Emily’s Comments (group member since Sep 24, 2013)

Emily’s comments from the Reader with a Cause group.

Erica wrote: "This exact issue was the topic of a blog post in the guardian just the other day. Interesting read about the use of violent & dead images of women. It's disturbing to realize how much these images ..."

Great find, Erica! Thanks for sharing that article.

Allison wrote: "It was somewhat shallow. At no point does it seem she acts like herself. All of the things she says come back to the way she is acting to make a situation go the way she wants."

That's so true. Especially when she admits that she wrote Diary Amy to be instantly likeable (I don't remember the exact quote...) - I felt a little duped.

Allison wrote: "I liked nick. Even when diary amy was saying things against nick I had a hard time believing it and felt somewhat vindicated when it turned out to be lies. He certainly had his faults but I found m..."

How do you feel about the decision to cast Ben Affleck as Nick in the movie version?

This is a something I have really recently began to notice -- I'm in the midst of the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare right now and this is something that happens a lot. The main characters are all between 16 - 18 and are beginning to pair off. The expectation is for life. One character, 18, is seeking a forever kind of commitment from his 700+-yr-old immortal partner. The main character talks about her love for her partner with a sort of transcendent euphoria that "no one else understands," and she eschews her mother's concerns ("ugh, old people don't get stuff!"). When I get to these sections of the book, I can't help feeling like, were I much younger right now, I might be looking at these portrayals as the norm - or something to strive for. And that terrifies me.

Anyone else see this trend? I think it might be reaching to identify it in Gone Girl since the characters were a bit older - and it seems like it would be impossible to know what Amy or Nick was actually thinking since (I think?) we only learn about their first meeting from Diary Amy. And we know (view spoiler)[she's an unreliable witness (hide spoiler)].

It also appears that a new ending will appear in the movie version of this story!?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01...

This book absolutely hooked me - a few friends recommended it to me & I ended up reading it in practically one sitting. I thought I knew what was going to happen, and then it went completely around the bend. So, no. I didn't see the ending coming.

I really appreciated reading Flynn's thoughts on the ending. It's been awhile since I read the book, but I remember being supremely creeped out by the ending. Her explanation didn't really change that.

Joyce wrote: "Hi, Joyce here from Kansas. Glad to be signing up for the group. I am new to Goodreads. Have you finished discussing Gone Girl?"

Hi Joyce! Welcome to Reader with a Cause! We are just about to start discussing Gone Girl - discussions should be starting up this weekend!

Janice wrote: "I think it takes nerves for an author to write disgusting characters...those that the readers will detest!! I would imagine it's harder to do that - and still win readers and fans - than to write characters we love and adore..."

Well said. Agreed!

A colleague recommended Field Notes on the Compassionate Life: A Search for the Soul of Kindness today. Interesting-looking read!

Courtney wrote: "A bit off topic, but while watching the show "Orange is the New Black", I noticed the main character was reading "Gone Girl" during her quiet time. Funny!"

Especially since that's our next book! :)

Annie wrote: "*sigh* it's sitting on my library book shelf but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. :("

Girl, I can relate!! I have so many books like that in my life (cough, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, cough). Come back once you do read it!

Catherine wrote: "Duffield was Pete Docherty for me. Nigella and Charles as the Bestiguis? Now that is interesting! But Nigella does have more character than Tansi or Tara or whatever her name was."

I will give you that. :)

And I can totally see Duffield as Pete Doherty. Good call!!

Campaign for the third choice: BOTH!! In an ideal world, I think we're all looking for both job satisfaction and stability, but so often we're told that we can only have one or the other. This is horribly limiting, not always true, and sets us all up for disappointment.

Annie wrote: "I wish I could "like" this comment."

:)

Did you have a chance to read this book, btw? Have any thoughts to share on the topic either way? :)

I loved that first quote included here about Leda, Lula, and Rochelle being women whose deaths weren't considered tragic because of the choices they'd made in life. I think that is a very apt observation and one that is disappointing to me because I think that mindset contributes to a culture that, whether it means to or not, blames the victim - where we need to find out more about the victim before we decide how we feel, what we think about her case, and whether what happened to her is wrong. When we ask questions like "what was she wearing," "had she been there before," "what does she do for a living," etc. what we're really saying is that rape, sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence are only wrong in certain circumstances or when certain people are affected by them, when in actuality these are crimes that should be treated as such. Period.

Courtney wrote: "Will it continue, has anyone heard?"

According to Goodreads -- yes indeed! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

It's so hard to know, right? Whether your partner's behavior is "just a phase" or a real problem - and even harder when these are just characters in a book and not people that you can talk to and ask questions to gain deeper understanding of their situation.

To me, it did seem more like "growing pains" than "red flags." In the end of the book, he sat with her (view spoiler)[at the hospital while Strike was in surgery (hide spoiler)] and appeared to have come around.

I LOVED their dynamic.

I was very nervous that Galbraith would turn this into yet another love triangle -- especially when Strike (view spoiler)[ slept with Ciara (hide spoiler)], I was fully prepared for Robin to become jealous because she'd fallen in love with her boss. I was so happy & relieved that the story didn't go anywhere near there!!

Both Strike and Robin seem to have made a conscious decision to keep their relationship above-board and professional, yet open to overtures of friendship and caring. Just nothing more.

I was so relieved to be reading a book without a love triangle -- but who knows, maybe that's the plot of book #2. :)

I thought about this A LOT - and I have no real ideas. :)

I spent a lot of time thinking about Rihanna & Chris Brown while reading this -- with some obvious differences, they seem like the closest, high-profile comparison to Lula & Evan to me. Young, super-rich, and paparazzi-saturated -- with a relationship that has been publicly dissected for years now.

Although it didn't occur to me before, the Bestiguis could be modeled off of Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi.

Janet wrote: "I thought it was a little surprising, though, that his mother and uncle knew about the murder of his brother and never did anything about it.I would have thought that they might have been concerned about Lula's safety"

I agree!