From the Bookshelf of Read the Movie…

Gone Girl

Gillian Flynn

Why we're reading this: Film adaptation planned with Reese Witherspoon as one of the producers. No release date as of yet. (As me…more
[close] Film adaptation planned with Reese Witherspoon as one of the producers. No release date as of yet. (As mentioned in Entertainment Weekly, 12-07-2012)

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Sep 30, 2014 Boutayna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

4.5/5
Warning : This is one of those books that make you look weird if you read them in public transportation because you might utter random monosyllables and say “Oh my God” a lot.

(Spoilers ahead)
I was intrigued by the number of popular 1 star reviews for Gone Girl on goodreads and I usually like checking those if I particularly appreciated the book to make sense of the bumps that didn’t bother me. While I might not agree with most of the arguments against the book at least a few of them tend to 4.5/5
Warning : This is one of those books that make you look weird if you read them in public transportation because you might utter random monosyllables and say “Oh my God” a lot.

(Spoilers ahead)
I was intrigued by the number of popular 1 star reviews for Gone Girl on goodreads and I usually like checking those if I particularly appreciated the book to make sense of the bumps that didn’t bother me. While I might not agree with most of the arguments against the book at least a few of them tend to land home: like I said it’s about understanding what I overlooked in my appreciation of the book.

For those who didn’t like Gone Girl these were recurring complaints: “I couldn’t relate to the characters, This book is so yucky, there is no hope or redemption or justice”

Are we really going to have an “Oh dear ignore the nasty puddle on the floor” attitude about this book? I understand that for a lot of people reading is about escapism and setting things *right*. It needs to be classically epic storytelling: If there’s no happy ending there needs to be at least a bit of remorse, a chance at redemption. I wish people could distance themselves enough from their rejection of ambiguous stories like Gone Girl to realize that this is absolutely not a viable argument to qualify it of being a bad book.
Of course you don’t relate to total sociopaths, you’re not so much supposed to identify with them or like them as understand the inner workings of their minds and I think Gillian Flynn did a brilliant job at that. It’s not the first time in recent years that very deranged people are given a voice in books, tv shows etc. (Dexter, Hannibal, Moriarty…) but those play the card of utterly charming deranged villains “you love to hate them”(Dexter even has a moral code). Gone Girl’s characters on the other hand are simply despicable and loathsome but they success at being interesting which is the point.

This book has just the right dose of believable and gimmicky. I found it brilliant in its structure, how it played like a Tarantino multi-chaptered movie in my mind. The different point of view characters were very well written in their strange deformed mirror rendition of the facts and this was the first time I’ve encountered the idea of unreliable narrators in a book and I must say I was very impressed by it.

Another idea I love : starting off with mildly imperfect people in an imperfect relationship “oh look they’re like us” before building up slowly how mentally unstable they are. And the thing is for Nick especially as the story slowly unfolded revealing how much of a bastard he is each level of that bastardness was believable: Nick the unhappily married unreliable inattentive husband, Nick the cheat/slightly sociopath, Nick the complete and utter sociopath. It truly felt like unraveling layer by layer when each of them was fleshed out enough to be the real and last one. Well played Mrs Flynn.
On the same note I loved the development of the relationship. How it went from something sad but usual (the resentment and sacrifices and nastiness of a bad relationship) to that toxic power play of hate and admiration.

The First part of the book reminded me a lot of “The Stranger” by Camus. It’s very similar plot wise with the innocent narrator looking guilty because he is so very detached and wonders how do you do the face for sad because my wife might be dead.

Gone Girl DOES feel gimmicky by moments with both narrators thinking many times “this is how it would play out in a movie/cop show” (I appreciated the pop-culture references).
The developments by the end also had something unreal about them. I understood how the characters might seem inconsistent by then but it clicked for me. This is one of those bumps I’m all too ready to ignore because I’m enjoying the book too much and the ending was if not perfectly believable very satisfying storytelling. The characters were a bit extra-irritating with their first world problems at the beginning and their smugness by the end but this seems kind of irrelevant given their general unpleasantness.

So, I get how this book might not be for everyone and that it might be difficult to get into but once you’re in what a ride! It is undeniably original, very entertaining and pretty much an extremely well achieved “exercice de style”. ...more

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Jun 14, 2013 Pay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal

Just when I thought that the Husband is the killer and I just hate him to the core and I started to care and root for the Wife. Blah3x. BUT there goes the "BOOOM!" moment, the twist, the unexpected things. And I just hate myself for not predicting it, i mean i love unexpected stories but as much as possible I wanted my theory close to reality. The story is turning upside down! Amy is a psychotic b*tch. She's scary as hell. Psychotic but very Smart. I pity Nick. He married a psycho. What is scar ...more

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Sep 30, 2014 Gabriella rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Five sinister stars!

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Jun 25, 2014 Kristīne rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5.

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Jul 21, 2013 esosh rated it liked it

Shelves: library, book-to-movie

I don't know how to rate this book. While reading I kept thinking ****, but then I finished it and... well, I don't know how I feel about the ending. I need to think about it a little while longer.

(wondering how they are going to turn this into a movie) ...more

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