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A review by princessrobotiv
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
3.0
3.5 stars, after reflection
--
So. Gone Girl. Another massively popular title I neglected to read for years.
My response to this novel is somewhat compromised given that I came into the story knowing at least 90% of the big "twist" halfway through. I can't, therefore, speak to whether I would have been legitimately fooled by the narrative - whether I would have suspected Nick as Amy's murderer. I think I would have, though, because even coming in knowing almost everything, I still let myself be seduced, to some degree, by Amy's faked diary entries.
I can say that Gone Girl is incredibly effective at presenting two massively unreliable narrators in a way that is suspenseful and engaging. I don't know that I've seen an unreliable narrator portrayed so skillfully in a long time - and Gone Girl had two of them, both unreliable in entirely distinct ways. It was a worthwhile read for that alone.
I enjoyed the novel at the beginning far more than I did at the end. The beginning of the novel had such . . . existential meat to it. It had such an interesting angle: the toxicity of gender norms and the way both men and women sink into unsustainable, unrealistic roles - and how the emotional labor of pretending to be somebody that you're not will eventually poison you (and your relationship).
But the second half? I mean, the whole "We're two cah-razy assholes who just can't survive without each other!" schtick hasn't been interesting to me since I shook my Joker/Harley phase (like 80% of edgy teenage girls). I wish Flynn hadn't doubled down on the "Amy's a sociopath" angle and instead devoted more time to the incredibly interesting critique on heteronormative relationships and toxic masculinity that we got in the first half of the book.
I'm definitely interested enough to check out the rest of Flynn's work. Despite my complaints, I am always fascinated by representations of "messy, messed-up" women. And I think it's clear that Flynn doesn't hold back on that account.
--
I hated Nick for being surprised when I became me. I hated him for not knowing it had to end, for truly believing he had married this creature, this figment of the imagination of a million masturbatory men, semen-fingered and self-satisfied.
So. Gone Girl. Another massively popular title I neglected to read for years.
My response to this novel is somewhat compromised given that I came into the story knowing at least 90% of the big "twist" halfway through. I can't, therefore, speak to whether I would have been legitimately fooled by the narrative - whether I would have suspected Nick as Amy's murderer. I think I would have, though, because even coming in knowing almost everything, I still let myself be seduced, to some degree, by Amy's faked diary entries.
I can say that Gone Girl is incredibly effective at presenting two massively unreliable narrators in a way that is suspenseful and engaging. I don't know that I've seen an unreliable narrator portrayed so skillfully in a long time - and Gone Girl had two of them, both unreliable in entirely distinct ways. It was a worthwhile read for that alone.
I enjoyed the novel at the beginning far more than I did at the end. The beginning of the novel had such . . . existential meat to it. It had such an interesting angle: the toxicity of gender norms and the way both men and women sink into unsustainable, unrealistic roles - and how the emotional labor of pretending to be somebody that you're not will eventually poison you (and your relationship).
But the second half? I mean, the whole "We're two cah-razy assholes who just can't survive without each other!" schtick hasn't been interesting to me since I shook my Joker/Harley phase (like 80% of edgy teenage girls). I wish Flynn hadn't doubled down on the "Amy's a sociopath" angle and instead devoted more time to the incredibly interesting critique on heteronormative relationships and toxic masculinity that we got in the first half of the book.
I'm definitely interested enough to check out the rest of Flynn's work. Despite my complaints, I am always fascinated by representations of "messy, messed-up" women. And I think it's clear that Flynn doesn't hold back on that account.