SOCIAL MEDIA

Thursday 6 June 2013

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Plot:

Setting: North Carthage, Missouri

On the day of Nick's fifth wedding anniversary, his wife, Amy, disappears from their home. Initially, his innocence is certain and the support he receives is immense. Then Amy's unknown best-friend points at Nick and the police begin to find suspicious evidence that link to him. Suddenly Nick is the number one suspect

Review:

Gone Girl does everything a thriller should do. It's intense, shocking, grotesque and quite disturbing. That's about the only positive about this novel. Flynn produced a novel that had me sitting on the edge, that's for sure. I waited and waited and waited and waited just for the answer. In between that time there are a million twists that add depth to the plot. A simple mystery spirals into a haunting thriller that is quite the nail biter (excuse the cliche). The turning point in the novel needs only one word to describe it: wow.

However, all that ended at the finale of the novel. I am a reader that expects an amazing plot to end with a massive bang! Gone Girl did not deliver that. It was like enjoying a cool, fizzy coke and then taking the next sip only to find it flat and thick. How unsatisfying. All that time reading it and I was pushing for the ending, the moment where I close the book and say yes, it was a fantastic read. All I could say was oh, is that it? The ending is the do or die moment for me. It absolutely killed the book. Definitely the most disappointing aspect.

Flynn writes very well but was somehow quite dull. The first half was a drag and I had to really persevere  (I found myself becoming drowsy every so often), just for the sake of the answer. Perhaps this was because of the background information that Flynn included in order to set up the anticipation. The second half was immensely better, it was so easy to dive in and be completely engaged with what was happening.

The characters are unlikable. Whether that is Flynn's intention or not, I do not know. Both Nick and Amy have no redeeming qualities that make you want to like them or feel sympathetic towards their situation, which is weird seeing as they are both placed in situations everyone would tend to feel sorry for (especially Amy). The minor characters are just in the background and I hardly take notice of them. I don't even remember most of their names. There are characters that add an interesting twist in the plot and provide quite a bit of entertainment but there's really no hook that readers can connect to.

I guess when I picked up this novel I had a lot of expectations about it, seeing as how it has garnered many positive reviews. Maybe that's why I felt like it was such a let down. Overall, it was okay. It wasn't exceptional, although it could have been with how great the plot was. If you're a thriller fan than try it out, it might suit your taste. I just felt like it needed to be a little more compact, to the point, and have something drive the readers home quickly.

Rating: 3/5