Gone Girl

The moral of this story: It won't kill you Gone Girl is astounding. It is a gripping story of the courtship and marriage of a narcissist and a sociopath. They appear to be experiencing the normal setbacks of life during our recent financial meltdown: It is easy to identify with them individually, which makes it harder to know who to root for when the wife disappears on the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary and the husband becomes the prime suspect. Neither seems to be Gone Girl is astounding. Neither seems to be telling the whole truth, yet they both remain engaging.

Each one alternates as narrator, so not only does the point-of-view shift, but so does our allegiance. Once the media circus begins we are treated to an updated The Bonfire of the Vanities with a touch of The Silence of the Lambs to keep us on edge. The climax is startling, but also, strangely inevitable. Filled with humor and insight, and enough murder and mayhem to satisfy even the most jaded reader, it is a peculiar hybrid that is hard to resist.

Here's an interesting article about the author: View all 58 comments. I loved it while despising it, how 'bout that? Oh dear, I'm caught between realizing that this is one of the most inconsistent plot-and-characterization-wise books I've read in a long time - as well as one of the most entertaining stay-up-all-night-to-finish books. This book unapologetically flew through the bestsellers and awards lists like a hurricane last year, being praised for its dark nature and unexpected twist and intricate plot a. Nick and Amy have been married for five years, and the marriage has been strained for a while.

They used to be a rich glamorous couple in New York; now they moved to Nick's home state of Missouri having lost their jobs and most of their money. Now Nick is trying to run a bar with his twin sister while Amy apparently sulks at home. And one day, on their anniversary, Amy vanishes without a trace, with her disappearance looking like a result of a foul play, and quite soon Nick finds himself a prime suspect as all the clues somehow point in his direction.

The story is told through alternating perspectives: Oh, and he really cannot stand his wife - and Amy through her diary entries starting seven years prior to events of present time she is a drop-dead-gorgeous woman rich thanks to a well-known series of childhood books written by her parents and based on her - their 'Amazing Amy'. Oh, and unlike what Nick thinks of her, she appears to be - at least through her diary entries - a pathetic doormat. Those parts are kinda awesome - it's like a ticking time bomb that you know is bound to explode.

While the investigation into Amy's disappearance continues, while Nick almost drowns in the mounting evidence against him, we are treated to or perhaps subjected to? Yes, there are some interesting thoughts on the nature of compromise in marriage. And on the danger of loving not a person but your idea of how they should be.

And, later on, Amy's deconstruction of the 'Cool Girl that every man wants' stereotype - even though view spoiler [the only reason she dislikes it is because that requires HER acting contrary to her wishes. She has no problem forcing others to conform to her ideas of how they should be - as long as the end result pleases her hide spoiler ]. But then the second half of the book comes - and the story, at least for me, took a determined steep nosedive. No, it's not the twist and by the time you made it to the halfway mark, the 'twist' is the only logical thing that can happen at this point - but that was fine as I don't understand the obsession with 'twists' that seems to have become the norm recently.

No, it's not the complete and utter unlikability bordering on repulsiveness of both Nick a selfish whiny misogynistic man-child and Amy a view spoiler [cunning, vindictive psychopath that uses that whole doormat personality as a disguise for her revenge plan hide spoiler ] - no, the unlikability is very well-done; I actually enjoyed that part. No, it's a sudden lapse in characterization, the inconsistencies that pop up for the necessity of driving the plot forward - the character changes that make no sense in the frame of this story. Amy - view spoiler [ a brilliant sociopath who plans everything to perfection, suddenly turns into an incompetent pathetic creature who easily gets robbed by chance acquiantances and is easily fooled by Nick's 'heartfelt plea' on TV - all to get her to the place the plot requires her to be, and then suddenly once again resume the role of the evil plotting genius.

Because that does not fit with Nick's characterization up until this point, and nothing happens to make him such except for the need to introduce a 'counterweight' to Amy at this point. But he said,'Because I feel sorry for you. Based on it alone, I'd give this book 4 stars.

