Gone Girl in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jan 18, 2015 Lacey Louwagie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 100-book-challenge-2015, thriller, mystery

I was working at the local library when this book came out. I saw it in an endless progression of holds lists and took many requests. I read the jacket copy and kept shrugging it off. What was the big deal, anyway?

Despite so many endorsements of how amazing this book was, I just wasn't interested. I don't tend to go for thrillers, or books about a missing body/missing person. But then I saw the movie preview and got my first sense that this was not a typical thriller. And because of my hang up a ...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, unreliable-narrator, darkntwisty-badass-women, women-on-the-edge, psych-psych-psych, stayed-up-way-too-late, lotsa-buzz, fiction, only-reading-because-of-the-buzz, suspense-thriller

4.5 stars.

It was great, but not quite 5 stars - a few things didn't add up, a few things were just TOO convenient, and the ending didn't fit, it felt like it had been pasted on from another book.

At first, I had trouble reading this ... both characters are so unbearable (mostly Nick).

*

Ugh. Nick is cheating on his wife. Why didn't any of the other reviews mention he's a cheater? All the reviews talk about "unexpected twists" ... well, cheating is EXPECTED when you're an asshole and you have a di 4.5 stars.

It was great, but not quite 5 stars - a few things didn't add up, a few things were just TOO convenient, and the ending didn't fit, it felt like it had been pasted on from another book.

At first, I had trouble reading this ... both characters are so unbearable (mostly Nick).

*

Ugh. Nick is cheating on his wife. Why didn't any of the other reviews mention he's a cheater? All the reviews talk about "unexpected twists" ... well, cheating is EXPECTED when you're an asshole and you have a disposable cell, so I thought for SURE that was NOT going on. Great. I avoid infidelity stories like the plague. But I'm in now, gotta keep reading ... This might be considered sort of a spoiler by some, I don't know - I don't think it spoils anything, and I would have liked to have known in advance, so I'm leaving this hear in case someone else needs the warning.

*

This book, I was so wrong about this book. The noose tightens ... and I just can't. stop reading to find out what happens next ... will the noose tighten some more? will it slip off? will it fall apart because the knot was shoddy??

And you know how sometimes you're reading a book, and you're told the characters are brilliant? But you're just told, never shown? Because the author doesn't really know brilliance. That doesn't happen here. We SEE the characters being brilliant. Which means Ms Flynn is brilliant. I liked that the characters were psychotic assholes, but yet I kinda sorta sympathized with them, too, and sometimes even empathized. And there are so many quotes I've marked ...so many lines jumped off the page at me (although, I must say, when I went back later to look at these marked quotes, some of them weren't so interesting out of context. In fact, MOST of them aren't that interesting out of context).

*

The cameras were clicking, and the two families stood together, all of us with mouths in thin slits, Go the only one looking even close to a real person. The rest of us looked like placeholder humans ...

*

I thought the unkind thought: Women are fucking crazy. No qualifier: Not some women, not many women. Women are crazy.

*

I was playing the girl who was in style, the girl a man wants: the Cool Girl. ... Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping ... Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they're fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. ... (How do you know you're not Cool Girl? Because he says things like: "I like strong women." If he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else. Because "I like strong women" is code for "I hate strong women.")

*

There is an unfair responsibility that comes with being an only child - you grow up knowing you aren't allowed to disappoint, you're not even allowed to die. There isn't a replacement toddling around; you're it. It makes you desperate to be flawless, and it also makes you drunk with the power.

...more

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May 09, 2013 Jacob rated it liked it · review of another edition

Somewhat overrated, I think. The major plot twist is pretty easy to spot in advance, and neither character acts in any way similar to how folks in the real world would. As a fantasy of a ridiculously nasty marriage, though, it has its moments.

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Apr 04, 2013 Jaime rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2013, thriller-psychological, bookclub

This book was nuts. I’m going to do my best to discuss it without spoilers.

Amy didn’t care to know my family, didn’t want to know my birthplace, and yet for some reason, I thought moving home would be a good idea.

This was the point at which I knew things were amiss. What sort of spouse doesn’t want to know about your family, your background? All was obviously not how it seemed in Nick and Amy’s marriage. But who, if anyone, was telling the truth?

The book is very well constructed, so much so that ...more

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Oct 10, 2013 Hilary rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, library_books, thriller, recognized_literary_merit, mystery

One of the best books I've read in a while. I couldn't put it down! The twists and turns are exceptional. I found the ending a little disappointing, but it was so strong throughout that this didn't make me too unhappy. ...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Maggie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, mystery, 2013-spring-challenge, thriller, read-2013

I really enjoyed this dark and twisty book...but it still nagged at the back of my mind how totally implausible the whole thing was. I thought the first half dragged a bit, but maybe it was just because I was listening to audio? After I got into it, though, I thought the audio version was great!

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