Flynn, Gillian. Gone Girl. Broadway Books, 2014.
This will not be my normal review with a plot synopsis since most readers have already either read this book, seen the movie, or both. So I am going to dispense with the summary and go on to the critique.
Gone Girl is a character-driven novel, and most of the players have "larger-than-life" personalities. It is rare for me to dislike most of the characters in a novel. I can honestly say that the only characters I felt any empathy toward were Nick's twin sister, Go, and the female police officer, Boney. I detested both Nick and his wife, Amy; they were self-indulgent, spoiled, and self-centered. The same can be said for Amy's parents--they were controlling, manipulative, and conniving. Amy is a proof that the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree". I would imagine that it was probably the author's intention that readers would be averse to these characters. All this being said, I was pulling for Nick to win at the book's conclusion.
It was very smart to have the story told through both Nick's viewpoint and Amy's "soon-to-be-found" diary. The plot is genius--well-planned and contains unseen twists and turns that keeps the pages turning. And the ending---WOWZA--I did not see that coming! It was definitely a big surprise!
High school libraries will need to use caution if they choose to add this title to their collections. There is an abundance of adult situations in this novel. I highly recommend it for public libraries' adult collections. I give it five out of five fleur de lis!
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