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On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?… (more)
claudiemae: I really enjoyed this book,my first read by this author. I got "Gone Girl,because i like how this author writes.But,I did not like "Gone Girl',really,was this written by Gillian Flynn? I was dissapointed,and hope she can do better with her next one,she does have talent.… (more)
BookshelfMonstrosity: Dark, disturbing secrets belie seemingly perfect marriages in these fast-paced, compelling psychological suspense novels, which unfold from multiple perspectives. In each, the narrator searches for a missing spouse who may not be the person they thought they knew.… (more)
BookshelfMonstrosity: In these character-driven and intricately plotted psychological suspense stories, seemingly devoted husbands become prime suspects in their wives' disappearances. As investigations unfold, disturbing secrets are unearthed -- casting both couples' relationships in a new and unsettling light.… (more)
GirlMisanthrope: "Consequences" too has twists and turns, becomes sinister, while detailing an insane relationship. Cold, calculating, then a shocking ending.
KayCliff: Both novels have multiple points of view, an unreliable narrator, and a complex, clever plot, but only Gone Girl is stuffed with filthy language.
Spoilers ahead, but can anyone spoil Gone Girl in 2023?
Maybe it's because I live in a post "Gone Girl as Phenomenon" world, but this book fell flat for me. The wealth of angry, unhinged, and ill women that have been the subjects of more recent books may have spoiled me for good representation of bad women. There's something artificial and untrue, rather than Teflon or reactionary, about Amy.
I loved the deftness of Amy recognizing that her machinations were not enough to allow her to escape being controlled by others. But then, she neatly and murderously disposes of Desi for positioning her as a "kept woman."
However much she wants to reject it, Amy is like other girls. Her anger at the idea of a flawless sex robot who shares all her boyfriend's opinions is beyond fair. Still, her rage at being forced into an ideal turns toward other women and extreme individual actions rather than fundamental changes because she doesn't think of herself as flawed in the ways other women are.
I wish we'd spent more of the book with Amy scheming in a frenzy to reclaim power at Desi's property or grounded in the moments where Amy created and manipulated an alternative world. Having her reveal her "master plan" only to get robbed by two painful stereotypes felt forced; it's as if an editor said, "show us she doesn't have perfect judgment," and so Gillian Flynn squeezed the Appalachian motel sequence into her book, slowing the story and blunting its impact.
Framing one's husband for murder does tend to imply that one is not a good person, whatever we mean by that, and I appreciate that the narrative never forces Amy to be good. Still, I hoped she would extend her feeling of being an avenging angel to other women. Instead, she gleefully insists she's smarter than anyone else ever and never handles her internalized misogyny, which extends to moments of blaming women for domestic abuse they experience and faking rape accusations.
Overall, the subject and characters were compelling, but the framing never clicked for me. I appreciated its specific geographic and economic setting more than the concept of it all, which is telling. ( )
Did not finish this book. Somehow after just reading Poet Ben Lerner and Penelope Lively, the writing was not up to snuff for me. The premise was good but I was put off immediately by the writing and felt like there were better choices in my bedside table stack of to-reads. ( )
I gave it 4 stars only because I really did not like ending. I was expecting her to get caught and at least do time for what she has done. Gillian Flynn is a phenomenal writer and I love her way of telling a story. I am now on to read her other books. Starting with Sharp Edges. ( )
Flynn writes bright, clever, cynical sentences. Maybe too many of them in Gone Girl. The same facts and ideas seem to repeat themselves. But that’s a minor gripe in a book that never slacks in tightening the suspense.
The basic questions the mystery asks are these: did the journalist husband murder his well-to-do missing wife or is she setting him up to pay a creepy price? On Flynn’s slick way to reaching the answer, she pulls the rug from under us readers three times. Or was it four?
added by VivienneR | editThe Toronto Star, Jack Batten(Jun 2, 2012)
This American author shook up the thriller scene in 2007 with her debut Sharp Objects, nasty and utterly memorable. Gone Girl, her third novel, is even better – an early contender for thriller of the year and an absolute must read.
Love is the world's infinite mutability: Lies, hatred, murder even, are all knit up in it; it is the inevitable blossoming of its opposites, a magnificent rose smelling faintly of blood.
Tony Kushner, THE ILLUSION
Dedication
To Brett: light of my life, senior and Flynn: light of my life, junior
First words
When I think of my wife, I always think of her head.
Quotations
I don’t know that we are actually human at this point, those of us who are like most of us, who grew up with TV and movies and now the Internet. If we are betrayed, we know the words to say; when a loved one dies, we know the words to say. It we want to play the stud or the smart-ass or the fool, we know the words to say. We are all working from the same dog-eared script.
I'm a big fan of the lie of omission.
I hated Nick for being surprised when I became me.
You are an average, lazy, boring, cowardly, woman-fearing man. Without me, that’s what you would have kept on being, ad nauseam. But I made you into something. You were the best man you’ve ever been with me. And you know it.
It’s a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless Automat of characters.
Last words
I don't have anything else to add. I just wanted to make sure I had the last word. I think I've earned that.
On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?
▾Library descriptions
No library descriptions found.
▾LibraryThing members' description
Book description
Golden boy Nick Dunne, brings his socialite wife, Amy, back to live in his hometown on the Mississippi River. She is miserable and on their fifth wedding anniversary she disappears. Soon Nick finds himself lying, and acting inappropriately but continues to claim his innocence with his twin sister at his side.
Haiku summary
Lies disguised as truth/Is she dead or simply gone?/Ask Punch and Judy. (BrileyOC)
Maybe it's because I live in a post "Gone Girl as Phenomenon" world, but this book fell flat for me. The wealth of angry, unhinged, and ill women that have been the subjects of more recent books may have spoiled me for good representation of bad women. There's something artificial and untrue, rather than Teflon or reactionary, about Amy.
I loved the deftness of Amy recognizing that her machinations were not enough to allow her to escape being controlled by others. But then, she neatly and murderously disposes of Desi for positioning her as a "kept woman."
However much she wants to reject it, Amy is like other girls. Her anger at the idea of a flawless sex robot who shares all her boyfriend's opinions is beyond fair. Still, her rage at being forced into an ideal turns toward other women and extreme individual actions rather than fundamental changes because she doesn't think of herself as flawed in the ways other women are.
I wish we'd spent more of the book with Amy scheming in a frenzy to reclaim power at Desi's property or grounded in the moments where Amy created and manipulated an alternative world. Having her reveal her "master plan" only to get robbed by two painful stereotypes felt forced; it's as if an editor said, "show us she doesn't have perfect judgment," and so Gillian Flynn squeezed the Appalachian motel sequence into her book, slowing the story and blunting its impact.
Framing one's husband for murder does tend to imply that one is not a good person, whatever we mean by that, and I appreciate that the narrative never forces Amy to be good. Still, I hoped she would extend her feeling of being an avenging angel to other women. Instead, she gleefully insists she's smarter than anyone else ever and never handles her internalized misogyny, which extends to moments of blaming women for domestic abuse they experience and faking rape accusations.
Overall, the subject and characters were compelling, but the framing never clicked for me. I appreciated its specific geographic and economic setting more than the concept of it all, which is telling. ( )