Saturday, September 22, 2012

Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Title: Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
ISBN: 030758836X
Pages: 432
Time It Took Me to Read: 5 Days       

 
Gone Girl was a book I was aware of, since my friend reviewed it on her blog and another friend recommended it. I was determined to get my hands on it since I had been seeing it everywhere. Gone Girl’s reserve list at the library was so large that it would’ve taken FOREVER for me to get. My friend with the blog lent it to me and just like that, I got involved in another book phenomenon.

This book opens on the day of Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. They met and spent the first years of their marriage in New York. However, due to layoffs and the demise of Nick’s mother’s health, they move back to Nick’s hometown in Missouri. Not sure what to do next, Nick opens a bar with his twin sister, Go, while Amy stays at home. Then, Amy disappears on the day of their anniversary and Nick becomes the prime suspect.

The book cuts from Nick’s point of view in the present and Amy’s diary entries that chronicle the time they met to a few days before her disappearance. From the first few pages, the mystery of what happened to Amy looms over the book and creates brilliantly constructed suspense. Everyone and their mother will tell you that a huge twist comes into the middle. The twist was believable, explained beautifully, and definitely a game-changer. If you need one reason to read this book, the twist would be it.

Now, these characters. You may want to do bodily harm to one of them. I won’t say which one, but I would meet one of them in a dark alley with my fist. My friend who lent it to me found the characters extremely unlikable and while I can see why, I believe these people showed the worst of themselves because of the marriage they were in. These characters were as complex as any person I’ve ever met and very few books have characters with this much life.  
 
All in all, this book had gorgeous pacing, incredibly unique and full-bodied characters, and implied interesting themes about marriage so it had that bigger picture scope. Gillian Flynn should be proud of this effort and I cannot wait to see what else she has written or will write in the future.

Grade: A

 

 

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