Gone Girl in Bookworm Buddies

May 06, 2012 Allison boozy bookworm rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-suspense, can-t-put-down, fiction, paperbacks, action-adventure, novels, drama, relationships, read-twice

This book was my first introduction to Gillian Flynn and I'm so glad I bought into the mass attention of this novel. I am currently reading her second novel "Dark Places" and quickly deciding that Flynn is my new favorite author. I could attempt to write a longer review of this book, but it's been just a few weeks since I finished it, and I'm still a little stunned at the devious plot turnaround and intensity of characters. I don't think I could write an objective review, other than to say, of c ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Jul 24, 2013 Anne (Booklady) Molinarolo rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller-mystery, god-awful, winter-2013-14

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

11 likes · Like · see review

Jun 06, 2012 Gatorman rated it really liked it

Wow, what a ride this book is. No one writes screwed-up people better than Flynn. It's hard to say much about the characters without giving away key plot points and twists, but this story of a wife who suddenly disappears from her home on the couple's five-year wedding anniversary and the husband who is later suspected of killing her is a fascinating portrayal of a troubled, twisted marriage where one is never quite sure how the participants really feel about each other. The actions of the coupl ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Feb 21, 2013 Chris Haught rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sk-group, audiobook

Well, that was a bit of a mindfuq.

I was actually pretty impressed. Flynn has a nice style of suspense and drama. She takes a basket of characters I would hate in real life, and makes their story compelling. I wouldn't say she makes them likable, but the reader (or listener) can't help but cheer them on.

Twists and turns aplenty, and though some of it is a bit far fetched, the writing makes up for it. I'll definitely be interested in reading other Flynn books.

Audio readers were excellent. Julia ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Nov 01, 2012 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I cannot stress enough how messed up this book is; but it is messed up in a good way. Gillian Flynn takes the reader through the lives of two people who are the most explosive, messed up, and just plain evil I have meet in literature. These characters are so horrible that you find them fascinating because you want to know what they will do next. This is a tough book to talk about because I am so afraid I will give something away.

Gillian Flynn, is very good at twist and turns, but she has also w ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 27, 2012 Alisha Marie rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery-thriller, books-i-own-that-i-ve-read, arc-s

I'm just going to come out and say it: Gone Girl pissed me off to no friggin' end. That's the one feeling that remained consistent to me throughout the whole novel. Sure the things that pissed me off were different each time I read a new chapter, but that feeling just did not go away while I was reading. In fact, it's still lingering despite the fact that I have already finished reading the novel. So just know that you might experience feelings that may vary from mild annoyance, to pissed off, t I'm just going to come out and say it: Gone Girl pissed me off to no friggin' end. That's the one feeling that remained consistent to me throughout the whole novel. Sure the things that pissed me off were different each time I read a new chapter, but that feeling just did not go away while I was reading. In fact, it's still lingering despite the fact that I have already finished reading the novel. So just know that you might experience feelings that may vary from mild annoyance, to pissed off, to maybe, if you're particularly sensitive, out and out rage. There's my disclaimer.

First things first. I was highly annoyed at Gone Girl for the first 200 pages. It was just so ever-loving slow! And since I've read both of Gillian Flynn's novels, I was already spoiled to the fast pace that those novels employ (or rather, not the agonizingly slow pace that Gone Girl was lingering in). I was also spoiled to the fact that Gillian Flynn's previous novels all started off immediately creepy. I found the beginning of Gone Girl...mundane (although that probably reflects more on my reading experience of reading tons of creepy/horror books as opposed to the novel). So mundane that had this not been a Vine book, I would've stopped reading it. But since I have read it, I think not finishing it would have been a mistake because it ended up being really insane.

Gone Girl shocked me like you wouldn't believe. I had expected the book to go one way (the mundane way) and it ended up going a completely creepy and off-kilter way (which I liked). Yet, still I was annoyed, but this time because I was supposed to be. There's just so much flip-flopping in this book (half of it is narrated by Nick; the other half by Amy) that you don't immediately know who, if anyone, to root for. In fact, I spent most of the time while reading Gone Girl wanting to jump into the pages of the book and repeatedly shake every single character to saneness. Again, this is deliberate and I wasn't so much annoyed at the book by then, but at the characters, but like I said, I think you're supposed to be. There are no clear heroes in this book and that did make this book seem more human to me as opposed to the self-righteousness that can plague some books with a clear hero.

Again, Gone Girl is INSANE. One minute you start off thinking "God, I hate this person!" and then you think "No, scratch that I hate THIS person", until finally you realize you hate everyone in the friggin' book, but that's okay because they are all relatively hateable (I know not really a word, but there you have it). And the situations the characters find themselves in are hateable (and there it is again)...and shocking...and brings new meaning to the word "twist". Everything that happened (after those initial 200 pages) was so unexpected and not in that annoying "well we didn't see it coming because it made no type of sense" kind of way. The things that happened here made sense, which brings up all sorts of questions like "If you find that THIS situation made sense, what does that say about YOUR state of mind?", which is all sorts of fun.

So why the 3 stars? Well, I just couldn't get over how long Gone Girl took to get going (for me as this is all a matter of opinion). Sure, once it did get going, it never stopped, but I just wouldn't have given a book 200 pages to get going if it wasn't for review. Also, I was left feeling very unsatisfied by the ending. I expected an exploding, tremendous ending and what I got was an ending that was, now that I'm thinking about it, very reminiscent to the beginning 200 pages of Gone Girl: anti-climactic to the extreme. I still recommend Gone Girl as I do feel the middle of the book (right up until the end) was worth it just for the "this is craaazy!" comment you will most likely say. However, if you even semi-like this one, I'd recommend Gillian Flynn's two other books as I think they were better than this one.
...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 29, 2013 Adeeb rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

5 FULL STARS! This was amazing. Really amazing. I don't get why many people hate the ending. I really don't. This book was messed up, and that is what made it highly addicting and intriguing. That was one hell of a ride and screws with your brain. BIG TIME! ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 02, 2021 Dustin marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: psychological, mental-illness, thriller

I'm a big fan of Edward Lorn's YouTube channel. If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend you check it out. https://youtu.be/JAOFCzTRUwQ

Anyway, in his video of The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneil, he found that the following books boldly explored the "imperfect woman protagonist," and that said books kind of formed a diamond, or came full-circle in some way. I thought that was very interesting and fun and definitely something I'd like to try. All four should be read back-to-back and i ...more

Like · see review