Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading written by Alyssa Cohen!
Long time no post, I’ve been super busy with school work and personal stuff. I’m going to try and post at least twice a month on this blog. The posts will hopefully consist of book reviews (which I’m renaming “Alyssa’s Reviews”) and Monthly TBRs/Monthly Wrap Ups. I am not going to commit to anything, but after having and writing on this blog for almost 5 years, I figure I need to keep up with it and everything else around the book blogosphere!
Now… let’s get onto the review!
Title: Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
Publication Date: April 22, 2014
Page Count: 415
Synopsis:
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?
My Rating: 4 Stars
This book was a WHIRLWIND to read! I actually had to read it for an english project, but I ended up loving it even though it was technically “required reading”. All of the other people in my group for the project really enjoyed it, which was interesting because I was put with 2 boys and 1 other girl.
First Star: Two Point Perspective
- When I was younger, I used to LOVE two point perspective, but as my opinions shifted slightly as I got older, I started to really dislike reading two point perspective. I found it very repetitive and it didn’t really do anything great for the book itself. That being said, Gone Girl had a much different and better way of using the two point perspective. It seemed like Nick would always vaguely mention an event that happened in the past, but Amy would go much more in depth with exactly what was going on when that event happened. That added a lot of detail to the story, and while it turned out that Amy’s diary entries were not what we had believed they would turn out to be, they were still really interesting to read.
Second Star: Character Development
- Character development is one of my favourite literary elements in any novel. Whether it may be positive or negative development, anytime you see a character change throughout the novel helps pick up the pace and rhythm of the story. In Gone Girls case, both characters developed a lot in the story. Nick was the first character to change throughout the novel, as he continued his conquest of looking for his missing wife, Amy. While Nick did not make a complete flip in personality, he developed his character in positive ways near the middle of the story. Amy changed a lot during the end of the novel. We learned what her true personality was like during the last 100 pages of the novel, which made you question and think about the previous pages you read. While I did not end up liking Amy in the end, she truly defined “Character Development” in novels, which made her character stand out.
Third Star: Setting
- Gone Girl is set in a mysterious town somewhere in Missouri. Amy and Nick did not live in a small, tight-knit rural community, but they did live near interesting people and had very interesting neighbours that ended up having a decent impact in the story. Since the beginning portion of Gone Girl is a scavenger hunt, this forces Nick to delve deeper into his home-town roots and visit old places they had travelled to once before. When reading these parts, we begin to gather information about their town and develop a sense of community. This has a great impact in the story and helps you understand things about the town before Amy’s abrupt disappearance.
Fourth Star: Storyline
- Gone Girl was perhaps one of the most interesting novels I have ever read. It is not like a generic murder mystery novel, but rather a “He said, She said” battle between the two characters. Because of the different perspectives and drastic character development, the story formed into a twisted tale between two people with different feelings. I definitely did not expect the novel to end the way it did, even though many people prepared me for a shocking twist.
One Stair: The Ending
- While the twist was phenomenal, I didn’t love the overall ending of the story. I would have loved to have read Amy’s thought process after all was said and done. I would have also liked to hear what happened to Amy’s parents and ex-boyfriend after Amy was found and returned back to her “normal life”. But maybe Flynn ended it on an abrupt note for a reason, we will never know.
Favourite Quotes:
- “A lot of people lacked that gift: knowing when to fuck off.”
- “There’s a difference between really loving someone and loving the idea of her.”
- “There’s something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold.”
- “Love makes you want to be a better man—right, right. But maybe love, real love, also gives you permission to just be the man you are.”
I hope you all enjoyed reading my review of Gone Girl! Expect more posts soon, and let me know in the comments what you guys are reading this weekend!
Good Night Book Owls!
Reading, Reading, Reading 