Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

The Basics

On a day like any other day, Nick Dunne gets a call from his neighbor who says his front door is standing wide open. He comes home to find his wife Amy has disappeared. The investigation begins, Nick falls under scrutiny, and a media storm descends. But is Nick the one at fault?

My Thoughts

I went into this novel not knowing anything besides the fact that it’s a bestseller and rather popular. I knew those basics up there. A woman disappears, her husband is blamed, so what now? I honestly didn’t hold out much hope for this novel being anything, because I’ve read my fair share of thrillers and crime novels, and they rarely ever take it to any sort of interesting place.

Let me be the millionth person to say that this book takes it to an incredibly interesting place. In fact, it drives up to “Interesting Place”, looks around, and deems it not interesting enough. It speeds off past “Fascinating Lane” and crashes gorily right into “WTF Station.” Go into this book knowing next to nothing, because it will serve you well. I reached a point where I had a theory about what could’ve happened and then stalwartly told myself, “no, no, don’t be silly. No one has the guts to go that far.” Flynn does. She has guts to spare.

And talent. Twists and turns are well and good, but does she have the skill? Yes. And then some. This book was gorgeously written. Sinking into these words felt so good. Not just wild and crazy, but really weighty. Flynn is writing some incredibly post-post-modern feminism here with prose that packs a punch. It also takes a long, hard look at the way the media handles, or doesn’t, real life crimes and how and why they sweep the nation.

You’re looking at my rating and wondering where that other star went. I didn’t care for the ending. This book was bombastic and enormous and reached a point where I wasn’t sure we were dealing in real world logic anymore. Then it ends with a whimper when I wanted a bang that might send the book flying out of my hands under its own power. Nope. Just a fizzle. Still worth every moment though.

Final Rating

4/5