This is my first blog post book review!
I have written may children’s book reviews for my former school district and for School Library Journal magazine.
But this is my first blog book review!
I just finished reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I had started reading the book in hopes of finishing it before the movie came out but life got in the way of my book/Nook reading. I only got about 40 pages in before my avid movie-going husband decided that we needed to see the movie. I went along reluctantly, promising myself I would finish reading the book.
And I did.
The movie is long. Two and a half hours long.
And still it feels hurried and rushed.
I remember leaving the theater feeling almost out of breath as if we, the audience, had sprinted through the whole thing. Within the first twenty minutes of the movie, we had already passed the point to where I had read in the book so the rest was a surprise, with twist after crazy twist.
If you haven’t seen the movie and are interested in reading the book, please read it first!
While the screenplay written by Gillian Flynn remains pretty true, there is so much more to the story in the pages of the book. I found myself almost simultaneously cheering and cursing main characters. And I felt guilty for siding with both Amy and Nick because neither of them are particularly likeable.
They are human.
They are flawed as are all of the secondary characters – immediate family members who are largely responsible for the warts and lack of scruples of the main characters.
The book has the luxury of 400+ pages to make Amy and Nick real, to bounce readers’ support back and forth between Amy and Nick.
And the layout of the book helps readers keep track of those feelings as we ping-ponged through alternating chapters recounted in the voice of Nick then Amy. The chronology of events would be difficult to follow if not for the way Flynn identifies time in relation to the date that Amy vanishes at the beginning of each chapter.
The end of the movie felt rushed and a bit unbelievable to me but the book does a better job of tying everything together. As I read the last page and closed the book to reflect on the story I had just finished, I realized I still didn’t like Nick or Amy. Moreover, I realized that unlike characters in the fairy tales I love so much, there isn’t a good guy and a bad guy in Gone Girl. Nick and Amy are just a couple who lost themselves and their way.
Deena
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I really liked the book…as weird as it was.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
You will like the movie, too, Deena. But I felt like they had to really rush just to get the story told and at that, the movie was still well over two and a half hours long. As is almost always the case, I liked the book better.
Carrie
I haven’t heard of this book or movie. New movie that’s recently out? Thanks for the review! REALLY like your blog, friend! You have so much life and energy. I love it!
Sharon
I haven’t read the book but liked the movie ok. I thought it was predictable though. Think I’ve seen too many movies! 🙂 I didn’t like the ending but will not spoil
it for others.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I thought I knew what was going to happen in the movie, Sharon, but I was all wrong. Started out just about hating Nick. Wound up not liking anyone! Ha! What are you reading these days?
metra roberts
I read the book a couple of years ago…didn’t like it at all! I know I’m alone in this…but like you said in your review, the characters are so unlikable. I just didn’t like the story line…haven’t seen the movie…don’t plan to, either. I love your blog however! Great job mommyhon!!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I really liked the book better than the movie, Metra. I am reading a book called Twirl right now and it is a kind of an uplifting, self-help or self-awakening kind of thing. About to finish it up, though. Just finished reading The Storyteller by Jodi Piccoult. That was good. I am a slow reader and often don’t finish books…what??? What kind of librarian am I? I also read The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. I liked it. What are YOU reading? Please stop by again and anytime you might want to be a guest blogger on my blog, let me know. Or even just share a book review!
Karen Strand
One of my all time favorite books Leslie! I couldn’t help thinking I wouldn’t want to be that authors husband – I mean who would want to sleep in the same bed with someone with that kind of imagination!