Two Dorks, One Book: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – A Kindle notes review
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two dorks one bookIt’s been a long time since we’ve done a Two Dorks, One Book review although we have read a few of the same things of late. Anyway, Kelley and I read this for book club recently and I’m going to TRY to be really vague and not give spoilers here because you’ll want to read this book, although it is hard for me not to give it away.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I think narrator husband Nick is a smarmy, icky individual. However, I spent much of the first half of the book annoyed because it seemed that the book was deliberately forcing me to believe that he was his wife’s killer. I admit I felt a little strong-armed by it, and so my feelings about the book for the first half (per my Kindle notes) went a little like this:

I’m not really supposed to believe from this head shape thing that this is that significant. That would mean the book is over, no whodunit, we’re done, right?
He can’t be that stupid. Nobody is that stupid.
He wouldn’t really have done that, would he? The staged crime scene must surely be a red herring, right?
Such an unreliable narrator!
It’s bad when the person closest to you says you’d lie, cheat, or steal to make people like you. I hate books that tell me how to think about characters!
Why isn’t this fool with his wife on his anniversary and why is he sitting in this bar?
Why would he choose to kill Amy? What am I missing?
Nick is a real greaseball. Ugh.
Hmm, why the hell is the shape of his wife’s head so important to him? Again.
Oh shit, and she was rich…please, please, please, book, don’t be all obviousy like that!
Ok, so this dude is a liar, prone to violence and anger, and just a total tool. But is he a killer?

Anyway, I kept questioning the text along these lines and wondering WHEN a twist was going to come along.

And now, SHE’s an unreliable narrator.

This girl seems more than a little f-ed up… but now that seems forced too.

Why does she keep worrying he is going to kill her? Is she clairvoyant?

Ugh. I am really not going to like how this one ends…

Now that’s just gross. Who DOES that?

When the twist(s) did come, I certainly didn’t expect them to play out as they did. That, I guess, is the part of this book that is awesome. Even after feeling deliberately frogmarched through many of the plot points and feeling resentful of the author for that, I can now accept it because the second half was so darn good! Sigh…I guess the forcefeeding of clues works to keep us guessing. (Although based on some of my notes, maybe I should have seen at least some of it coming).

The other thing that needs discussion is the ending, which I didn’t really like. It felt unsatisfying, although I personally can’t think of how it could have wrapped up otherwise! I guess it’s supposed to be unsatisfying. After all, how ELSE could this relationship end?

Anyway, although I felt that deliberately laying the case against Nick for much of the book felt a little cheaty, I’m glad I didn’t quit reading. I think parts of the story got a little far-fetched (but that’s… psychopaths?… sociopaths? — our book club couldn’t decide — for you). Anyway, my recommendation: Read Gone Girl…it’ll keep you guessing 🙂

Kelley’s review of Gone Girl

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