Wow

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

I had meant to read this before the movie came out, but obviously I failed at that.  I had heard of this book, but it's not a genre I normally read, and I probably wouldn't have picked it up, but then I read a short story by Gillian Flynn published in the Rogues Anthology.  That story totally messed with my head and kept surprising me.  I loved it.  I went out and bought Gone Girl right away after that.

 

The very first page caught my attention, so that I just didn't know what to make of Nick Dunne.  I wanted to like him, but then I began to dislike him more and more.  In the long run, I think I hated everybody.  Usually that's not a good thing for me in fiction.  It's the reason I can't sit through House of Cards, no matter how great everyone says it is.  

 

But by the time I realized I disliked everybody, I was so far in, and things I thought I knew turned out to be wrong, and I'll be honest.  I absolutely love that.  It's exactly what I was hoping for when I picked up this book.

 

It was really dark, which I was expecting.  But by the last few chapters, everything felt so bleak I felt just drained and depressed by the end.  I can't say I enjoyed it overall, exactly, if it made me feel that awful, in the end.  But I still enjoyed being surprised, and piecing things together, guessing what was going to happen next, and the writing is really very clever.

 

If you like dark stories, and like a convoluted plot that keeps you guessing, I would definitely recommend this. Myself, I'm still not quite sure how I feel.  I should go read a good satire now.