Gone Girl

Image Source

I'm a little late to the party when it comes to reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Chances are you've heard the buzz about this book already. Let me just say that all the buzz is well deserved.

I didn't want to step away from the story. The characters had so much depth and so much of that depth was various levels of crazy. I loved reading them while at the same time I didn't like them. I find that to be a very difficult balance and I'm always impressed with an author who can manage to make it happen.

I opted to listen to this book instead of reading it and I think the narrators did a fantastic job bringing Amy and Nick to life. I actually looked forward to cleaning out my closets over the weekend because I knew it would be my chance to finish the story and I couldn't wait to see how Ms. Flynn was going to end it.

It should go without saying that there are going to be spoilers in this and any review I do, but just in case...

I loved her critique on the roll the media plays in the news and defining what's true. Everything gets sensationalized so much and we look for a good story more than the truth sometimes. At first I just thought Nick was awkward and had some unfortunate moments in front of the camera. I quickly started to think that there was more to his actions than what he was letting on in his narrative since withholding information seemed to be so much of what he was doing.

My jaw hit the floor when I finally grasped the extent of Amy's plan and her repeated pattern of completely destroying those who got in the way of what she wanted and wouldn't force themselves to fit into the role she had designed for them. To take so much time to plan out all the details of the disappearance and to leave so many open options as back up is so far beyond anything that I could imagine. It's like everyone was disposable to her once they no longer fit into her vision.

Poor, Desi. I mean he wasn't exactly a night in shining armor, but I don't think he deserved what Amy did to him. Plus I loved the idea that she was going to fake her own murder and then wind up as Desi's prisoner. Payback being a bitch and all. What I liked about him was that he clearly wasn't afraid of Amy and was willing to make her pay for what she did to him unlike the others from her past. In reality their responses of just moving on and keeping their distance were the right choice, but that doesn't make for very exciting reading.

Not that Nick was perfect. I wanted to like him, and I did for a while. But then we found out about his affair and he was much less likable. I kept waiting for there to be more to it, or for him to turn the tables and actually kill Amy. I like the way it was written much better than what I had in mind, though.

I may be the only one I know who liked the ending. It left me a little disturbed and almost physically feeling cold, which is exactly what I liked about it. Neither one of them is truly happy with how things ended up, and I'm going to assume that both will continue plotting against each other for as long as they can.

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads- something I haven't done in a long time.