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Gone Girl --- ONLY IF YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK!
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Helen
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rated it 5 stars
Jul 02, 2012 05:50PM
And that would be the definitive last word.
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Whew! Just finished this in a blast of unrelenting page turning...whoa! I didn't hate the ending, but didn't love it, definitely left me turning over the possibilities for the future of Amy and Nick. I don't see suicide in her future...too big an ego, which would want her to keep in the game. However, unhappily ever after seems unlikely for the same reason. Her psychopath self won't let her be satisfied for long after the attention dies down. I imagine in the best scenario (by best, I guess I mean least carnage), Amy has the baby, eventually gets bored and eventually loses interest in Nick and the baby and glides back off to NYC. Except, she'd never fully divorce them and let him go. Hmmm, maybe that theory stinks...I came away thinking Nick was smarmy and needy, but basically still a person with a conscience. He is my hope for poor baby boy Dunne.
I certainly didn't see Desi turning out to be an actual bad guy, but he didn't deserve all that, imo.
Lots to talk about. Wish we were all sitting around a table with some wine!
I thought the Desi part was the weakest section of the whole book but I'm not clever enough to think of any other way she could have made it back to her normal life with so few questions.
Lil wrote: "Whew! Just finished this in a blast of unrelenting page turning...whoa! I didn't hate the ending, but didn't love it, definitely left me turning over the possibilities for the future of Amy and N..."Agreed. I liked the way she portrayed Desi when Nick visited him, like he understood Amy but felt a tolerant affection for her anyway. The tulip room, etc seemed like a bit of a stretch.
I was wishing this morning that Desi's mother had shown up and killed Amy.
That would have been great! What a creepy relationship THOSE two had. Well, everybody's relationships were creepy. I was convinced for a long time that Nick & Go were sleeping together even though he made a point of telling us that they were not. I thought the tulip room was creepy but the giant walls surrounding the house were what pushed me over the edge with Desi. I loved the extra creepy layer of his personality where he always made sure their clothes matched.
I just finished "Gone Girl" which I read so I could join this discussion, LOL. I was actually kind of bored the first half of the book, because I felt like the set-up took too long, but it picked up and I couldn't put it down during the last 150 pages. I feel the author did an amazing job with all the plot twists & turns; I am the type of reader that never seems to see what is coming. I felt sorry for Nick becuase I don't think he was a sicko before he met Amy; I think her purported behavior is the type that could actually send someone else off the deep end. And, I thought the ending was awesome; it was like falling off the edge ... I thought, "oh, nooooo!". Of course it's horrific that those two would have a baby, but it's fiction. Gripping fiction, fun to read, and fun to share.
I'm quite impressed with Gillian Flynn; I'll definitely look up her other books now.
Helen wrote: "That would have been great! What a creepy relationship THOSE two had. Well, everybody's relationships were creepy. I was convinced for a long time that Nick & Go were sleeping together even thoug..."
Yes I don't think anyone in this book had a normal relationship. Even Amy's parents seemed a bit off to me.
Yes I don't think anyone in this book had a normal relationship. Even Amy's parents seemed a bit off to me.
I liked this book better than a lot of people here. I loved the ending, thought it was perfect. I thought Nick was very sympathetic, not unlikeable as many have said. I don't think the book would have worked as well as it did if we didn't empathize with Nick. Amy was a bit two- dimensional by the end, being relentlessly evil as she was and Desi's "kidnapping" of her was a little too convenient. Very Hitchcockian, overall. If they make a movie, I'd like to see Charlize Theron play Amy.
I'd like to see Charlize Theron play Amy-Anne- Interesting casting choice. I think she could be a great Amy- around the right age, etc.
I think it would be a fabulous movie!
We're reading it for book club now- and while I've read it already- I'm going to look back over it- to keep it fresh in my mind.
I've bought GF's other books (just have not read them yet!)
Anne wrote: "I liked this book better than a lot of people here. I loved the ending, thought it was perfect. I thought Nick was very sympathetic, not unlikeable as many have said. I don't think the book would h..."Oh, I think most on this thread at least really liked this book! Charlize Theron would be great as Amy.
I really enjoyed this book...stayed up way too late finishing it! I am still not sure how I feel about the ending, but I wouldn't mind a sequel. I still find myself wishing that Nick had had some conversations with Desi's mother, and unless I missed something, why didn't they check Desi's blood for the sleeping pill evidence? Wouldn't that have given credibility to Amy's confession about drugging Desi? I wanted Nick to sort of team-up with unlikeable Jacqueline in this regard. I also wondered why Nick wouldn't have saved Amy's frozen vomit (yuck).