But - ughhhh - that disappointing second half - the one with inconsistent characterization, and the twists to fit the plotting, and the ending that makes you go, "And that was it? That's why I read this? Dear god, just think of the monster spawn destined to be raised by this couple from hell! Lovely, lovely buildup, 'meh' and 'you're gotta be kidding me! What is consistent, however, is the sheer readability of this story, the page-turner quality of it, and the pretty decent writing throughout the book.

Altogether it's a 3-star read, full of initial promise but ending on a whimper note. It's actually enough to get me interested in other works by Gillian Flynn. View all 46 comments. Read for Popsugar's Reading Challenge This book was insane. The ending was not at all what I was expecting, and I like that.

View all 13 comments. Gillian Flynn hands you a little black box. Just a tiny movement, a gentle follicular nudge. There is a huge stack of them at Target. These aren't really my thing. She has challenged you. Your ego is Gillian Flynn hands you a little black box. Your ego is on the line. You open the box. And holy crap, how did she manage to fit all this in here? Because yeah, it is a pretty standard box on the outside, and even once you open in up and start messing with it, sliding the pieces around and trying to fit them into place. Oh, it's well done. Intricately carved, ornately detailed, with little embellishments that earn a wry smile, a chuckle, a grunt of admiration.

You can see the solution, just out of reach, but you suspect you'll have it soon. And suddenly, the last piece clicks home, and the box opens fully, revealing an wickedly clever design that you weren't even looking for. You went in overconfident, sure you had the solution clear in your mind, sure you were smarter than the box, smarter than its creator. But that's just what she wanted you to think. The really tricky part is figuring out how to put it back together. You're going to like this part best of all. But you also can't help but notice Gillian Flynn is standing behind you the entire time.

Peering over your shoulder. Making soft little satisfied sounds as she watches you muddle about with each step in the reconstruction. You can practically hear her smirking each time you make a little bit of progress. Good lord, she is all but poking you in the side as you finally fit the last few pieces into place and what lies before you on the table is, once again, a box. Only now you know what's inside, how all the tiny pieces have been sanded and molded and shaped just so , fitting together so perfectly.

The box is, you have to admit, a damned impressive piece of engineering. Probably, you are never going to open it again. You've already solved it. But you can think of about 10 people you want to give it to, to watch them try to puzzle it out too. To put them through the same brain-teasing torture. She has you, and she knows it, and she's already reaching both hands behind her back, itching for the reveal. View all 31 comments. Twisty like a pretzel, dark like unadulterated chocolate, and as compelling as a twisted car wreck, this thriller delivers! On their fifth anniversary, Nick and Amy's marriage implodes when Amy goes missing and Nick is hardly as distraught as he ought to be.

Too much plot summary would detract from the pleasure of reading the book for yourself. Suffice it to say, this is one psychological mind bender accompanied by witty, incisive, laser beam writing; if you like that type of thriller, this one Twisty like a pretzel, dark like unadulterated chocolate, and as compelling as a twisted car wreck, this thriller delivers! Suffice it to say, this is one psychological mind bender accompanied by witty, incisive, laser beam writing; if you like that type of thriller, this one is a bomb.

Gillian Flynn has launched herself into the big league. I loved it, though it might not be for everybody. View all 28 comments. You know those books that are a complete chore to read? The ones you'll do anything -- playing Words with Friends, cleaning the house, scrubbing toilets -- to avoid reading? Then a few weeks go by and you've gotten dumber, because in doing your damnedest to avoid reading said book, menial tasks have turned your brain to mush? Gone Girl has gone to my "sucked" shelf. If I want to hear about bored, unhappily married people, I'll talk to my married friends or delve into something by a cap You know those books that are a complete chore to read?

If I want to hear about bored, unhappily married people, I'll talk to my married friends or delve into something by a capable writer.

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If I want horror and suspense, I'll drop all pretenses and hit up the master. I can't deal with a slow-moving plot about a neurotic suburban housewife and her justifiably distant husband. I can't deal with lines like "She blew more smoke toward me, a lazy game of cancer catch," or "When I think of my wife, I always think of her head It was what the Victorians would call a finely-shaped head.

