Gone Girl
Holy shit.
This book is the perfect example of how (and maybe why) I tend to be so behind the times in the book world. It came out three years ago, and there was a ton of hype. Everyone was talking about it. They read it in on sitting! The twist was so incredible! No one saw it coming and no one could put it down.
I was skeptical (I had somewhat recently been burned by the Twilight hype). I found out what that twist was (Amy did it!) and decided I didn't want to read it. My mother-in-law even lent it to me and it sat on the side table for months while I studiously ignored it, refusing to be pulled into the hype. And then it got turned into a movie so the hype continued.
But then an interesting thing happened. I continued to see people talking about Gone Girl. About Gillian Flynn's other books. I read one of her short stories and was intrigued. It seemed like there might be something more here than an unexpected twist midway through the book. So when I saw it at the used book store for $2, I figured it was worth checking out. (Yeah, that is more than I'd have paid if I'd just read it two years ago with everyone else. But I couldn't very well ask to borrow it again. Especially since I'm currently playing the same game with Haruki Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which, ironically enough, is referenced in Gone Girl as the kind of book Amy would like to have read but Nick looks down on.)
So yes, this book is a psychological thriller. A murder mystery with a shocking twist that I already knew about. Knowing it was coming pulled me through the first 200 pages, as I waited for the reveal, and then I found myself in the same conundrum as so many other people - continuing to read late into the night because I simply could not put the book down. But there are so many other twists I didn't see coming. And twists I suspected that never happened, which was almost as surprising. (I was sure, at one point, that her father was in on it with her.)
But beyond the mystery, it's an interesting rumination on our performance of gender roles. On the harm we do when we try to be who we think we should be instead of who we are. On failing to trust the people closest to us and how manipulation can be both premeditated (in Amy's case) and accidental (Nick). It's about a horrifying worst-case-scenario of a marriage between two deeply damaged people. And the most horrifying part is that they're going to make a monster of their own.
This book was gripping on so many levels, and I'm so glad I finally gave into the hype and read it. And that Kevin hasn't gotten around to canceling the HBO yet, because I'm definitely watching the movie this Friday.
This book is the perfect example of how (and maybe why) I tend to be so behind the times in the book world. It came out three years ago, and there was a ton of hype. Everyone was talking about it. They read it in on sitting! The twist was so incredible! No one saw it coming and no one could put it down.
I was skeptical (I had somewhat recently been burned by the Twilight hype). I found out what that twist was (Amy did it!) and decided I didn't want to read it. My mother-in-law even lent it to me and it sat on the side table for months while I studiously ignored it, refusing to be pulled into the hype. And then it got turned into a movie so the hype continued.
But then an interesting thing happened. I continued to see people talking about Gone Girl. About Gillian Flynn's other books. I read one of her short stories and was intrigued. It seemed like there might be something more here than an unexpected twist midway through the book. So when I saw it at the used book store for $2, I figured it was worth checking out. (Yeah, that is more than I'd have paid if I'd just read it two years ago with everyone else. But I couldn't very well ask to borrow it again. Especially since I'm currently playing the same game with Haruki Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which, ironically enough, is referenced in Gone Girl as the kind of book Amy would like to have read but Nick looks down on.)
So yes, this book is a psychological thriller. A murder mystery with a shocking twist that I already knew about. Knowing it was coming pulled me through the first 200 pages, as I waited for the reveal, and then I found myself in the same conundrum as so many other people - continuing to read late into the night because I simply could not put the book down. But there are so many other twists I didn't see coming. And twists I suspected that never happened, which was almost as surprising. (I was sure, at one point, that her father was in on it with her.)
But beyond the mystery, it's an interesting rumination on our performance of gender roles. On the harm we do when we try to be who we think we should be instead of who we are. On failing to trust the people closest to us and how manipulation can be both premeditated (in Amy's case) and accidental (Nick). It's about a horrifying worst-case-scenario of a marriage between two deeply damaged people. And the most horrifying part is that they're going to make a monster of their own.
This book was gripping on so many levels, and I'm so glad I finally gave into the hype and read it. And that Kevin hasn't gotten around to canceling the HBO yet, because I'm definitely watching the movie this Friday.
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