Oh, and I don't think Amy would have commited suicide in the end...I could see her hurting or killing the baby as a way to totally destroy Nick.
Denise wrote: "Oh, and I don't think Amy would have commited suicide in the end...I could see her hurting or killing the baby as a way to totally destroy Nick."I finished this book yesterday and really liked it. I felt that Nick wasn't all that unlikeable...more...normal. I certainly don't condone cheating but in this cast of characters I felt he came off a bit sympathetic anyway. I mean, when he's dealing with a complete psycho how can you not feel sympathetic?
Also, the ending scares me. I agree that someday she might do something to the kid to get back at Nick because she is that crazy and that is truly frightening.
I suggested this for my book club and finished it in a week and now I have to wait another month for the meeting so I'm glad people were talking about it here!
Megan, I agree with your opinion of Nick. I didn't condone his cheating (even though he was married to a total psycho...), but I didn't think he gave off abnormal vibes.
I just finished his book and have so many things to say!@Tamara - I pictured Charlize Theron as Amy too!!!
First, I am exhausted! This book left me on such a roller coaster I feel like I need to do some yoga or meditation or something. In a good way, but I am definitely tired.
I liked Nick through maybe 60% of the book (right around the time he did the drunken interview in the bar). Well, like might be too strong of a word, but definitely not dislike as other posters have said. Maybe I understood him. He was married to a woman he no longer loved, but he certainly didn't want her dead. He didn't bother me.
I also liked Diary Amy. (again with that word...) I understood her to a point. Trying to keep up appearances to get her man, then being disappointed when he took her for granted. Sure she could be petty at times but overall I got her.
The first - major - plot twist. WOW! JUST WOW! Hats off to the author, of all the twists I imagined that was not it, or at least, certainly not in that way. I was completely floored.
SPOILER ALERT - PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT READ/FINISHED THE BOOK
Gone yet?
Okay good!
I think Nick/Amy/the book started going downhill upon Amy's return. Up until then, Nick had been a bad husband and not the most courageous guy, but (for me) not detestable. But the way he started thinking and acting after that was disgusting. More than anything, it seemed out of character. Like he got infected with Amy's crazy somehow. I never believed that Nick had the patience/stamina/willpower/intelligence to keep playing the game every second of every day. And the misogynistic tendencies/thoughts that came up toward the end also seemed unbelievable for his character.
I never understood the whole thing with Nick and Go's dad. I kept thinking he was going to be more relevant than he ended up being. Or I missed something. I did think Amy's observations about him were spot on; I hadn't thought of it until she said something.
One thing that bothered me, Amy's story about Desi after she came home never made sense, because Desi's fingerprints would have been all over the house. I realize that wouldn't have incriminated Amy, but the police didn't even question it and that annoyed me. A small thing, but it just irked me.
I forgot who said it, but someone said they thought Nick and Go were sleeping together. I wasn't entirely sure, but i never ruled it out!
I have no idea what to make of the ending. It just seemed so unsustainable, and thus, not like an ending. One of them (Nick) is going to crack, and I personally think that's where the book should have gone.
All things considered, i loved the book. It was creative, it was dark, it was intense, it was interesting and it kept me guessing/wondering. And now I'm going to go take a much earned nap!
Many have disliked the ending, but I thought these two deserved each other. I do feel bad for the baby, but I wonder if the ending was a set-up for the sequel? The main weakness was in Amy's return and her murder of Desi. The police could have done more investigation of her story. As for the tulip room - we only have Amy's word on that. And what is Amy's word worth?
SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERSThe last line is still with me..... I finished the book last night. I read it ravenously and there was no sleep until I was done. :-)
First off.... I didn't dislike Nick. He didn't bother me much. He was a type. Amy or was it Hilary says it all - they both pretended to be people they weren't and as the facades crumbled he strayed. I don't think he was that far off of the person he pretended to be.... she on the other hand. Whoa!
I think she killed them all..... I feel she poisoned herself (and fetus) and him.... she wanted the last word.... that would have been it. I also had the picture of them be CO'd to death.... she knew her way around a furnace.... however she did it I think she killed them.... she wouldn't have left him - she was too obsessed with him.