Then there's the issue with the character named Margo, or Go for short. What a pain in the ass when sentences start with her name. It seems like a verb, then you go on to realize that it's the chick with the annoying name. I just couldn't take it any more. View all 55 comments. You have been warned. I started Gone Girl knowing only these things. One of the bestselling books of , recipient of multiple awards from critics and readers alike, across genres and categories.

Supposedly contains a razor-wire plot, and is some kind of examination of perfection, marriage, and murder in small town, Missouri. I finished the book in less than 24 hours, compulsively turning page after page, needing to know what would happen next, who to trust, how it would all end. And, at the end, I can add one more thing to the list of things I know about this book: A brilliantly written and plotted mystery, a miasma of wretchedness and hate; a book that I devoured but deeply, utterly abhorred.

I will try to do this as spoiler-free as possible. Gone Girl is the alternating point-of-view, semi-epistolary novel that tells two stories about Nick and Amy. In the first story, Amy met Nick in and falls in love with him. She still loves the idea of her husband, though she knows things are falling apart. Nick becomes abusive, hateful, hurtful. And then Amy disappears — just, gone without a trace. In his narrative, Amy is brilliant and beautiful, but also controlling, resentful, and hateful. Their marriage is a sham. Because everything we think we know about Amy and Nick?

Amy is not who we think she is, and Nick is…well, ok Nick is still douchetastically pathetic. In this second story, we learn more about this toxic couple from hell, and the pit of spite and grief that is their marriage. She creates two ok, three characters that are completely distinct, and she alternates these points of view with incredible deftness and ease, building a complex narrative — a complex crime — that is deeply disturbing but brilliantly executed.

The first part of the book makes you question what you know about these characters, their lives and their secrets. Everyone is unreliable, everything is questionable. This is all really fucking good. This, I did not like. I hated the way the story develops in the second part of the book, and I especially hated the way that it ends.

I hated the pointlessness of the story — why does it need to be told? What does it accomplish?

‎Gone Girl () directed by David Fincher • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

What does it say about us, as people? He whines, he pretends, he is so full of incompetence and ennui and self-important horseshit. He wants to be a MAN and Amy — brilliant, beautiful, spoiled, vindictive, Amy — has stolen that from him. Which brings me to Amy. It turns out that Amy is not the eager to please doormat that she presents herself as in the first part of the book. No, she is an honest to goodness sociopath that has elaborately planned and framed her cheating pathetic loser of a husband for her death. As sick as it is, I actually liked the first twist: Are you fucking kidding me?

THESE are the actions of the same methodical, patient mind that came up with this elaborate revenge scheme against her husband? And that is the end of Gone Girl. There are plenty of other problems, too, but Ana has covered them all, below. It opens on the day of their fifth anniversary, the day when Amy goes missing. Soon — as these things go — the investigators start to focus on the husband.

But is Nick guilty? Did he really kill his wife? If not, what happened to Amy?

How ‘Gone Girl’ and ‘Notting Hill’ Tell the Same Story

As the plot progresses, their story is slowly revealed to the reader: Then comes part 2 and the twist: As such, her diaries entries are all faked concoctions. It becomes clear then that Amy is really, a psychopath. Gone Girl almost had me there for a while — I can vouch for how incredibly readable and engaging it is. I could not put it down and I had to find out what was going to happen to these people.

I also thought that structurally speaking — with the alternating unreliable narratives — the novel was competent. It was also a success in the way that it portrayed its two deeply unpleasant, unlikeable main characters. The reader is supposed to despise these people, and loathe them I certainly did although it made for a fucking unpleasant reading experience. But ok fine, this is a very personal reaction.

And if a reader is used to reading epistolary novels, unreliable narrators and thrillers, it is easy to know that a twist is coming. Considering all this, is the main twist even that surprising? That said, this is not my main point of contention with the novel. The recurring themes are what give me pause for thought. It is possible to argue that the one of the main themes of Gone Girl is its thoughtful examination of marriage difficulties; or to question how well two people can really know each other or allow the other to know you and, unfair expectations.

