Gone Girl

"I know, I know, I’m being a girl."

People like this book. A lot seem to really enjoy it. I know David Fincher is on his way to direct a filmed version of the book.

I can't like it. The book, at its core, is a version of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short story called "[b:Sherlock Holmes: The Problem of Thor Bridge|19768504|Sherlock Holmes The Problem of Thor Bridge|Arthur Conan Doyle|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1387755528s/19768504.jpg|27809969]". Having said that, I'm surprised with how inundated I was with the author's attempts to make Amy a hip character, but really ended up with a faded, dated person; sure, I think some things were sweetly - and horridly also, in a good sense of the word - described in the book, to a good extent, but when most of the words in this story are filler for a good plot, I wish it could have been better than this.

There are so many author's tricks applied throughout the book, reading it felt like a 100 yard hurdle race.

Also, I'm a bit concerned with many of the antifeministic things in the book, dialogue or not:

It’s a very female thing, isn’t it, to take one boys’ night and snowball it into a marital infidelity that will destroy our marriage?

I know, I know, I know that losing a job is incredibly stressful, and particularly for a man [...]

‘I hope you have friends, relatives, who are looking out for you during this, Nick,’ she said, swatting a horsefly. ‘Men forget to take care of themselves. Comfort food is what you need.’

I thought the unkind thought, one of those that burbled up beyond my control. I thought: Women are fucking crazy. No qualifier: Not some women, not many women. Women are crazy.

I didn’t give you the benefit of the doubt: that no matter how much you and I blunder, you always love me and want me to be happy. And that should be enough for any girl, right?

You don’t ever want to be the wife who keeps her husband from playing poker – you don’t want to be the shrew with the hair curlers and the rolling pin.

Gilpin rolled his eyes toward me; I almost expected him to make a joke – sounds like someone’s on the rag – the guy was laying it on so thick.

"I know, I know, I’m being a girl."

People like this book. A lot seem to really enjoy it. I know David Fincher is on his way to direct a filmed version of the book.

I can't like it. The book, at its core, is a version of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short story called "b:Sherlock Holmes: The Problem of Thor Bridge|19768504|Sherlock Holmes The Problem of Thor Bridge|Arthur Conan Doyle|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1387755528s/19768504.jpg|27809969". Having said that, I'm surprised with how inundated I was with the author's attempts to make Amy a hip character, but really ended up with a faded, dated person; sure, I think some things were sweetly - and horridly also, in a good sense of the word - described in the book, to a good extent, but when most of the words in this story are filler for a good plot, I wish it could have been better than this.

There are so many author's tricks applied throughout the book, reading it felt like a 100 yard hurdle race.

Also, I'm a bit concerned with many of the antifeministic things in the book, dialogue or not:

It’s a very female thing, isn’t it, to take one boys’ night and snowball it into a marital infidelity that will destroy our marriage?

I know, I know, I know that losing a job is incredibly stressful, and particularly for a man ...

‘I hope you have friends, relatives, who are looking out for you during this, Nick,’ she said, swatting a horsefly. ‘Men forget to take care of themselves. Comfort food is what you need.’

I thought the unkind thought, one of those that burbled up beyond my control. I thought: Women are fucking crazy. No qualifier: Not some women, not many women. Women are crazy.

I didn’t give you the benefit of the doubt: that no matter how much you and I blunder, you always love me and want me to be happy. And that should be enough for any girl, right?

You don’t ever want to be the wife who keeps her husband from playing poker – you don’t want to be the shrew with the hair curlers and the rolling pin.

Gilpin rolled his eyes toward me; I almost expected him to make a joke – sounds like someone’s on the rag – the guy was laying it on so thick.

Good story. Didn't like the ending.

I've always had a weakness for noir. [b:Gone Girl|8442457|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1339602131s/8442457.jpg|13306276] isn't exactly gritty or hard-boiled—maybe it’s a new genre—but whatever it is I want more of it. The characters start off being thoroughly banal, then become unlikable(), and then … well, it’s hard to say much without spoiling the story. There are twists aplenty. Some you'll predict, some are foreshadowed, some you just learn to start expecting. But some will really take you deliciously by surprise. And Flynn’s language is beautifully crafted, a pleasure to read.

The ending is weak. But fifty pages before the end, reflecting on that possibility, I promised myself not to pan the book if that happened: I had enjoyed it far, far too much to let the ending disappoint me. So let yourself enjoy the first 90%. Savor it. Then coast through the ending, keeping in mind how much you’ve enjoyed yourself.

My review won’t convince anyone to read it, so please read Linda’s. That’s the review that got me to rush to the library, pick this up, and start on it immediately despite my ever-growing to-read pile. And am I ever glad I did.

() Except for one sidekick

One of those books which leaves you wondering, did I hate this book or did I just not enjoy I very much. Mostly, I think that I don't like books like this very much, which leave you resenting the time you had to spend with a lot of pretty repellent characters.

Sure, there are a million plot twists (all of them completely improbable and increasingly departing from any sort of sense of reality) and lots of action to drive the book onward. However, if I hadn't been reading this for a book club, I would have abandoned it 1/3 of the way in where it switches from most of the characters are awful to oh, looks like almost all of them are completely horrible. From then on it was I just want to get through this so I can be done with them and get them out of my life. At the end, I don't feel invested enough in any of the characters to really care who wins or loses.

This one stood up, got my attention and held it for the entire book. I have limited exposure to the crime/mystery genre but this was an entertaining read and once the story started it became a page turner and I didn't know what was coming next.

Best book I've read this year! I can totally see this becoming a movie too.

I’ve been trying to review this book for a while now and it has become a real struggle. I don’t want to give any spoilers for this brilliant book so I will try my best, advanced warning; this review may have spoilers or turn out incredible vague. When I first saw this book I kept thinking this was just another YA novel but then I noticed this book kept popping up everywhere so I thought I better read what this is about and when I did; I had to read it right away.

When Amy disappears in suspicious circumstances all eyes fall to her husband as the primary suspect. Nick claims he is innocent but the evidence is not in his favour. Did Nick kill his wife? As this novel progressed any ideas of what happened will be shattered, any presumptions you’ve made about the characters will be wrong. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is a dark and twisted journey with so much unpredictability that you will be up all night trying to find out what really happened to Amy.

What I loved about this book was that you never really know what to expect. The book is told from the prospective of Nick and Amy, the diary of Amy tells the back story of their lives while the alternative chapters told from Nick takes the story from the disappearance. Slowly the pieces start to fall into placed but there is always another curve ball just around the corner. The dark and psychological aspects of this novel remind me of something Jim Thompson would write but then the thriller and suspense of this book reminds me a lot of books like Before I Go to Sleep or Into the Darkest Corner.

Flynn did a brilliant job with this novel, it kept me up at night, made me want to skip work to read this book and in the end any spare time I had I was back in this book trying to find out what really happened to Amy. I wasn’t sure what I was in for and I didn’t know who to believe but in the end I enjoyed the ride. On reflection this book seemed incredibly basic with its plot but writing in a brilliant way that while reading you never have enough pieces to solve this puzzle. Highly recommend this book to any lovers of mystery and suspense.