I was disappointed he deleted his book.... I would have changed that... maybe he put it in a safety deposit box for safe keeping or willed it to his sister "in case of".
Gone Girl is going to be made into a movie.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07...
My first thought was "Yay!" but then the inevitable feeling of "Uh oh, they could screw this up" appeared.
I think if Nick had tried to something like saving a copy of the book elsewhere, Amy would've found it- would've practically known from the beginning his plan. Amy was THAT smart and obsessed with being on top.
I think you are right Tamara.... only that Nick was wise to her in the end and she could get fouled up. She did when they stole her money and she did when she came back to him.... he could have played her. Or at least I would like to think he could have. :-)A movie.... that could be interesting.
Lyla, you had me laughing when you said Amy knew her way around a furnace!
I, too, was disappointed that Nick deleted his book. I hated how cowardly he could be, but I guess that was his character.I read that Reese Witherspoon is one of the movie's directors.
Ooooohhhh. I just finished it yesterday and now I've read all of your posts here. I am in the camp who didn't find Nick horrible. I guess I had some sympathy for him because of the whack job he was married to, though that is no excuse for his behavior. What a page turner! I don't read these very often, but this goes right up there with Presumed Innocent for keeping me on the edge of my seat. I loved it.
I made my husband read it at the same time, so I'm going to see what he thinks about the suicide idea. Interesting. What DID she mean by having the last word? In my mind, they just went on "happy family". Though I can definitely see an "accident" in Amy's future, if I were to predict an afterward.
UPDATE: I just mentioned the theory to my husband. He said...hmmmm, if she commits suicide she'll make it look like Nick killed her. Yep, that's her style for sure. But I'm still sticking to they live on, pretending. Until something happens...
Beth wrote: "Lyla, you had me laughing when you said Amy knew her way around a furnace!";-)
I can see the sequel now, the child becomes a victim of Munchausen by proxy syndrome. Amy is totally the type of mother who would be a textbook case for that with her drive for garnering all attention.
Toni wrote: "The first part dragged for me a bit. But I will say that something felt wrong about Diary Amy from the start...her voice was a little too passive aggressive and she seemed to glom onto Nick unnatu..."
Great point, Toni. If she was making a statement on marriage it was not a very positive one.
Great point, Toni. If she was making a statement on marriage it was not a very positive one.
She clearly seems anti-marriage. Nick & Amy were so twisted and crazy and her portrait of the "best friend" who was the stay at home mom was completely unflattering. Amy's parent's marriage was also bizarre overly affectionate to the point of seeming false. She couldn't bring herself to portray a relationship anywhere close to normal.
Toni wrote: "I found it hard to believe that Nick was willing to stay with Amy for the sake of a child."I thought he stayed with her because he knew that she would ruin his life if he ever tried to leave her; he couldn't get out. Granted, he wanted kids and all, but I got the impression it was mostly about being trapped.
I don't know if she was making a specific point about marriage, but the larger question was how well do you ever really know someone. Which played itself out even among Amy's "friend", the parents' relationship with Amy, and Go's suspicions of Nick as time wore on.
Toni wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "Toni wrote: "The first part dragged for me a bit. But I will say that something felt wrong about Diary Amy from the start...her voice was a little too passive aggressive and she se..."
I didn't get Mr.Peanut. At all.
I didn't get Mr.Peanut. At all.
The ending was horrible! I've never read anything that left me feeling so duped. There's no way that any man, who is willing to stay with a psychopath for the love of a child, would be willing to ALLOW the psychopath to have anything to do with the child. Can you imagine how screwed up that kid is going to be?
Well, in Nick's defense, he has to put up with her until the kid is born and THEN he can maybe plan to take off with for some Amy-free zone.But I totally agree that the poor kid has no chance.
(Why am I still talking about this book? I can't stop clicking into this thread.)
Sophie Littlefield has an interesting perspective on Gone Girl as literature on her blog -- http://sophielittlefield.blogspot.com...I do love her perspective!
My interpretation of the last sentence is Amy will have the last word as there is nothing else for her but to plan Nicks demise. Nick should never have deleted his book, but put it in a safe deposit box and give Go the key in the event something happens to him.
The first part was a good portrayal of a marriage in decline, the second part goes on to confirm Amy as a psychopath and Nick as an ego-centric, the third part brings them back together. I can't remember when I read fictional characters that were less sympathetic. I don't really care what happens to either of them, and finishing the book put me in a bad mood.