This means that the book only really works on its own microcosm of darkness. Another recurring theme throughout is the question of misogyny. Amy on the other hand, is presented as a kind of feminist with her astute observations about social gender constructs by constantly calling on the bullshit of unfair social expectations around her gender. So on a cursory glance one could argue that the book is feminist. He is also the one who in the end, needs to contain the psycho bitch by staying with her and helping her bringing up their child. So then all of a sudden this passive-aggressive, liar, stunted, cheater is the HERO?

The one main thread of the book, the one point that is laboriously written through the first two parts is how Amy is incredibly smart and brilliant. She has to be, in order to manipulate, concoct and maintain all the plans she has over the course of her short life. But then get this, right? Nick concocts his own plan to make Amy change her mind and come back. And his plan consists of appearing live on TV and saying that he forgives her, that he understands who she really is and he loves her anyway. Amy — psychopath, brilliant Amy — has a change of heart almost as immediately as she watches his interview.

BUT the first half of the book was all about setting up and making sure we understood how much of a bullshit detector Amy actually had. So which one is it? Either she is a brilliant psychopath or a gullible idiot. And I am going to nitpick too: Nick is in his early thirties buy he sounds fucking ancient. I devoured Gone Girl but I fucking hated it. View all 29 comments. Because for the time spent reading, this book entirely owned me.

My focus, my world, my thoughts, were swept away by these insanely unrivaled characters and the darkness of their story. And the suspense of it all left me in a constant state of guessing — straight to its twisted end. Gone Girl is not a happy, feel-good love story with just a few bumps in an otherwise silky road. This road is paved in despair and carries you on an intense journey of whodunit's, how's, and why's. The solemn tone is very often lightened with humor, slapping on a thick coat of irony along the way Yes, this IS all very sick, but the snarky narration has me laughing anyway.

The characters are complex and being generous here barely likable, but I did feel tiny traces of empathy and sadness for them. However, this book isn't about falling in love with its characters, but simply gaining an addictive interest in their story - a haunting story that will confuse you, sadden you, sicken you, surprise you, and gravely entertain you in the process. It's rich in suspense and tight in execution. Just when you think you've figured out where the plot is heading, you'll find yourself guessing again. Even the elements I had figured out were drastically more intense than I'd imagined.

And I must gush over the writing because that's honestly what held me captive most: Witty, intelligent, insightful, descriptive, original. Long sentences, with choppy thoughts, and it all fit perfectly. I felt the anxiety of this story. So here's a very spoiler-free gist of the story After five years of what has now become a shaky marriage, Nick's wife goes missing leaving Nick the prime suspect in her sudden disappearance.

Nick is a man of little outward emotion who eats his pain as to not let others see his imperfections. He's a chameleon of a man who would sooner suffocate himself with lies before breathing a single truth that might condemn him. But he soon finds himself condemned anyway, as the truths slowly begin to unravel. This story is told in dual perspectives that oscillate between past and present. I loved the structure; I loved the delivery, and I loved not knowing what was hiding around each corner. I realize there is some controversy over this story's ending, and while I won't reveal any details, I will say that I found it to be neither a disappointment nor a knock-your-socks-off grand finale.

Instead, I found it a rather fitting scenario that just made sense in relation to the overall tone of the story. If you're wondering why I thought the ending was so apt, here's my reasoning: Although only click if you've read the book. Nick's need for perfection and acceptance, and Amy's desperate need to WIN and be worshipped whether it's genuine or not. I found the fact they remained together SO tragic that it was almost comical. In this case, a glorified ending of redemption just would have felt forced and too 'happy' for this bitter tale.

People want their characters to obtain a proper justice Well fleshed out and vivid. A suspenseful search for a man's missing wife with tons of twists. I've been completely fangirling over Gillian Flynn since her debut Sharp Objects six years ago. It remains one of my all-time-favorites, along with Flynn's sophomore novel Dark Places. No one writes the inner workings of warped and damaged human psychology better than this woman. With complete conviction I place her in the same category alongside the likes of Flannery O'Connor and Shirley Jackson.

Flynn has a devilish, uncanny flair for creating memorable characters and twisty plots that drive d I've been completely fangirling over Gillian Flynn since her debut Sharp Objects six years ago. Flynn has a devilish, uncanny flair for creating memorable characters and twisty plots that drive down unexpected roads shrouded in fog the end of which you cannot see until you're smack upon it.

