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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Gillian Flynn writes super-dark suspense novels. Novels that deserve barbs and razor blades on the cover.
Gone Girl is certainly dark, but I think it's her most cohesive novel yet. In fact, it's one of the best suspense novels I've read in a long time.
Nick and Amy Dunne are about to celebrate their 5-year anniversary. They're not at a very happy point in their marriage. They both lost their jobs. They moved to Missouri to care for Nick's ailing mother, which has never suited New York born-and-bred Amy. Now after Nick's mother has died, Nick has abandoned his writer ambitions to run a bar and Amy isn't doing much of anything.
On their anniversary, Amy disappears, leaving signs of a struggle in the house. Nick, her husband in a not-so-happy marriage, is under suspicion.
The narration cuts back and forth between Nick, who is trying to figure out what happened to Amy and keep the police off his back, and Amy's diary. As pages pass the reader realizes that Nick's story and Amy's story don't fit. Something is very off.
And to say any more would be to ruin it for you.
While Gone Girl is dark in a different way than Flynn's other novels, the psychological battle between Nick and Amy keeps you guessing. The novel has several major twists to keep you on your toes. And the ending wraps things up really well.
A very satisfying read.
Gone Girl is certainly dark, but I think it's her most cohesive novel yet. In fact, it's one of the best suspense novels I've read in a long time.
Nick and Amy Dunne are about to celebrate their 5-year anniversary. They're not at a very happy point in their marriage. They both lost their jobs. They moved to Missouri to care for Nick's ailing mother, which has never suited New York born-and-bred Amy. Now after Nick's mother has died, Nick has abandoned his writer ambitions to run a bar and Amy isn't doing much of anything.
On their anniversary, Amy disappears, leaving signs of a struggle in the house. Nick, her husband in a not-so-happy marriage, is under suspicion.
The narration cuts back and forth between Nick, who is trying to figure out what happened to Amy and keep the police off his back, and Amy's diary. As pages pass the reader realizes that Nick's story and Amy's story don't fit. Something is very off.
And to say any more would be to ruin it for you.
While Gone Girl is dark in a different way than Flynn's other novels, the psychological battle between Nick and Amy keeps you guessing. The novel has several major twists to keep you on your toes. And the ending wraps things up really well.
A very satisfying read.
Quando digo que ainda existem muitos livros contemporâneos bons e não só os clássicos, é exatamente nesse tipo de livro que estou pensando. Ótimos personagens, contexto ideal para explorar cada um deles ao máximo.
Eu esperava um final muito bom, mas não um tão... espetacular. O mais sensacional e, Gone Girl/Garota Exemplar (gosto tanto do significado do título original quanto do traduzido, eles se complementam) é que não, não é um livro perfeito. Tem até alguns furos e inverossimilhanças, mas te conquista pela exploração psicológica (mediana) do casal protagonista e, principalmente, pela maneira genial com que lida com o relacionamento deles. Incrível.
Eu esperava um final muito bom, mas não um tão... espetacular. O mais sensacional e, Gone Girl/Garota Exemplar (gosto tanto do significado do título original quanto do traduzido, eles se complementam) é que não, não é um livro perfeito. Tem até alguns furos e inverossimilhanças, mas te conquista pela exploração psicológica (mediana) do casal protagonista e, principalmente, pela maneira genial com que lida com o relacionamento deles. Incrível.
“The truly frightening flaw in humanity is our capacity for cruelty - we all have it.”
I find it hard to write reviews for this kind of books without spoilers and that's why I will keep it short:
Now that was creepy, a little piece of advice: if you are depressed or prone to depression, try not to read this book.
“I was not a lovable child, and I'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs.”
I got through this book real quick, it was intense. I knew I was going to love it from the first few pages and the story kept going up and developing but it lost a bit of its magic at the end and that's why I gave 4 stars, but if this is not Flynn at her best then I am amazed.
I find it hard to write reviews for this kind of books without spoilers and that's why I will keep it short:
Now that was creepy, a little piece of advice: if you are depressed or prone to depression, try not to read this book.
“I was not a lovable child, and I'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs.”
I got through this book real quick, it was intense. I knew I was going to love it from the first few pages and the story kept going up and developing but it lost a bit of its magic at the end and that's why I gave 4 stars, but if this is not Flynn at her best then I am amazed.
WOAH.
Heavy, heaaaavy stuff. But for the life of me I could not put this down.
It has everything I promise you: murder, suspense, some romance but overall a woman who has been tethered to her hometown no matter how hard she tries to escape it, burdened with the death of her sister and the trauma she still holds.
A literal page turner... I read it at work I needed to know the ending. I loved the plot and the idea of a small town being shaken by these two gruesome and inhumane murder. It’s not a who dunnit per say kind of book but more of the reader seeing the past and present through the eyes of Camille. Each character played a part in not only solving the murders but in her story as well.
