completely invested in reading the book. But how can you really say you liked this book. Those of you who have finished it know exactly what I'm talking about right now.
THE NITTY GRITTY
Title: Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Medium: Hard Cover, 415pp
Publisher: Crown (24 May 2012)
Date Read: 10 May 2013
Source: Purchased @ Barnes & Nobel
Recommended For: High School +, lovers of mystery, thriller, and suspense, Film Noir lovers,
Challenges: Goodreads, Off The Shelf
First Line: When I think of my wife, I always think of her head.
Favorite Line: It's a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless Automat of characters.
Last Line: I think I've earned that. {whited out, for spoiler's sake}
Totally agree! I was completely engrossed in this book and couldn't put it down. But I don't know if I "liked" it. But I am definitely anxious to read more of her books! She's an incredible story teller.
ReplyDeletesuch a great review! you are absolutely right, i'm not sure i liked it either. but it was insanely good. she is an incredible writer and my jaw was on the floor through half the book.
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