So you can bet I've been anxiously awaiting this latest release with agonized, bated breath. Despite missing some of the texture and nuances of her first two books, this time out Flynn has offered up a bonafide page turner of the sordid, sensationalist kind that makes summer reading oh-so-sweet. Trust me when I say, if you're only going to take one book to the beach or cottage this summer, it's gotta be Gone Girl. I'm also going to encourage you to avoid all reviews except this one, haha!

Even more than her other novels, Gone Girl is so easy to spoil. Which is why I'm going to say very little about the actual inner workings of the story itself. And if I feel the need to get even close to doing that, be rest assured it will be put behind a spoiler tag. A list of lovables: What makes Gone Girl such a compulsive read is the alternating points of view. Dueling voices in any novel can result in epic fail , especially when the voices are so similar as to be indistinguishable. If you're going to tell the story from different points of view, you better make sure the points of view are actually I don't think I've ever seen alternating voices handled so effectively as they are here with husband Nick and wife Amy.

As you read, you begin to wonder if either of these narrators are in the least reliable , if you're perhaps not getting full disclosure after all. I absolutely adored that pernicious doubt and shifting sympathies. It's like watching nature programs that can be shot to make you cheer for the wolf pack one week, and for the moose the week after. You bet it is! But trust me, being manipulated by a master like Flynn is sheer delight. Media as judge, jury and executioner: C'mon, we all know it don't we? Murder suspects of every sort and circumstance are tried first in the media and found guilty or innocent before the case ever makes it to trial.

Before an arrest is even made, pundits, "news" anchors and bloggers put forth his or her theories and "insights" decrying yay or nay. You've seen Nancy Grace at work, haven't you? Flynn does a wonderful job here of dissecting our at times unhealthy, obsessive appetite for the sordid. How our voracious consumption of mass media provokes sympathy or outrage, how easily we are influenced to see a person as a saint or a devil.

Innocent until proven guilty? Not so much these days. And good luck finding an impartial jury.

With the meteoric rise of social media, you would have to go all the way to Mars in some instances in order to enlist "untainted" jurors. The only thing humans do with more abandon and conviction than fall in love is fall out of love: Love is grand, marriage can be a beautiful, wonderful thing The rise and fall of any relationship carries within it the potential to be staggering in scope and severity.

What we once adored about one another, we now loathe. What we lingered over and savored to the last sub-atomic particle, we now want to obliterate from our awareness, pull an eternal sunshine of the spotless mind if you please. Oh yeah, I think we've all been there. More than anything, Flynn is putting gender relations and the perils of romance under a microscope, and her scrutiny doesn't miss a thing.

It's tawdry, and titillating, and twisted, and didn't I already say the perfect effing read for this summer??? The only fly in the ointment here is that Flynn manages heaping amounts of sensational, but only moderate traces of substance. This novel's engine runs on the nitroglycerin of shocking twists and the suspension of disbelief.

Flynn largely ignores the gritty demands of realism here as they will only act as sugar in the gasoline, binding and stalling a story that has taken flight like a jet-fueled rocket bound for stratospheric heights. When you are strapped on to that rocket, you won't be worrying about realism though. You'll be banging on the table like Harry's Sally screaming - yes! Except in this case, you'll mean it. I didn't have to fake a single thing: Nov 28, Emma Giordano rated it it was amazing.

This book was such a mindfuck and I've never read anything like it before. View all 7 comments. Nov 10, Darth J rated it liked it. So I decided it would be a little fun to put my own spin on this by casting Gone Girl in the following way: Amy Poehler as the sociopathic Amy Dunne. Nick Cage as Nick Dunne. And Desi Arnaz as Desi Collings. In the beginning Amy manipulates the reader with her diary entries into thinking: But halfway through the reader discovers: While Nick does wrong by cheating on his wife, Amy decides to stage an elaborate scene to teach him a lesson and turn the public on him--even go so far as to write years of f So I decided it would be a little fun to put my own spin on this by casting Gone Girl in the following way: While Nick does wrong by cheating on his wife, Amy decides to stage an elaborate scene to teach him a lesson and turn the public on him--even go so far as to write years of false diary entries and is willing to kill herself to set him up for murder.