Since I just finished the book this afternoon I am not prepared to say whether I think the book is good or not. I do think Sharp Objects was a much better book and had a denouement, Gone Girl did not have a denouement and left this reader unsatisfied.
Mod
I, too, thought Nick and Margo's dad would have had something to do with the ending - not his own.
Maybe Flynn is setting us up for Part Deux?
I'm not a big fan of these suspense novels because they never end the way I wish they would, as if the author id determined to do the unexpected until the very end.I actually wished that Nick had killed Amy when he had the chance because he after being accused of it the first time he could have gotten away with it this time.
Like many others who commented here I was also deeply bothered by the idea of these two people raising a child. That' probably what bothered me the most about the story.
Juliette wrote: "I'm about 40 pages from the end and I just want to mow them all down. More later"Me too!!!
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Linda wrote: "Gillian Flynn was onThe View yesterday. You can see the show at www.abc.com then look for the 8/8/12 show."Great interview! Thanks for posting.
There must be something wrong with me. My turn came up at the library for Gone Girl. I even kept myself from reading this thread the entire time I was waiting for the book. I read about 50 pages of the book and then returned it. The characters were a turn off, but I don't usually have to "like" the characters to enjoy a book. I think the ugliness of the marriage turned me off such that I didn't want to invest the time. That, and so many books on my backlog calling out to me.
You have no idea how ugly it really is if you stopped at page 50! But as highly as I rated the book I can't say I really enjoyed it. The characters are truly awful.
Readnponder wrote: "There must be something wrong with me. My turn came up at the library for Gone Girl. I even kept myself from reading this thread the entire time I was waiting for the book. I read about 50 pages..."
I totally get the backlog of books, but please trust me when I say that you need to press on past page 50! Yes the characters aren't likeable (at all) but Gillian Flynn writes such a fantastic story.
I totally get the backlog of books, but please trust me when I say that you need to press on past page 50! Yes the characters aren't likeable (at all) but Gillian Flynn writes such a fantastic story.
Suzanne wrote: "Readnponder wrote: "There must be something wrong with me. My turn came up at the library for Gone Girl. I even kept myself from reading this thread the entire time I was waiting for the book. I..."Suzanne is correct. Keep on with the book!
Tamara wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "Readnponder wrote: "There must be something wrong with me. My turn came up at the library for Gone Girl. I even kept myself from reading this thread the entire time I was waiting ..."..and I too agree with Suzanne and Tamara. This book has such incredible twists and turns..and the writing is bewitching...Keep
going..
I finished the book yesterday, having listened to it on audio. And by the way, the narrators are superb, spot on as Nick and Amy. I'm not sure yet how I feel about the ending, but part of me thinks it was the only way it could end. I had the same feeling about an ending when I saw the movie "Rosemary's Baby" back in the '60's. Frustratingly satisfying. What a ride the story is! I predict a murder-suicide in the future, when the child is 8 or 9, old enough to be turning into one, or both, of his parents. Just my thoughts.
I'll bet the audio version of this book--with actors hitting just the right tone--would be the most fun approach to this book. I agree: satisfying/frustrating ending!"
Jan wrote: "I'll bet the audio version of this book--with actors hitting just the right tone--would be the most fun approach to this book. I agree: satisfying/frustrating ending!""I listened to the book, and it was fantastic, especially the narrator who read Amy's part. I took my ipod with me everywhere I went until I finished it, which didn't take long!
David wrote: " I predict a murder-suicide in the future, when the child is 8 or 9, old enough to be turning into one, or both, of his parents. Just my thoughts. "That was my thought, except I was thinking murder (Amy's). No way can he let her raise a child! But I have noticed that most people despise them equally, while I am more leery of Amy.
Jana, I agree. Amy has to go (die), sooner or later. I started off believing that Nick was the bad guy, but Amy wins the crocheted tincup award for evil, the worst kind of evil: she believes she is justified in all she does. What a wonderfully written character!
Laurie, wasn't it superb! Character's voices rendered perfectly.
i feel like i really had to suspend my disbelief over and over again to completely swallow the premise of the novel.i know there are psychopaths out there, but one so meticulous as amy? i'm not sure she'd leave no stone unturned.
in the end, i found her to be tiresome and i couldn't believe nick would stay with her. even for the sake of his child.
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