“Love makes you want to be a better man. But maybe love, real love, also gives you permission to just be the man you are.”
Title: Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
Published by: Broadway Books on 26th August 2014 (first published on January 1, 2012)
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Adult, Suspense
Setting: North Carthage, Missouri
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 560 pages
My Copy Source: Borrowed
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?
Warning: This is a spoiler-free review, but I suggest that you do not continue if you want a surprising ride through the book. That's what I did, I didn't trust to read reviews because it might give me small insights and I know that this is not a book to spoil. I read the reviews after and I saw some have the same reaction that I had towards the end.
My initial reaction:What the fudge did I just read?!
Okay, my mind is on a whirlwind of emotions up until now. I finished this book a few days ago but I'm still debating whether I liked the ending or not. I loved the book, yes, I admired everything about it especially the twist, yes, but gosh that's not how I wanted it to end. Few chapters before the end, I was so convinced that my mind's ending picture is how the book's gonna end, but when I got there, the next thing I knew, I was facing an acknowledgement page and I was like, "WHAT?! THE?! HELL?! That's it?" and I am really disappointed at first, because it did not satisfy my thirst for justice, but, oh well, I guess I'll just have to suck it up.
Up until now, as I write this review, I can't make up my mind. I have a lot of what ifs bubbling up inside me that I can't talk about because I want this to be a spoiler-free review but it's just hard because this book is all about the "twist" and if I slipped up even just a little, the "WTF moment" will be ruined, and I do not want that to happen especially to those of you who haven't read the book yet. And I tell you, everything about Gillian Flynn's novel is a big cipher that you have to decode; it's a big "WHO?!", that in the end, everything that you are certain in the beginning will shatter to the ground and you'll join the what-the-hell-just-happened? club.
This is a tale of love, marriage, betrayal, lies, lies, and more lies. The story keeps coming at you in all directions and you can't run away from the reality that it's crushing everything that you believed in. No characters can be trusted because there's so much to learn in each of them and as the story unravels, the person you once knew is not the same person anymore and you're suddenly in a roller coaster ride of deceits and lies.
I gave the book four stars because I want this certain character to have a life out of the marriage. I want to bitch slap someone in the face because of *bleeeep*, yeah I can't spoil you guys. But ughhh, this is all so frustrating!!! The one star deduction doesn't make me love Gone Girl less. I love it and I hope you guys do/did too.
I really want to to talk to someone about it [I've discussed it to my bookwormie friend and she liked the ending, as opposed to my dislike. Well.], drop me a message and let's talk, I want to spill my thoughts!
This is my first Gillian Flynn novel (and won't be my last), but I must say, her words roll off my internal tongue like butter. Her writing is simple enough without feeling stupid, but flows really nicely without feeling rhythmically forced. I mean this as a compliment because sometimes I just want an engaging story which is exactly what she delivered without it being predictable and cardboard feeling as many "mysteries" are to me.
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