Apparently, she has a history of drawing people close and then publicly humiliating them with underhanded tactics designed to make her look like the victim. This stems from her own boredom and cloying need to have people recognize her greatness. Amy is that special kind of snowflake who isn't nearly as smart as she thinks she is , as there are people who see through her bullshit, but since she's a master manipulator and liar she is able to fool most rubes without the slightest question because she acts so sweet and above it all.

The book and the film deviate in a few ways such as Amy killing Desi with a steak knife instead of a box cutter, a backstory with another person Amy decided to frame as a "stalker", and a distinct lack of Affleck peen see the spoiler for the shocking pic. And Nick doesn't seem to be written like a man thinks. Both go off on tangents and flashbacks in nearly each paragraph to flesh out the past, but it's like too many side stories and they distract from the overall flow. I think, much like Amy, the author is looking for readers to recognize her amazing -ness though it often comes off like being cornered at a party by the person who is so into themselves and must try to sell you on how interesting they are while you nod politely and try to catch a lull in the conversation to extricate yourself.

It's long-winded, self-indulgent, and would be more entertaining if it wasn't so busy trying to tell you how smart it is. View all 14 comments. Dec 10, Mischenko rated it really liked it. This book is featured on this week's Throwback Thursday https: Others begin to wonder if Nick could be the perpetrator and the book will leave you wondering what really happened to Amy throughout. You will more than likely be shocked.

To me, the characters were fairly unforgettable! I mixed the book and audible for this one and did enjoy the narration. My rating on this one is 4 stars. View all 10 comments. Okay, here is the thing. I like dark and twisted stories. The twisted plotlines and authentically scarred characters pull me and I am hooked. Gillian Flynn wrote such a story line very well in Sharp Objects. That story is messed up but beautiful all the same. Donna Tartt and Tana French are other authors that know how to write about those dark places in the human soul. But it isn't just darkness in these stories that I love, there is also intensely developed characters and character driven plot Okay, here is the thing.

But it isn't just darkness in these stories that I love, there is also intensely developed characters and character driven plot lines but the presence of a very smart and impressive plot as well. Gone Girl was on my list of books to by for close to a year before it was released. There are very few authors who can do this genre well. Gone Girl in the end is a decent read. It is completely unpredictable, it is dark and the characters are twisted. The story is told from the alternating point of view of a wife and husband. The story pulls you in and you think that you know what is happening, you think you know the characters and then BAM.

I don't want to write more about the surprises and plot twists because it will rob readers of the experience.

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I thought the twists were amazing and well done. Though admittedly, I was mad at the first major plot surprise. I had to put the book okay my kindle down and walk away from the story for a short period of time. But in the end I realized that Flynn was brilliant. She made me buy in completely to a certain idea of what the couple and the story was about. Issues of gender and economics are themes that Flynn touched on in Sharp Objects and she does that in Gone Girl as well.

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The main characters are without jobs, frustrated by the economy and have moved to a small dying midwest town. Concepts of what make a woman appealing and what is expected from a woman are consistently but subtly danced around in both Sharp Objects and Gone Girl. Family ties and relationships are unwound and what remains is not all that pretty. In the end, though, the characters were too far down the unlikable path for my taste.

They were not redeemable. Although Nick knows she's lying, he has no proof and is forced to return to married life with Amy as the media storm dies down. Though forced to remain with his wife, Nick soon begins writing a memoir detailing Amy's crimes and deceptions. Aware of Nick's intentions to expose her lies, Amy uses Nick's semen they had saved at a fertility clinic to make herself pregnant. She then forces him to delete his book by threatening to keep him from their unborn child. In the end, Nick deletes his memoir and chooses to stay with Amy for his child's sake.

Her other two books were about people incapable of making commitments, but in this novel, she tried to depict the ultimate commitment, marriage: Flynn admits to putting some of herself in the character of Nick Dunne. Like Dunne, she was a popular culture writer. Also, like Dunne, she was laid off after many years at the same job. I definitely wove that sense of unrest and nervousness into Nick's character. Asked how she can write so believably about a man's inner life, Flynn says, "I'm kind of part guy myself. In that essay, Flynn confesses to sadistic childhood impulses like "stunning ants and feeding them to spiders.

