Customer Reviews

Gone Girl (Unabridged)

Amy and Nick are married for five years, but there is not much harmony left. All of a sudden, Amy is missing. And from there, a more and more surprising and devious plot develops, cleverly and elegantly put together by a very talented writer.

It is difficult to talk about the plot without risking spoilers. So let's say this: It is not a conventional thriller. There are twists and totally surprising developments, we are getting manipulated and are lied to by both protagonists. It's not only a thriller, the book is also about unconventional truths about love and marriage. Sadly, the ending is a disappointment. Best not to expect too much from it and just enjoy the reading of the novel as such.

The book is always straightforward and readable, but maybe there are a few digressions too many. I can't help but feeling that nowadays thriller writers feel the need to expand their books to 600 pages when 400 would have done just as well. That's stupid, because it automatically weakens the suspense.

Gillian Flynn really deconstructed love and marriage here a lot, so I have a suggestion for readers who would like to read a (shorter) crime novel which is thrilling, full of dark humor and lets you believe in love again: Heads Off (A Lisa Becker Mystery)

I'm not really into crime novels/mysteries, which this book generally seems to be billed as, so despite having heard a lot of hype, I wouldn't have bothered reading it were it not for one thing - a list of quotations from the book I found on Goodreads.

There were a couple of quotes , for example one about the dangers of being a cool girl and one about meeting someone who gets you, that really resonated with me and left me unable to resist giving the book a go. Added to this, several reviews mentioned that there was a big twist that they genuinely hadn't seen coming, and I can never resist a good, well-handled twist.

The first thing I'd say is that I'm glad I took a chance on the book. It was difficult to put down; I was constantly wondering what was going to happen next, and I think parts of it will stick in my mind for a long time. So in short, I'd definitely recommend.

It's hopefully not too spoiler-ish to say that the first half of the book is basically mediations on a relationship combined with a mystery: a woman has disappeared - where has she gone? The second half then becomes much more like a psychological crime thriller.

In the first half, there are two voices. Chapters alternate between Nick's (the husband) narration, starting with the day of his wife's disappearance, and Amy's (the wife) diary entries, dating back from the day the two first met years before, and gradually working up to a few days before her mysterious disappearance.

Browsing through some of the reviews on here, I was struck by how many people have commented that they found the first half hard going and a bit irritating, but loved the second half.

Interestingly, I almost entirely disagree. Perhaps it's because I'm in a similar socio-economic group to the protagonists and have recently got engaged, but I found the story of the wonderful blossoming of their relationship and its horrible slow decline utterly fascinating. Yes, there was undoubtedly a touch of "first world problems," about it, but falling in and out of love is a fundamental human issue and no more or less exciting and painful just because you happen to be a trust-funded New Yorker. I thought the writing in this part was exceptional. The quotations I'd identified weren't isolated bursts of brilliance, but representative of the whole thing. It genuinely gave me a new perspective on my relationship.

I'm a big fan of unconventional narratives and I thought that the past diary entries versus present narration worked really well. The two storylines didn't quite mesh, showing what a different perspective two people can have on the same event and keeping me guessing about what was really going on in the main characters' relationship and what had happened on the day of Amy's disappearance.

This went on for chapter after chapter (Whilst I burnt through the book, I definitely think it could have been quite a bit shorter without really losing anything), and then came the much vaunted twist. All I can say was that I wasn't disappointed. I hadn't seen it coming and it was incredibly well done. Unfortunately, although I thought that post mid-way twist, the book went rapidly downhill and became, in parts, frankly silly. I actually hated the ended.

Nonetheless, I'd give this book four stars, for the overall brilliant execution and for the fact that to me, parts of the first half were some of the best things I've read in years. My suggestion - search for some of the quotes. If you enjoy them, I think you'll love the book. If they irritate or don't affect you at all, it's probably not for you.

I found Gone Girl an OK read on the plus side I liked the overall premise of a story being told from two perspectives and I didn't work out the whole plot immediately so it held some intrigue. But I found the style of writing to be a bit too glossy magazine for my taste and the characters rather 2 dimensional. Not only did I find them unbelievable but I found myself not really caring what happened to them the further I read on. I won't say I totally disliked the book but also found it undeserving of the rave reviews, in the end my overall feeling was of indifference.

Loved this book up to the end...felt as though it went on a bit and left me feeling disappointed, very anticlimactic!

I loved this book it kept me guessing and on edge all the way through and I couldn't wait for the outcome. But, unfortunately it is one of those books that leave you guessing. Sorry to spoil it for anyone but I was so disappointed by the ending I wanted to strangle the author :-(

I persevered because I was told it got better and, I suppose, it did. But I took no pleasure in the reading of it. It is clever. It is different. It was a chore.

The book is indeed engaging so you won't get bored but you will feel disappointed at the end.

It isn't precisely a pice of great literature. It's written poorly and the unnecessary swearing doesn't add anything to the story.

The book really kept my interest throughout, but I hated the ending so much that I cannot recommend the book. I'm surprised at all the hype it created, as I didn't think the book as a whole lived up to what I'd heard people raving about. So disappointed :(

I resisted buying this book because of all the hype but in the end I am very glad I did. It has more twists and turns than the country roads where I live but I found I really needed to know what was going to happen next. An indictment on the effects of celebrity. A very good read.

Amy Dunne disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary. As the days progress and the media descend on the small Missouri town of Carthage, the calm demeanour of her husband Nick comes to seem more and more suspicious. "Gone Girl" is narrated alternately by Amy (beautiful, intelligent, and rich) and Nick ('a working-class Irish kid trapped in the body of a total trust-fund d**chebag') and together they paint a picture of their relationship and its emerging cracks. The pair, however, prove themselves to be less than reliable narrators and it is satisfyingly up to the reader to try and work out what is really going on.

I enjoyed Gillian Flynn's first two novels (Sharp Objects and Dark Places) and her third is equally good, with similarly twisted characters and dark humour in a Midwest gothic setting. Flynn is an astute observer and her ruthless dissection of Nick and Amy's relationship is compelling. "Gone Girl" is a thoroughly enjoyable read.