Very content with the ending but it made me sigh with sadness over Camille’s life and how I would do anything to make it better. (Wish I could give it 4.5 Goodreads!!)
Heavy, heaaaavy stuff. But for the life of me I could not put this down.
It has everything I promise you: murder, suspense, some romance but overall a woman who has been tethered to her hometown no matter how hard she tries to escape it, burdened with the death of her sister and the trauma she still holds.
A literal page turner... I read it at work I needed to know the ending. I loved the plot and the idea of a small town being shaken by these two gruesome and inhumane murder. It’s not a who dunnit per say kind of book but more of the reader seeing the past and present through the eyes of Camille. Each character played a part in not only solving the murders but in her story as well.
Very content with the ending but it made me sigh with sadness over Camille’s life and how I would do anything to make it better. (Wish I could give it 4.5 Goodreads!!)
***Possibility of some spoilers
You know that phrase "They had me at 'Hello'"? Well, this was so true about Gone Girl for me.
'When I think of my wife, I always think of her head'
That is so wrong, so creepy and immediately I was sold. Flynn also went on to make me enjoy a book with multiple-character narrative - something I had previously hated in every instance. Because this book is so psychologically twisted that the insight into both Nick and Amy's mind is fascinating. I could literally feel my alliances oscillating with each new chapter and each new perspective, truly a mark of excellent writing and an author who understands characterisation incredibly well.
And then there's part two.
Part one I was enjoying, it was a good book, but then the beginning of part two hit me like a train. The unravelling of the mystery was so intricate and well-planned that I didn't want to put this book down, because I was so eager to see what happened on the next page. Everything that takes place in the beginning of the novel is detailed to the degree that I wouldn't even want to hunt for plot holes. All I wanted to do is soak up the sheer brilliance of Flynn's writing and never have to leave.
Sometimes, I rate a book five stars because I enjoy it. Because I race through it and love it and don't want it to end at all. This is a different type of five stars. This is five stars because it was so incredibly intelligent and well written that I wanted to spend as long as possible basking in how perfect it is. I rarely read crime fiction, but this alongside The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo most certainly give the genre a good name in my eyes simply because of their psychological brilliance. READ IT.
You know that phrase "They had me at 'Hello'"? Well, this was so true about Gone Girl for me.
'When I think of my wife, I always think of her head'
That is so wrong, so creepy and immediately I was sold. Flynn also went on to make me enjoy a book with multiple-character narrative - something I had previously hated in every instance. Because this book is so psychologically twisted that the insight into both Nick and Amy's mind is fascinating. I could literally feel my alliances oscillating with each new chapter and each new perspective, truly a mark of excellent writing and an author who understands characterisation incredibly well.
And then there's part two.
Part one I was enjoying, it was a good book, but then the beginning of part two hit me like a train. The unravelling of the mystery was so intricate and well-planned that I didn't want to put this book down, because I was so eager to see what happened on the next page. Everything that takes place in the beginning of the novel is detailed to the degree that I wouldn't even want to hunt for plot holes. All I wanted to do is soak up the sheer brilliance of Flynn's writing and never have to leave.
Sometimes, I rate a book five stars because I enjoy it. Because I race through it and love it and don't want it to end at all. This is a different type of five stars. This is five stars because it was so incredibly intelligent and well written that I wanted to spend as long as possible basking in how perfect it is. I rarely read crime fiction, but this alongside The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo most certainly give the genre a good name in my eyes simply because of their psychological brilliance. READ IT.
I powered through this book less because I wanted to and more because I had to. By the second chapter, Flynn had me hooked - I had to know how the novel ended. But by the time we got to part two, I really didn't want to keep reading it. I have a general (albeit personal and critically irrelevant) dislike of media that has no likeable protagonists. Like most people, I want someone to root for. However, Flynn utterly redeemed herself with the ending - I spent the last twenty pages grinning to myself. I know a lot of people disliked the ending, to the point where it is being rewritten for the movie, but to me, the ending is what made to book, pulling it all together at last.
I liked the characters for the first half of the book...then everything changed! Not a huge surprise, but everyone got less and less likable as it went on. In the end, seems like everyone got what they deserved!
4.5 stars, it's one of the darkest books I've ever read, and I couldn't rate it 5 full stars because of the very annoying fact that Ben went free and was 'innocent'. He's not innocent, he sat there as his sister and family were butchered, he deserves to be in prison forever, not have female fans.
Okay--that twist at the ending was jolting and disturbing. For what the book is, good stuff. But ultimately, I don't think Gillian Flynn is right for me. I don't like reading about people doing drugs or having lots of sex. Call me a prude all you want--it just makes me uncomfortable. Clearly Flynn can write, but this book was really not for me.
