Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Gone Girl

A disturbing look into the workings of abuse, scaled to a nearly ridiculous degree. I wouldn't have even said this, if not for the last roughly 20 pages. Quite sobering, seeing how pervasively Amy's influence had settled in Nick's psyche. He truly believed he wouldn't find anyone else who knew him as she did, that they were entwined for life. That is a textbook reaction (coping method, really) to emotional abuse. That is how people stay stuck inside an abusive situation, by honestly being unable to imagine life without their abuser. Being borderline afraid of life without their abuser. Not being able to see any other option. It was really sad to read by the end. She had truly broken him.

I also think it was incredibly important to reverse the typical gender roles in an abusive situation. We need to not see abusive behavior as simply male behavior, as that view diminishes its true impact and may see women excusing certain behavior, since it's just a guy thing. But more often than not, it's not. It's abuse, plain and simple. Amy is abusive.

There is a lot of misogyny at play here, everywhere in this novel. It's a running theme, the various relationships to misogyny present in every major character. There's a ton to say here, but I don't have a lot of time to expound on it. It is just very interesting how it all informs the way these characters behave and react. It's a reminder that misogyny and patriarchy shape our society to a scary degree. Anyway, there's so much more to say about this book. It was brilliant, it was sad, it made me feel just about every emotion. This is the domestic 'thriller' to end the entire genre. Crazy to think how it spawned so many dupes, many of which I've read, but none of them were ever as expertly crafted as Gone Girl. Minor pacing issues keep this from a perfect 5/5 stars, but it's as close as you can get. A truly incredible read.

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mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Wish I could do separate reviews for the first and second half of this book, the first half was slow, the characters did not draw me in, the plot felt drawn out - I would have dnf'd several times over if I had not seen the movie years ago and known there was a big twist.
The second half of the book was fantastic- worth the drudgery of the first half - the characters were more compelling, and the plot greatly sped up

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