Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

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BOOK review

Started on: 18.October.2014 / 12.November.2014
Finished on: 20.November.2014

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Title : Gone Girl
Author : Gillian Flynn

Publisher : Crown
Pages : 566 pages / 368 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication : 2014

Price : $ 9.91 (www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 5/5
*I tried my best not to spoil anything in this review.
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"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.
And if all of us are play-acting, there can be no such thing as a soul mate, because we don't have genuine souls.
It had gotten to the point where it seemed like nothing matters, because I'm not a real person and neither is anyone else.
I would have done anything to feel real again."

Nick Dunne has been married to Amy Elliot Dunne for five years now; but on the day of their fifth wedding anniversary, his wife went missing. And as the police investigates for clues, they discovered Amy's present for Nick for their anniversary. Like she always did, this year Amy made another treasure hunt for Nick, taking him to places which held memories for them both. However, as the investigation goes on, Nick was accused as the suspect of Amy's disappearance. Declaring that he didn't murder his wife, Nick wanted to prove his innocence and went on his own investigation.

"I don't feel like a person at all: I am something to be loaded and unloaded, like a sofa or a cuckoo clock. I am something to be tossed into a junkyard, thrown into the river, if necessary. I don't feel real anymore. I feel like I could disappear."

Nick tried to complete the treasure hunt to find more clues about Amy's disappearance. But everyone, even Amy's parents suspected Nick; because all the hints are pointing at him. Even Amy's diary expressed how their relationship wasn't going very well in the recent days and that she feared her husband. As the mystery unfolds, Nick's secrets was revealed, and so is the truth behind Amy's diary entries. And things got even more complicated and tangled when everything's resolved.

"Because sometimes, the way he looks at me? That sweet boy from the beach, man of my dreams, father of my child? I catch him looking at me with those watchful eyes, the eyes of an insect, pure calculation, and I think: This man might kill me.
So if you find this and I'm dead, well...
Sorry, that's not funny."

Even though I've started reading another book as I'm writing this review, Nick and Amy still lingers in my mind. Definitely a sign of a book hangover. Firstly, I should say that I had a really high expectation as I went into this book—obviously because all the positive hype surrounding it. And maybe it was a wrong way to start the book, because the story began in a slow pace. After reading up to about 10% of the book, I stopped and finished 3 other books before coming back to it—with a more determined mindset to finish it the second time. Well, as you may have guessed from my rating, I definitely did not regret my decision; because the book just gets better and better. I think most of the blurbs on the cover describes this book perfectly: "Spectacularly sneaky..." "Twisted and wild." and "Mercilessly entertaining."

The book is told in two different perspectives: Nick Dunne in the present form and Amy Elliot Dunne's diary which recounted their past. The first hundred or so pages are dedicated to building their characters and how their relationship develops over the years after marriage; which (as I've said earlier) is pretty slow paced. And of course the investigation to find the lost Amy also happens at the same time. The start of the book is pretty frustrating, but after getting pass about 200 pages, it's all thrill and excitement. Since the very start, it seems like no one is trustworthy enough—because what Nick and Amy said about each other doesn't match, and there are a lot of lies going around. As the story goes, there are TONS of shocking revelations, and bits of clues here and there that takes the investigation deeper. The end of each chapter always kept me on the edge of my seat, and made me eager to keep on reading to find the truth behind this wicked mess. I really don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read this book, so I won't discuss the plot much further. But I really want to talk about the ending, which totally blew my mind (!). On one side, I do feel a bit irritated because it doesn't feel like the end yet, and I needed more. Nick's final dialogue totally made my jaw drop, because I didn't expect him to say that; and I just feel like something else is going to happen if there were more pages to the book. However, I came across this article in which Gillian Flynn talked about the reasons she made the ending that way (Warning: do not open the article if you haven't read the book, btw), and I think I agree with her opinion on that matter. In the end, I think the twisted messed up ending represents the overall book perfectly.

"We complete each other in the nastiest, ugliest possible way."

I should not expose the name of my favorite character, because it will definitely spoil everything. So I will just say that my favorite character is the supposed villain of the story (although I think no one is right in this book). This character is really brilliant in many ways, but also frighteningly haunting at the same time. I think this is the second time I came across a villain that I find very interesting—besides Hannibal. The article I mentioned earlier said, "You can like an immoral character because he/she’s interesting, not because you want to have him/her over for dinner.", and I absolutely agree. Even though the villain is my favorite character from the book, I don't want to go near this character ever—in fear of my mind getting messed up. There's also an in depth explanation as to why the villain behave/acted a certain way, which I think is quite relevant to the story. I want to specifically compliment Gillian Flynn for her ability to create these tricky characters. (thumbs up)

"I was told love should be unconditional. That's the rule, everyone says so. But if love has no boundaries, no limits, no conditions, why should anyone try to do the right thing ever? If I know I am loved no matter what, where is the challenge?"

Overall, the struggle I had in the beginning of the book was all worth it in the end. The thrill, anxiety, and horror made me sink deeper and deeper into the story, keeping me curious about what's going to happen to all these characters. It's like I never know what's going to happen next and who's going to show up with a surprising revelation. This book really played with my mind: dragged me to believe a side of the story, only to reveal more and more twist as the story goes. And I think that's absolutely brilliant. I will definitely try reading more of Gillian Flynn's books in the future. But for now, I need to read something light to ease the tense.

"But I know I'll never sleep again.... It's like sleeping with a spider."

  ★★★
For those who haven't known already, this book is adapted into a movie (one of the reasons why I started reading the book) and was released on October 3rd, 2014. I'm really anticipating the movie, and will watch it as soon as I can find it—because the trailer looks promising.   by.stefaniesugia♥ .