Gone Girl

Amy and Nick have been having marital problems, and when Amy disappears amid suspicion, Nick is the prime suspect of what is a suspected murder.

This was a tough one to review. While it was well-written, clever, and engaging (keeping me reading, wondering what was going to happen next), there was something ultimately unlikable about it.

This book is written in the perspective of Nick, who is reeling from the disappearance of his wife on their anniversary, and the diary entries of Amy. Amy's diary entries take you through the years leading up to their anniversary, both the good and the bad, and it becomes clear that there was a lot of bad. Things don't look good for Nick, who seems to be a self-serving, self-centered worthless husband, and the evidence mounts against him, making it appear that he did indeed kill his wife and dump her body. But did he? You're never quite sure. And at other times you aren't even sure he is really such a bad guy. At times he seems genuinely confused and grieving.

This is one of those stories that has you going this way and then that, like a Dateline murder mystery. Yes, he did it! Wait, no, I don't think he did do it. Yes, he did! No, he didn't. Back and forth.

The characters were very well developed slowly throughout the story, the storyline was a winding road looping around on itself. There were a few plot points that were kind of preposterous, but overall it was a pretty enjoyable story.

My final word: When I asked myself what it was I didn't like about this story, I found the answer was simple: the characters. I couldn't stand them. By the end of the story, I was sick of them both and glad to be rid of them! But the story itself was pretty well-crafted and very clever. Overall I would recommend this story if you like to be kept guessing.

Twists & turns at every corner. The book keeps you at the edge of your seat at the end of each page, at the end of each chapter. Each word making you yearn for more info, who is Nick? who is Amy? A must read and a book that can be devoured & discussed endless times.

Loved the book the ending disappointed me.

I finished this book Tuesday. I've been sitting on this review for five days because I don't know how to write it. Yeah - me...at a loss for words. I assure you, my readers, this is not something that happens often.

I cannot say with enough emphasis that every person I know (or don't) should read this book. I'm even nagging my husband to read it because I MUST discuss this novel with someone - soon! Why are there no literary reading groups in Clarksville, TN??? (Mom, Dad - are you reading this blog??? READ THIS BOOK - we have to talk about it!!!) It is, hands down, the BEST book I have read in quite a long time. The writing, the plot, the twisted internal conflict, the lengthy disturbing monologues, the sociopathic diatribe of the characters - all FANTASTIC. Fantastic feels cheap as I write this; words fail me.

I want to harp on the writing here - well written. Just. Well. Written. A colleague and I discussed Friday how neither of us had any use for a book, regardless of plot, if it wasn't well written (I believe he referred to the horrid Fifty Shades of Gray (Hair) as an example of possibly the crappiest piece of shit on the market...but I digress). This book is impeccable. The language, the vocabulary, the sentence structure all in unison for full effect of the plot, which is also, well, fantastic.


Amazing Amy has it all, except a man. She's spent her life being the focus of her parents very lucrative children's book series based on her. She IS Amazing Amy. And you will love her, and then you will love to hate her, and then you will love her because she's just so damn smart you can't not love her - the tennis match is endless, or maybe racquet ball, far more intense than tennis. Yes, racquet ball - angry, sweaty, slamming the ball off the wall to the glass and then BAM! hit your partner in the back of the head angry racquet ball.

And as Amy lives her sad little "poor me" life, Nick Dunne enters. "Just one olive" Nick Dunne. Dashing, perfect, smiling, Mama's boy (his mother still peels his oranges and cuts the crusts off his bread even though he's well into his thirties) Nick Dunne. Nick loves Amy. Amy loves Nick. Life is grand.

Wait, no one wants to read that book, because frankly, life isn't grand. It is blessed, it is doting, it is caring, it is cruel, but it is not always grand. Enter destruction - Mama's dying. With this life changing event looming in the air, prodigal son (sort of) Nick must return from New York to Missouri (a risk made much easier by the fact that the online industry has killed off the magazine writer and both he and Amy are currently unemployed- side note...super glad I received this book in hardback rather than on my Kindle or I would have felt like a hypocrite reading it). Mama's dies - you saw it coming. No one uproots their lives for an ailing parent that's going to make it. But, Nick wants to remain in small town USA, slipping back into his old life, his old self, and most notably upsetting his new wife.

Make no mistake about it folks, Amy is pissed.

Read. This. Book.


From the book cover:

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made with Nick Dunne's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick Dunne isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams and the slope and shape of his wife's head, but hearing Amy through flashbacks in her diary reveal the perky perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media - as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents - the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter - but is her really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister Margo at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was left in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

For more about Gillian Flynn, visit her website at http://gillian-flynn.com

I will certainly read both her other novels, Sharp Objects and Dark Places soon. In true book format, of course.

3 stars equal to the number of my highlights. After reading Sharp Objects, I guess I just expected more...teeth.

"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. And if all of us are play-acting, there can be no such thing as a soul mate, because we don't have genuine souls."

"You'd think that would be something a grown woman would realize on her own, but...I guess that's what husbands are for. To point out what we can't see for ourselves, even if it takes five years."

"My mom talked, my sister talked. I'd been raised to listen. So, sitting on the couch by myself, not talking, felt decadent."