In Review: Gone Girl
For any fan of mystery thrillers, Gone Girl is probably not a foreign title. And for mystery readers, the name Gillian Flynn is very well-regarded. For the longest time, I had no idea this book and movie existed, until I heard it be pitched as having the best plot twist. So, did I read the book straight away? No, I saw the movie. And I’m glad I did. Because if I hadn’t, I don’t think I would have finished reading the book.
Title: Gone Girl Author: Gillian Flynn Publication year: 2012 Length: 19 hours 57 minutes Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime Pace: Slow Story focus: Character & Plot
Nick and Amy have been married for five years. And on their wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing. Nick is desperate to find her. Although not everything is as it seems. Since moving out of New York City to Nick’s hometown, their marriage has been on a slippery slope. While Nick is divided between understanding what happened to Amy and hiding their marital problems, the police see him as their primary suspect. And it doesn’t help that Amy’s friend and neighbour is claiming she was afraid of him.
The story is told from two perspectives: Nick on the present day and Amy from diary entries since the day they met. In the first 200 pages, not much happens other than understating who’s Nick, who’s Amy, and the feelings they have towards each other. However, those are the most important pages of the whole book.
I already said that if I hadn’t watched the movie before venturing into the book, I probably would have DNFed it, and that’s because the story develops very slowly. I confess I had to power through a few times because nothing was happening. And this is a lengthy novel. So, knowing what was yet to come gave me the energy to keep going. I knew it would be worth it to finish the book. But if I had gone in blindly, not knowing anything, I probably would have given up.
Despite being slow, it’s so important for the story to be told at that pace. The point is to really get to know the characters. To make your judgement. To either like them or hate them. And that can only be achieved by taking the reader to the most mundane part of their lives. And the big surprise of the story lies in the perception the reader has of the characters. So that’s why it’s so important to spend a lot of time with them even when nothing is happening.
I obviously can’t speak about the shock value of the plot twist since I spoiled that with the movie, but I could see how it would impact me if I had no idea. Gillian Flynn is really a master of character creation. She knows how to play the reader so the plot twist can hit you like a brick wall. And that is ingenuous, and I’ll forever appreciate how this story was crafted. However, I’m also realising that her writing style isn’t a perfect match for me. This is the second book I read from her (the first one was Sharp Objects), and these character-driven stories, while great and beautifully executed, are not my cup of tea.
Compared to the movie, the book is much better as per usual because there is more time to spend with each character. I never realised how important it is, to this particular story, for the reader to form their own opinion on each character. That’s what will determine how well the plot twist will land. In the movie, everything happens too fast, which is normal. Despite that, I also felt the book to be darker and more unhinged compared to the movie. Maybe because it explores more the characters.
Bottom line, I’m glad I watched the movie first to help me get through the book. But the novel is a far better version of the story. The characters are so beautifully crafted, and the craziness of it all will leave you wanting more chapters of Nick and Amy.
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