Review: Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn
Release Date: May 24, 2012
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Pages: 465
Format: Audiobook
[add on Goodreads]

Summary: Marriage can be a real killer.

One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed that her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit and deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn.

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

My Favorite Lines:

“Because you can't be as in love as we were and not have it invade your bone marrow. Out kind of love can go into remission, but it's always waiting to return. Like the world's sweetest cancer.”   “It's a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of traits selected from an endless Automat of characters. 

And all of us are play-acting, there can be no such thing as a soul mate, because we don't have genuine souls. 

It had gotten to the point where it seemed like nothing matters, because I'm not a real person and neither is anyone else.

I would have done anything to feel real again.” 

Why I Loved It:  First off, this book seriously messed with my mind.  I'd be thinking one thing and "Bam" something totally different came around.  Gone Girl is full of twists and turns, constantly keeping the reader on their toes.

I have to say that the writing was fabulous.  Ms. Flynn is just such a superior writer when it comes to voice and character development.  In all actuality, by the end of the book, she had created four main characters in a novel that seemed to just have two.  The book completely captured the role perspectives and perception has in our society.  Media and public opinion along with true crime journalism have shaped our court system, perhaps not for the better.

The way the story is written is not so much a look into marriage as a look into knowing the ture character of people we think we know.  Ms. Flynn introduces two characters Nick and Amy and twists and messes with your mind until she has won your respect of her writing.

If there is one thing I would rave about above all others, it was her use of voice.  I should say I read this book via audiobook.  It was a pretty awesome audiobook.  My only objection to this book was more of a matter of opinion.  Obscene language was a huge part of this book and many times it just seemed unnecessary.  I would have have enjoyed the book even more.

Regardless, the book was a powerful depiction of perception, betrayal, and a blind righteousness.