The same essay argues that women fail to acknowledge their own violent impulses and incorporate them into their personal narratives, though men tend to cherish stories of their childhood meanness. Flynn said she admired the "ominous" ending of Notes on a Scandal and the pathology of a bad marriage from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Mom kind of likes him! However, she tries not to read any one genre exclusively, and she also admires Joyce Carol Oates , Margaret Atwood , T. Boyle , and Arthur Phillips , who are better known as realistic contemporary writers.

Gone Girl is an example of mystery, suspense, and crime genres. A Reader's Digest review, for instance, notes that the book is "more than just a crime novel".

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The review goes on to describe Gone Girl as a "masterful psychological thriller" which offers "an astute and thought-provoking look into two complex personalities". However, the novel does more with these devices than the thriller genre requires: In her New York Times review, Janet Maslin also writes that the elements of Gone Girl that "sound like standard-issue crime story machinations" are not, because both narrators are also consummate liars and cannot be trusted to convey the truth about their own stories.

Gone Girl's themes include dishonesty, the devious media, the unhappiness that comes with a troubled economy, and the superficial nature of appearance. The characters lie to each other and the reader about affairs and disappearances. Amy fabricates a fake diary to implicate her husband for her disappearance and murder. Flynn says that, in writing the book, she wanted to examine how people within a marriage lie to each other: But your spouse never sees those warts really until you get deeper into the marriage and let yourself unwind a bit.

An underlying theme is the brief undertone of feminism, most notably represented in Amy's 'Cool Girl' speech. For some, it is in this monologue that the otherwise despised Amazing Amy emerges as an unlikely heroine of sorts; flying the flag for women who refuse to succumb to the pressure to morph into the male's ideal. Several reviews have also noted how well Gone Girl shows the tricky nature of media representation.

Nick seems guilty due to media coverage before a trial occurs. Flynn has also said that she wanted this novel to capture the sense of bankruptcy that both individuals and communities feel when the economy spirals. Not only have both her main characters lost their jobs, they have also moved to a town that is blighted by unsold houses and failed businesses.

I wanted it to really feel like a marriage that had been hollowed out in a city that had been hollowed out and a country that was increasingly hollowed out," said Flynn. Amy's "Cool Girl" speech and the vital task of Nick's performing for his media spectators, highlight the importance of establishing and maintaining appearances, however false. She only returns to him after he gives a convincing public performance in the role of perfect husband.

However, it is not his sincerity she is attracted to, she knows he is putting on an act, but the appearance of it. Amy views Nick as her ideal husband in the end because she knows he must appear to be her ideal husband, permanently, due to her blackmail and the risk of public condemnation. In exchange, she will appear as an ideal wife and mother, a trade Nick accepts. Both prefer the appearance the other projects over the reality of the person they married.

By the end of its first year in publication, Gone Girl had sold over two million copies in print and digital editions, according to the book's publisher. Reviewers express admiration for the novel's suspense, a plot twist involving an unreliable narrator, its psychological dimension, and its examination of a marriage that has become corrosive.

Entertainment Weekly describes it as "an ingenious and viperish thriller. Many reviewers have noted the difficulty of writing about Gone Girl , because so little in the first half of the novel is what it seems to be. In his Time review, Lev Grossman describes the novel as a "house of mirrors. In an article in Salon. The same article argues that Gone Girl was snubbed because it belongs to the mystery genre.

Judges awarding top literary prizes "have all refrained from honoring any title published within the major genres. Natasha Walter, one of the Women's Prize judges in , told the Independent that there was considerable debate amongst the judges about the inclusion of Gone Girl in the finalists' circle. Walter indicated that crime fiction is often "overlooked" by those in a position to make literary commendations. It is an unabridged edition on fifteen compact discs and takes The novel's author Gillian Flynn was engaged to write the screenplay. Witherspoon was drawn to the script because of its strong female character and its use of multiple perspectives and non-linear structure.

New Regency and Fox agreed to co-finance the film. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. New York, New York: