Gone Girl in The Roundtable

Jul 18, 2014 El rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: put-it-in-your-journal, 21st-centurylit, cuckoos, peer-pressure

The best part about this book is I was able to crank it out in 24 hours. Or less. I'm not sure. I know I did some things, here and there. But I pretty much only read this since I started it last night. That's the sort of book it is. Easy to read, a fast read, pleasant pace (though not pleasant subject matter). Basically this is the literary version of those days when I see a Law & Order: SVU marathon on TV and I cannot turn away. I say things like "I will start cleaning the bathroom after this e The best part about this book is I was able to crank it out in 24 hours. Or less. I'm not sure. I know I did some things, here and there. But I pretty much only read this since I started it last night. That's the sort of book it is. Easy to read, a fast read, pleasant pace (though not pleasant subject matter). Basically this is the literary version of those days when I see a Law & Order: SVU marathon on TV and I cannot turn away. I say things like "I will start cleaning the bathroom after this episode..." and then the next episode those damn writers get me hooked before the beginning credits.

The worst part about this book is that it knows it's like a long episode of Law & Order: SVU. It thrives on being that. Because that's what the people want. We all want to know what's really happening behind closed doors, but not enough to get too close, so a fabricated version (or loosely based on true stories) is palatable for many of us. It's safe. In theory we can turn it off at the end.

I didn't have a lot of intention of reading this book because, honestly, so many of my GR friends have read it and loved it or hated it and I was getting pretty sick of seeing this pop up in reviews, in every article ever written in the past two years, and now the movie trailer is out. But then again it's all those reasons that I decided to finally read it after all - so I can actually read the reviews and the articles and go see the movie and not have to worry about spoilers.

This is an intricate and interesting story, but not flawless. I won't go into the flaws here because they can be spoiler-y, but on the surface level there were a lot of ambiguities that I felt were trying too hard to be ambiguities. To throw the reader off the scent. The whole bait-and-switch. Just when you think you've got things figured out, something happens to make you question yourself. But then you also question your questioning, which is all very tricksy and occasionally worked, though other times it was just sort of exhausting.

This is actually a pretty interesting article (that I could read now that I've read the book!). I had similar feelings very early on during reading this except... what I realized were two things: the male characters aren't any better than the female characters, there are no "positive" male characters either and also unreliable narrator(s). You know that whole saying, there are three sides to every story? His side, her side, and the truth? (Yeah, I'm a big fan of that one.) That's what's really going on here. It's hard to take anything anyone says with any seriousness. But it's still an addicting read.

Again, there are little things that bugged me that had no clear explanation, but I'm not going to spoil anything here. I will see the movie, if for no other reason than I want to see if (or how) it varies from the story at all. ...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Sera rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, own, thriller-suspense

Ah, Nick and Amy, a couple of crazy kids who fall in love and then out of love, and then Amy goes missing...

The foregoing is the set-up for what was my favorite book of the year thus far. Flynn does an excellent job of weaving an intricate tale of deceit, revenge and retribution that keeps the reader guessing through every twist and turn until it explodes into what I thought was a very satisfying ending.

My favorite part of the book was Flynn's insights into human nature and how the person that w ...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Erika rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-general

Tough to review without spoilers. What I will say is this. First, there are two kinds of people in the world and thus two kinds of people who will read this book: those of us who have lived with and shared a bed with a sociopath, and those of you who have not. I could not read without my filter in place. And, second, I wonder in my heart if this is an exorcism for the author. And, finally, it has been a long time since I couldn't put a book down and yet finished in a profoundly foul mood. May it ...more

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Jan 18, 2014 Irene rated it liked it · review of another edition

I would like to give this more than a 3 star rating, but not as much as a 4 star rating.
I am not sure I liked this as much as admired the creative plot line and character development. The novel begins with a missing wife and a disheveled house. The husband quickly becomes the primary suspect with an abundance of incriminating evidence. Although I anticipated many of the twists just before they were revealed, the trajectory was one twisted path. And, the disturbed characters were just credible en ...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Julie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, thriller, audiobooks, listened-in-2014, womens-prize-for-fiction

Audiobook read by Julie Whelan and Kirby Heyborne.
This was a crazy over-the-top story about a couple of wackos, but it was good entertainment for my drives home from work. The readers did a great job and Amy's voice was perfectly stuck-up. ...more

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Dec 10, 2012 Jen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-reads, unreliable-narrator, mystery-crime-thriller

There is little to say without saying too much.... creepy from the outset, surprising along the way, fast paced and overall, disturbing. For me, a good read for those reasons. I enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone who likes a dark read with plot twists...definitely a page turner!

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Nov 19, 2012 Susan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-thrillers-suspense

Hype is always a poor indicator of a good read for someone. This time, with this book, the someone was me. More often than not I am able to detect "who done it" but I prefer to read further than ten pages before figuring out the basic premise of the plot and "who done it".

The character of "Go" really needed more development. Most of the other characters were not likeable.

Media, another character, took more of a nudge than a beating and really deserved the beating.

It is difficult to describe with ...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Lori rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: z-reviewed, america, fiction, mystery

A lot like Presumed Innocent, a husband looks really guilty and we readers aren't sure for quite some time. Nice plot twists and cultural references. I can see why it's getting the buzz. ...more

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Apr 08, 2013 Heather(Gibby) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The book was very interesting, the suspense built, it had some really interesting twists. You think you know the characters, and then you find out you have been tricked-it was all so very promising. Then the ending -well just ends, I was very disappointed in how it ended. I was expecting a big AHA moment that never came.

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