Book Review: Gone Girl
Marriages are made in heaven, they say. But is there something like a perfect marriage? Won't life be dreadfully boring if a couple were too understanding, too perfect for each other? Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, which stormed its way into every best book list of 2012, is a terrific psychological exploration of a failing marriage. "What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?," thus ruminates Nick Dunne of his wife Amy Elliott. Writers by profession, theirs was a fairy tale marriage, a match between the most beautiful man and woman. They couldn't have asked for a more happier life until the financial crunch hit them out of the blue. With Nick's ailing parents on the other side and his twin sister Margo unable to singly manage the burden, he decides to shift base lock, stock and barrel alongside his wife to the little town of North Carthage in Missouri.
Naturally Amy isn't thrilled to leave the busy, bustling city of Manhattan, but she begrudgingly allows herself to adjust to the new environment. However two years later, on their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy just vanishes from his life, and Nick, now running a local bar with Margo for a living, is confused, wondering what to make out of it before finally calling up the police. Strange enough, he exhibits none of the anxiety or grief for his missing wife. Is Nick hiding something? Does he really want his wife back? Who is Amy really? Is she dead? Read the book to know the answers to these plaguing questions.
Suffice to say, Flynn's Gone Girl warrants all the praise it has garnered for its dazzling portrayal of a rocky marriage through the eyes of Nick and Amy, who are much more than what they seem to be outwardly. To put it bluntly, the first part of the book is quite formulaic and there is little to evoke interest. Amy's disappearance, Nick's 'dirty' secrets and to top it all, her personal diary detailing their marital life help in setting up the stage for far worse things to come. With Nick being suspected, Flynn wants to impress Amy as the poor silent sufferer with whom we are meant to empathize, the one who sacrificed her own life for her husband's sake.
The author may have had mixed success in this attempt - Amy comes across as a little manufactured, but a fantastic twist (though I was expecting more) halfway puts things in fast gear, and Flynn slowly and chillingly reveals their darker psyches. Nick is not the the sweet talker he is. Amy is not the attention seeker she is. Their façades now broken, they want to get away from each other, and yet they cannot live without the other. Flynn is not afraid to depict a disturbing view of their relationship and the climax is a perfect example of this. Her writing style is equally good and she unravels the mystery in parts, never letting the reader get a complete understanding of the characters until the very end. Overall I felt Gone Girl to be vaguely similar to Ruth Rendell's A Sight for Sore Eyes (my review here). Both deal with a similar theme - a match gone horribly awry where the protagonist goes to any lengths to preserve the relationship. Bolstered by a great switchback narrative, Gone Girl is admirably gripping and almost perfect.
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| Gone Girl |
Suffice to say, Flynn's Gone Girl warrants all the praise it has garnered for its dazzling portrayal of a rocky marriage through the eyes of Nick and Amy, who are much more than what they seem to be outwardly. To put it bluntly, the first part of the book is quite formulaic and there is little to evoke interest. Amy's disappearance, Nick's 'dirty' secrets and to top it all, her personal diary detailing their marital life help in setting up the stage for far worse things to come. With Nick being suspected, Flynn wants to impress Amy as the poor silent sufferer with whom we are meant to empathize, the one who sacrificed her own life for her husband's sake.
The author may have had mixed success in this attempt - Amy comes across as a little manufactured, but a fantastic twist (though I was expecting more) halfway puts things in fast gear, and Flynn slowly and chillingly reveals their darker psyches. Nick is not the the sweet talker he is. Amy is not the attention seeker she is. Their façades now broken, they want to get away from each other, and yet they cannot live without the other. Flynn is not afraid to depict a disturbing view of their relationship and the climax is a perfect example of this. Her writing style is equally good and she unravels the mystery in parts, never letting the reader get a complete understanding of the characters until the very end. Overall I felt Gone Girl to be vaguely similar to Ruth Rendell's A Sight for Sore Eyes (my review here). Both deal with a similar theme - a match gone horribly awry where the protagonist goes to any lengths to preserve the relationship. Bolstered by a great switchback narrative, Gone Girl is admirably gripping and almost perfect.
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