18 February 2013

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn


My experience with reading Gone Girl was long and sporadic. I got the book from my library's 7-Day Checkout shelf back in July, then returned it unread because I didn't want to read anything disturbing. I put my name in the hold queue (#65 of 65) and forgot about it. Then in December it showed up again on the 7-Day shelf, but I had to stop reading 90 pages before the end because I have a very wibbly relationship with time. And then 2 days ago, my turn in the queue came up and I got to finish the book, so yay serendipity?

Megs has read this, and so has Alice. I think mostly everyone has? But for those of you who have not, I am declaring this post AND the comments a Safe Zone for Spoilers, because  I want to talk about the rampant Whiskey Tango Foxtrot that happened in this book and no one else has been able to do it.


You've been warned.






All right, People Who Are Left. What a roller coaster ride that was. I think I might have whiplash. 



First, we sympathize with Amy because she’s smart and trying so hard, isn’t she? How sad it is that her relationship is so different from how it seemed. And then BAM! Somewhere around page 140 we find out she’s the elected president of the Democratic Republic of Liarland and we start to sympathize more with Nick, who after all isn’t really thaaaaat bad. And then Desi comes along and we’re like, holy shitballs, that guy has a Bates complex and his Mommy Dearest is a little overbearing, isnt’t she? But he’s not sooooo bad – just a minor character who’s a little obsessed, and who hasn’t been a little obsessed with someone, y’know? Remember when she threw herself down the stairs?



And then Amy gets robbed and we’re like, YES! You deserved that, you whorecrux! And then… wow Desi ends up being cah-razy. Like, Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood crazy, drinking milkshakes out of other people’s yards and such, and we think, maybe Amy’s not so awful that she deserves THIS.

And meantime, Nick is planning to kill her when she comes back and we still kind of think she deserves it a little, but she shows up and then we think she pretty much DEFINITELY deserves it, that crazy bitch. And then we’re not sure who is awfuler, but maybe Nick will get out of there and Amy will go to jail because she murdered someone in cold blood and faked rape wounds now we have to feel sorry for that crazy, horrible mother about her crazy, horrible son, which is distinctly uncomfortable.  

BUT she does not go to jail because Nick decides to stop pursuing this line of thought because – oh my sweet nutbar Aunt Matchi, you guys, the Crazy Train stops twice a day in this town – Amy is preggers despite them not having sex for eeeehver. She is a psychopath whom I have to admire a little – that bitch thinks of everything. 



And in the end, I was strangely satisfied that they ended up together because that amount of sociopathy should NOT be loose upon the world at large. 

8 out of 11 Romantic Treasure Hunts

Comments (6)

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"we find out she’s the elected president of the Democratic Republic of Liarland"

All the points for this.

I'm really, really happy they ended up together. Like...a lot. Because when she was home and Nick was like "IMMA KILL HER" I was like "Noooo you're both so messed up and your relationship is so interestiiiiiing." They just couldn't be with anyone else. And at least now they kind of respect each other and their insanity.

I demand a sequel where we see how their kid is raised.
1 reply · active 649 weeks ago
It was definitely a relief - neither of them deserved to die/go to jail more than the other, and it would have been a one-or-the-other kind of thing.

YES. How to Raise a Sociopath by Gillian Flynn.
You are a genius for reviewing it like this. ALL THE SPOILERS. I loved how Nick was like "I'm a slimy cheating bastard and I'll be your hero, because my wife is a psychopath" (or however that excellent line went). I loved the ending, too. Plus, the sequel you guys are talking about above is totally We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Oh wow, I don't know if I could deal with a sequel to this! Maaaaaan that kid is going to be MESSED UP.

I kind of already knew that I wasn't supposed to like Amy, which RUINED the entire first bit of the novel for me, BUT I still kind of hated Nick regardless? Like, a lot. Not that I liked Amy, but Nick? What a DOUCHE.
LOL! I revealed nothing in my review and you covered everything. Perfectly. i really didn't like the end. They were so warped I wanted something really bad to happen to at least one of them, worse that ending up together that is!
I kept reading through all the drawn-out, detailed story for the sole purpose of seeing how justice is dealt. The ending is simply ridiculous because it does not match anything that the story leads up to. This poorly thought-out ending ruined anything I did like about this book.

Marissa (View Website for Bankruptcy Lawyer Chicago Wipe Out Bills)

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