Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Nov. 21st, 2015 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroNick comes home one day to discover that his wife Amy is gone, and everything goes to hell. Unreliable narration abounds and dual narratives paint a curious and extremely messed-up picture. (My comments on it are going to be as vague with spoilers as possible, because if you haven't read this, I can probably recommend it.)
I'm actually rather pound of myself that I figured out the second twist shortly after reading the first. I got the details wrong--I thought it possible that other characters might be in on the "gone-ing" anticipate exactly how messed-up the characters are. But I did get the gist of it right.
I found the ending a little unsatisfying in that it wasn't as destructive as I felt like it should be. There were angry loose ends who actually had the means to strike back but didn't. I can almost see a sequel set a few years later, as someone very carefully unwinds a death that looks to all accounts like an innocent accident but was actually a conspiratorial murder years in the making.
I can see how people my read this as misogynist, but the fact that the author is female and goes to great lengths to make it clear that these people are a rare and special kind of damaged means I can shrug that off. It's not meant to represent a common or realistic situation.
Overall: Really good book about really messed-up characters, and a commentary on our media and legal culture. Now I can finally get around to watching the movie, too.
I'm actually rather pound of myself that I figured out the second twist shortly after reading the first. I got the details wrong--I thought it possible that other characters might be in on the "gone-ing" anticipate exactly how messed-up the characters are. But I did get the gist of it right.
I found the ending a little unsatisfying in that it wasn't as destructive as I felt like it should be. There were angry loose ends who actually had the means to strike back but didn't. I can almost see a sequel set a few years later, as someone very carefully unwinds a death that looks to all accounts like an innocent accident but was actually a conspiratorial murder years in the making.
I can see how people my read this as misogynist, but the fact that the author is female and goes to great lengths to make it clear that these people are a rare and special kind of damaged means I can shrug that off. It's not meant to represent a common or realistic situation.
Overall: Really good book about really messed-up characters, and a commentary on our media and legal culture. Now I can finally get around to watching the movie, too.
