Wednesday, February 11, 2015

REVIEW: "Gone Girl" - BY: Gillian Flynn


Welcome back Book Lovers! 

I'm pretty excited to bring you a review of "Gone Girl." I'm probably late to the party again, but that's just my style. Not much of a follower... ya know?!

Anyways, "Gone Girl" is probably not new to you and if it is then I feel pretty good about myself because I just taught you a little something ! :) 
Regardless, "Gone Girl" is basically a house-hold name. You've maybe seen the movie and better yet you read the book before you did. I don't know about you but the trailer of the movie definitely mislead me about the book. My impression of the book, just based on the trailer, made me feel as if this was going to be some middle aged women's version of a mystery/crime scene. That sounds a little harsh but mainly what I'm trying to say is that it could be very blase and not the style I'm impressed with. 

I haven't seen the movie yet because I just finished reading the book. As the natural order should go. It was definitely on my radar because of all the interesting things I've heard about the book. 

I was intrigued from the first sentence. The writing style was beautiful. It was fluid, clear and enticing. I kept finding myself trying to play detective. I was trying to think one step ahead of the author. I went through various stages where I thought maybe he did because it sure did seem like it ... but then just when you thought you had it pegged down, she would flip it on you and you were thinking of a totally different scenario. It was a very natural progression but one that definitely shocked you and you love it for doing that.

Something that I love about books is the hold they can have on you. The hold can be before you read it, while you are reading it or after you read it. This book definitely had all 3. I was excited to read it, couldn't put it down and didn't want to let it go. 

I hate to give some big plot or round up about the gist of this book because it has been so popular in the media. However, I will implore you with a small bit about the book that I feel will help you get a good idea and make you read it or not if you haven't already done so.

Amy and Nick have been married for 5 years when Amy suddenly goes missing from their Missouri home. Nick doesn't freak out but is definitely curious as to how this could possibly have happened. He tries to keep his tracks clear because he knows the story with missing wives and the husbands have nothing to show for it. Nick knows his marriage wasn't great. They both turned into different people after they happened to be married for a little while, but Nick denies any involvement in this disappearance. We slowly learn the true inner workings in the mind of Nick and Amy through narration and "diary" entries that Amy has written. Don't count Nick out just yet. Don't let your mind slip into feminist paranoia towards men. Maybe some women are driven  mad and would do anything to seek their "rightful" attention. 

There is a lot about this book that I love. I love the way it is laid out. Every chapter is either in the voice of Nick or Amy. You are constantly getting a contradiction or rather understanding of what you just read in the last chapter. Its enticing and totally "revolutionizes", if I can say that, about the way I feel towards murder mysteries or disappearances. I never really gave them much thought but I'll probably never think of them the same again. And maybe there is a lot of fictionalization that you can't apply to real life but I always say, "Never say never!"

BUT.. I will leave you with something that still seems to keep plaguing me is the ending. For a book that is full of such suspense, insanity and intrigue the ending still makes me sit and wonder what I just read. Maybe it has a deeper meaning then I can truly wrap my head around at the moment. But it felt like an awfully odd way to let things go. 

Either way, it is what it is and I'll let you go by saying: Yes, read the book enjoy it and let me know what you thought about the ending. I definitely want to hear some thoughts about this book! 

Ciao!