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2015 Book Review #37: Gone Girl
Title: Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
Genre: Modern day noir
Thingummies: 5
Synopsis: Nick's marriage is falling apart, but when his wife suddenly disappears, he finds himself a major suspect in her murder.
Thoughts: On one hand, there's an enormous plot twist about halfway through this book. On the other, between the book's popularity and the movie's controversy, it's a fairly well known twist at this point. I'll try to dance around it a bit.
This book begins in alternating chapters, between Nick in the present day and Amy's diary from the past. It's a deeply compelling portrait of how two people who are really shitty at communicating can make a series of assumptions that can completely destroy a marriage. You know they're both unreliable narrators, but they're both engrossing despite that.
And then the twist comes and it turns out that nothing is quite what you thought it was.
Is the book misogynistic? I don't personally think so. Amy behaves at the extreme that men fear, while resenting the fact that she has to pretend otherwise. And both Amy and Nick secretly think that all women are like this. But here's the thing--these are two really damaged people. And I think Flynn intends us to get that--to understand that while these two people play games of the worst kind, they aren't normal. Their relationship is deeply twisted. They're interesting because they're so problematic, but they aren't meant to stand in for Man and Woman--part of their pathology is their erroneous belief that they can.
Well, that's good and vague. In essence, this book is a fabulous discussion of the unrealistic roles our society expects out of both women and marriage, and the damage those expectations cause. At the same time, it's a taut thriller with incredible pacing and some really fascinating, scary characters. You won't be able to put it down, and then it will keep you up at night.
Author: Gillian Flynn
Genre: Modern day noir
Thingummies: 5
Synopsis: Nick's marriage is falling apart, but when his wife suddenly disappears, he finds himself a major suspect in her murder.
Thoughts: On one hand, there's an enormous plot twist about halfway through this book. On the other, between the book's popularity and the movie's controversy, it's a fairly well known twist at this point. I'll try to dance around it a bit.
This book begins in alternating chapters, between Nick in the present day and Amy's diary from the past. It's a deeply compelling portrait of how two people who are really shitty at communicating can make a series of assumptions that can completely destroy a marriage. You know they're both unreliable narrators, but they're both engrossing despite that.
And then the twist comes and it turns out that nothing is quite what you thought it was.
Is the book misogynistic? I don't personally think so. Amy behaves at the extreme that men fear, while resenting the fact that she has to pretend otherwise. And both Amy and Nick secretly think that all women are like this. But here's the thing--these are two really damaged people. And I think Flynn intends us to get that--to understand that while these two people play games of the worst kind, they aren't normal. Their relationship is deeply twisted. They're interesting because they're so problematic, but they aren't meant to stand in for Man and Woman--part of their pathology is their erroneous belief that they can.
Well, that's good and vague. In essence, this book is a fabulous discussion of the unrealistic roles our society expects out of both women and marriage, and the damage those expectations cause. At the same time, it's a taut thriller with incredible pacing and some really fascinating, scary characters. You won't be able to put it down, and then it will keep you up at night.