Gone Girl
Review
Synopsis
Nick and Amy Dunne are writers in New York, but after losing their jobs, uproot their lives and moves to Missouri to help take care of Nick’s dying mother. Nick gets a part time job as a college professor and Amy becomes a ‘temporary’ house wife, This is where their marriage starts to deteriorate, starting with minor conflicts and slowly snowballing. Amy loved her life in New York and hates this new soulless masion‘esque’ house which she and Nick rent. Nick opens a bar (funded by Amy’s Trust Fund, provided by ‘Amazing Amy’) and runs it with his twin sister, Go. The bar provides a decent living, but the marriage becomes more dysfunctional. On their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing. Nick is left with a clue beginning a treasure hunt which is Amy’s annual celebratory ‘hurrah’ for their lives together. But as the treasure hunt unravels, so do secrets and Nick becomes a prime suspect in the ‘Missing Amy’ case. Review (Spoliers Included) The aspect of ‘He said, She said’, is masterful throughout this book. The main purpose of reading a book, to me, is to understand the characters, so that I can further understand the story. But, Nick & Amy Dunne, even through their POVs,(Nick’s in the present. Amy’s in the past through diary entries) I couldn’t fully figure out their true selves or their motives for doing anything! And I think that is exactly what Gillian Flynn wanted from her readers…confusion and lots and lots of deception. Shady was a word that dropped into my head every time Nick spoke/thought. Even Amy had to search through his computer to figure out her husband’s thoughts as she felt she didn’t fit into his world anymore. I knew he was hiding something, something that will shake my brain, turning it into mush. And it did. I swear my jaw hung wide open when I saw the number ’23′ …twenty three! Yes Mr. Perfect has been cheating, with a student! Oh yes the college professor cliché. But it gets much worse or better depending on how you look at it. Reading on, learning more about Nick, the word that defined him to me…coward. Nick, could have prevented a whole lot of this mess from happening if he had told Amy the truth. But no one knew Amy had earth shattering, vengeful secrets of her own. Yes, the Amy that we have grown to love, has spoon fed us lies and it all unfurls when Nick reaches the answer to the last clue of the treasure hunt. Turn the page. Cut to black. Part Two!!! Turns out Amy is a planner. She likes to plan things; devious, conniving things! She is alive and well (sorta), with a gutful of hate and is driving down the road to revenge. I always thought the craziest people are the most brilliant and boy is Amy brilliant! Diary Amy? Fake. All a ruse to get her husband incriminated for her death. Amy put on a huge masquerade ball and we were all dancing to her music. Theory’s were swirling in my head about her past, rearranging the words in her diary and forming new ‘Deceptive Amy’ words. Nick, after uncovering the contents in the shed, and realises he is being framed by his wife, is scared shitless at this point. He started confessing things that made my hate for him turn into pity. (Dammit Nick! Why didn’t u say all these things before?!! (after reading the truth about him wanting to have a baby. He really wanted one)) Nick learns fast! Now who’s the trapper and who is the trapee???! He begins questioning her old boyfriends and friends and learns a lot about the woman he thought he knew. He learnt that his wife is a mastermind! A psychotic, sociopathic mastermind! He feels cheated and deceived to say the least and he makes plans of his own. Plans that he will never get to redeem. From the beginning money was thrown at us…from ‘Amazing Amy’ money, then losing most of it to the bar and her parents. Amy was stronger with money, had the upper hand. Then the money started to fade, and she started to fade, but Nick was still adored. Now she, in hiding, gets robbed has no money and she’s fading again and Nick is starting on the track to being adored again. I became so confused. Everyone became a suspect at this point. There was not one person I didn’t think was in cahoots with Amy. The lack of trust coated this book in a thick slather and with it came betrayal, horror and a downright disgusted feeling in the pit of my stomach. All I kept thinking during this read was please don’t turn out to be a cliché lifetime movie script. The twist at the end separated it. But i will not reveal it. I will say though that it kinda killed the whole buzz I had while reading. It’s like my balloon deflated The writing flowed beautifully throughout, allowing the story to progress to a slow, very slow climax. These two flawed and frustrating characters had me hooked into their lives until i couldn’t take a minute more of it. The things people will resort to, to be liked, to be loved. I think that should be this book’s motto Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |