I tend to avoid overly hyped things. Ergo, I waited quite some time to read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Ad really I only read it now because I knew I would be clocking lots of hours in the car driving between the new house and the old house, and it was available on audio book and 20 plus hours long.
In case you are the .079% of the population who doesn’t know what this book is about…
Basic Summary (Courtesy of Goodreads):
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. 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?
My thoughts:
I wouldn’t say this book was spellbinding or the best thing written this year (comments from goodreads reviewers). In fact, I spotted all the how’s before they were revealed. Sure I knew going in she wasn’t really missing (you can’t be alive today and not know that). I’m talking about all the “how she set him up” reveals. For example, the second Noelle announces Amy is pregnant, I knew Amy wasn’t and that somehow she got Noelle’s pee to fake the results. It just wasn’t “shocking.”
It was pleasant to listen to. A slow undulation of two people fully destroying each other. But I was pretty ok with that, they signed up for that. I was even ok with the Desi thing, he was pretty slimy himself.
The ending is what makes me hate this book. I know quite well what it is like to grow up with a mentally unbalanced mother and a father who avoids her and by extension you. I felt my blood boil listening to those last few minutes. I do not like this book anymore. It is forever tainted by the life time of suffering awaiting that child.
T.A. Henry 