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A review by bex_montgomery
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
5.0
The recent release of the film version of Gillian Flynn’s thriller Gone Girl, finally provided me with a sound excuse to maneuver the book from my absurdly long “highly recommended” list to a coveted spot on my lovingly curated “currently reading” list. (I have a standing rule not to see a film based on a book before first reading the book, and the casting, interviews and early reviews of this particular film adaptation definitely piqued my interest.)
The book tells the story of Nick and Amy Dunne and the immediate aftermath of Amy’s disappearance on the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary. We hear from both Nick (as the story unfolds from his perspective) and Amy (through compelling diary entries), and as the action intensifies one fact becomes increasingly clear… we are dealing with at least one unreliable narrator. It becomes a game of discovery trying to sort out the truth behind the story we are being told.
Amy’s disappearance is just the beginning of the mystery, and with the police, the media and Amy’s famous parents all closing in, Nick’s imperfect past takes him from golden boy to prime suspect. With the help of his sister Margo he tries to solve the puzzle of his wife’s grand disappearance by following the clues she left behind, but by doing so he might just be handing over the evidence that will prove he killed his wife.
This has to be one of the most deeply disturbing books I've ever read. Disturbing, but aching and haunting and enchanting and fu#&%ed up and really a masterpiece of fiction. I found it insightful, and thoughtful, but more than anything uncomfortable to read. There was this nail-biting sense of not knowing who to root for and wanting things to go differently, always to go differently. And being willing to live with feeling uncomfortable. Unable to turn away from the approaching train wreck, unable to put it down. I devoured the 444 pages between meals and play time with my nephew and sleep and the whole time part of me wanted to just hurry up and be done with it so that uncomfortable, not quite right feeling would go away.
I immediately felt like I needed to read something to get it out of my mind, something nice and happy like Harry Potter.. stat. But I know it's one of those books that will stick with me, haunt me, be a part of me in the strange way that some books just do and I admire Flynn for it.
It's masterful really. It's astonishing to me that an author can write in such a way that can make me feel that way. And it definitely made me want to be a better writer. It was lyrical, but lewd, witty, charming, brilliant, but so disturbing; and these things should not be able to fit together. I don't know how she did it. Even the structure of the the thing was genius. Not knowing who to trust and then knowing and still not knowing who to root for and then finally knowing how you want it to end, whose side you are on just to have the rug pulled from beneath you. Not enough to make you bleed, but to startle you, hurt your pride, make you feel wronged. Remember it.
I wonder how I'll feel after I sit with it a few more days. Let it soak into my skin and my brain more. I wonder if I should tarnish the memory of the book by seeing the film. I wonder if it could possibly unsettle me more or less. And I love the idea that I have just read a book that makes me do so much wondering.
Review originally appeared at Aurelia {Lit} http://aurelmedia.wordpress.com
The book tells the story of Nick and Amy Dunne and the immediate aftermath of Amy’s disappearance on the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary. We hear from both Nick (as the story unfolds from his perspective) and Amy (through compelling diary entries), and as the action intensifies one fact becomes increasingly clear… we are dealing with at least one unreliable narrator. It becomes a game of discovery trying to sort out the truth behind the story we are being told.
Amy’s disappearance is just the beginning of the mystery, and with the police, the media and Amy’s famous parents all closing in, Nick’s imperfect past takes him from golden boy to prime suspect. With the help of his sister Margo he tries to solve the puzzle of his wife’s grand disappearance by following the clues she left behind, but by doing so he might just be handing over the evidence that will prove he killed his wife.
This has to be one of the most deeply disturbing books I've ever read. Disturbing, but aching and haunting and enchanting and fu#&%ed up and really a masterpiece of fiction. I found it insightful, and thoughtful, but more than anything uncomfortable to read. There was this nail-biting sense of not knowing who to root for and wanting things to go differently, always to go differently. And being willing to live with feeling uncomfortable. Unable to turn away from the approaching train wreck, unable to put it down. I devoured the 444 pages between meals and play time with my nephew and sleep and the whole time part of me wanted to just hurry up and be done with it so that uncomfortable, not quite right feeling would go away.
I immediately felt like I needed to read something to get it out of my mind, something nice and happy like Harry Potter.. stat. But I know it's one of those books that will stick with me, haunt me, be a part of me in the strange way that some books just do and I admire Flynn for it.
It's masterful really. It's astonishing to me that an author can write in such a way that can make me feel that way. And it definitely made me want to be a better writer. It was lyrical, but lewd, witty, charming, brilliant, but so disturbing; and these things should not be able to fit together. I don't know how she did it. Even the structure of the the thing was genius. Not knowing who to trust and then knowing and still not knowing who to root for and then finally knowing how you want it to end, whose side you are on just to have the rug pulled from beneath you. Not enough to make you bleed, but to startle you, hurt your pride, make you feel wronged. Remember it.
I wonder how I'll feel after I sit with it a few more days. Let it soak into my skin and my brain more. I wonder if I should tarnish the memory of the book by seeing the film. I wonder if it could possibly unsettle me more or less. And I love the idea that I have just read a book that makes me do so much wondering.
Review originally appeared at Aurelia {Lit} http://aurelmedia.wordpress.com