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Search tags: everyone-lurves-but-i-say-meh
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review 2014-01-22 06:51
Gone Girl
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

I'm so conflicted. On one hand, the writing, the layering & unfolding of the story, the utter batshit-craziness of the main characters... it's brilliant. The sheer amount of work Flynn must have put in to give Nick & Amy & Diary Amy their respective voices - and particularly crafting the details of the crime & resolution - is pretty incredible. Such despicable terrible people. I found her musings on the Midwest as expressed through Amy's observations, interesting, as well. So so many quotable one-liners & societal commentary in general. 

But the ending? It fell so far short for me that I can't manage to be excited. It felt like the book was essentially a metaphor for Nick - everything finally kowtows under the weight of Amy. As if Nick AND the ending just gave up. Gave in. Like they couldn't hold up under the impressive weight of the first 2/3 of the story (or Amy). I needed some resolution - or even a hint of one. Just something insinuating that Nick & Boney & Tanner & Go - or god, even Mrs. Collings - would nail the bitch down the road & Amy would get her just desserts. Or Nick. They were both despicable people. I'd even have settled for something simple & out of the blue like Amy falling down the stairs & snapping her neck a year later... It was all so absurd that choosing to end it that way just did not make sense. And maybe that was Flynn's intent, that sometimes terrible, ridiculous things happen & bad people get away with it & go on with their lives... But for all the pop & sizzle & execution of the first part of the book, I expected to be really gobsmacked at the end. 

I want to give it all the stars for the writing & nuanced layering of both plot & characterization, but the ending should have made what was a hell of a ride a lot more worthwhile. I'm glad to hear that for the movie, Fincher & Flynn have scrapped the last 1/3 of the book entirely & are going from scratch. 


“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.” 

“Tampon commercial, detergent commercial, maxi pad commercial, windex commercial - you'd think all women do is clean and bleed.”

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