Why yes, it has been over a year since I last
updated this blog. I did finish two books in that time (only two! My
middle school self would be ashamed) but I never got around to updating
this with the reviews. So here’s the first one: Gone Girl.
Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
I would like to point out, first, that I finished this book
before the movie came out and, second, that I have not seen the
movie. I’ve been horribly disappointed so many times by movie
adaptations of books that I have stopped going to see them. It seems no
matter how much I temper my expectations it just never
seems to help and I regret wasting 10.00 and two hours of my time.
But I digress…
I would characterize Gone Girl as a mystery-thriller. On the day of Amy and Nick Dunne’s 5th
anniversary, Amy goes missing. From the state the house was left in,
possibly abducted. And, as all
we TV crime drama watchers know, the husband is always the prime
suspect. As the investigation unfolds in the small town in Missouri,
the reader sees the happy façade of a young couple slowly crack and
crumble. But, the question remains, where is Amy?
I thoroughly enjoyed this
book from beginning to end. It was a fast paced read for me and I
couldn’t put it down. It was just the book to get me back into wanting
to read when I hadn’t touched a book in months.
The narrative switches point of view between Amy and Nick, which is a
style I’ve always been a fan of. In respect to this novel, I don’t
think it would have been nearly as exciting as interesting if it wasn’t
for the point of view changing. The first half
of the novel is set in the present in Nick’s chapters but in the past
in Amy’s part. The couple’s history is recounted through Amy’s chapters
– from them meeting, falling in love, and their elegant life before
moving to the Midwest. When Amy’s story catches
up with Nick’s in the present, about half way through, that’s where the
twist in the plot occurs and the second half of the story is filled
with tension as the reader follows the two parallel story lines. The
back and forth narrative structure really helps
build this tension and keep the reader turning pages until the end.
The one thing I disliked
about this novel was the ending. Without going into too much detail (as
this is a spoiler-free space) it felt like a deadline was approaching
and Flynn needed to get the story wrapped up
as quickly as possible. In the last 20 pages or so, it felt like Flynn
was getting all her little ducks in a row and then slapped a big bow on
top and called it done. I found it unsatisfying and felt like the
ending didn’t do justice to the journey the characters
had been on since page 1. I would have preferred a sort of cliff
hanger ending. About 20 pages before the end there’s a huge plot event
(this is real hard to describe without going into spoilers) and
everything after that is just filler and lining the ducks
up. I would have preferred it if right after the big event, the story
ended. The relationships between all the characters in the novel are so
complex and messy, it would have felt right to just leave the future up
in the air and let the reader speculate.
Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
A fast paced mystery thriller that will have you questioning how much you know about the people around you
415 pages
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