Reader Beware: If you haven't read Gone Girl, there are spoilers ahead.
However, if you do decide to read it, do it anyway - I'm Team Freewill...
"Hell hath no
fury like a woman scorned..."
It had been awhile
since I had read a book so amazing that it stays with you. Good books never
leave your side. The characters and their stories are forever etched and
continuing in your head.
I stumbled on Gone
Girl while perusing the internet. It got me interested when I read its summary.
It got me even more interested when I read that it was to be made into a movie.
And here I am writing why I loved Gone Girl by Gilliam Flynn.
Nick Dunne gets home
one day to find his wife, Amy Dunne, missing. That day happens to be their five
year wedding anniversary. After the usual drill, he finds that he is becoming a
prime suspect in the investigation. The fact that he appears disinterested (and
he is) only adds to this. And he also has a very young mistress. And the neighbors
heard them fighting like cats and dogs the night before. And there is a very
incriminating diary that belongs to his wife in which she has chronicled every
little detail of their life together. Crucial details. Like when he shoved her.
Or when he told her he didn't want kids. Or when he started becoming so cold
and distant that she wanted to buy a gun for herself, just in case. Slowly,
everyone around Nick start suspecting him, at one point, even his twin sister.
The book is broken
down into three parts:
Boy Loses Girl: The
reader starts getting accustomed to the life that was when Nick and Amy had
just met, how they fell in love, got married, all hell broke loose, they
drifted apart, started living like strangers, she went missing, police
investigations taking place in full swing, Nick's affair being revealed, Nick
is the bad guy (oh! I hate him).
Boy Finds Girl:
Halfway through the book, and bam! I was in for a surprise when I found out
that Amazing Amy wasn't really missing. She's alive and kicking and far away
from Nick. The reader comes to know of the highly elaborate, intricate and full
proof plan that Amy had set in motion a year ago as she set out seeking revenge
on Nick for his infidelity. The ways in which she has covered her tracks,
paying attention to the minutest of details is commendable and what makes her
truly Amazing Amy. And it only helps that she reads a lot of true crime novels
to hatch her plan. She is manipulative, cold, and methodical and that is what
makes her dangerous. She keeps herself updated about her husband's miseries
through the TV and/or internet. She anticipates everything that happens to Nick
after her disappearance and even leads the cops to her carefully planted clues
and evidence by giving tip calls every now and then. Everything goes as per her
meticulous planning, until some things change her course of direction. All this
as Nick tries to come to terms with the fact that he has been duped by his
wife. And I mean royally duped. You almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost. Then
Nick hires a smart lawyer and doles out a few smart tricks of his own by
projecting himself as the lovesick puppy he is who screwed up and wants to make
up for his mistakes. Sincere Nick. It hits bulls eye when Amy realizes she still
loves him and needs to get back to her darling hubby.
Boy Gets Girl Back
(or Vice Versa): These final chapters of the book is where the story takes a whole
new turn because Amy coming back was definitely the last thing on the reader’s mind. We imagine her driving into the
sunset leaving Nick to deal with the problems she cooked up but she comes back.
Then begins an ultimate game of cat and mouse between husband and wifey. You know
by now how the book might end but when you get to the last page, it still
haunts you with a magnified effect.
The three things that
I liked about Gone Girl:
- Style of writing: It is sheer brilliance. This book is extremely witty. The way Gillian Flynn adds humor in the darkest of scenarios is just amazing. I found myself chuckling a lot of times as I devoured page after page. And the descriptiveness. I like it when a writer pays attention to every detail and incorporates it in the book in such a way that it doesn’t exhaust you. It gets you even more interested. Her observations of people, varying depending upon their age brackets, where they come from, their behavior, the nuances of marriage, the ups and downs of a relationship, how a once-in-love couple starts living like strangers – that is the most unsettling thing to me. That you could get so indifferent towards the one you love.
- His and Hers: This is the first time I read a book where you get to know the point of views of both the central characters simultaneously. Yes, the chapters keep alternating. The writer once again has done such a great job with this feature which might have otherwise turned highly confusing for the reader. But that doesn’t happen. So we start developing a heart for both of them – the cheating husband as well as the calculating wife.
- Character Sketches: Both the characters have been so perfectly etched that there are no loose ends or any loophole that the reader can point out. A topic as complex as this needs to be dealt with a lot of detailing and that is what the book narrates. From the always emasculated, not-so-perfect Nick Dunne to the cunning, psychotic Amy Dunne, they’re all very well planned, well understood, well written people. And the fact that they are both in more ways than one broken and twisted in their own light only emphasizes their fabulous character arcs.
I have a belief that the
best and worst thing about a story that you read, see or hear is that it is
happening somewhere in reality. If that is the case then I truly feel sorry for
the Nick Dunnes of our world. Yes, the occasional feminist in me bobs her head
up to give a thunderous applause to Amy Dunne, her spellbinding mind, her
techniques, her mind games, her much validated revenge and her talent of fool
proofing everything –
thinking and planning about things to their last detail, but I do believe that
no man, NOBODY deserves to live a life trapped and helpless.
For now, I wait for
the movie version to hit the screens so that I can watch it!
Hope David Fincher does
justice to this brilliant book!
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