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The Book Review

I signed up to the Sydney Online Book Club Meetup, purely to read Gone Girl. Going along to a book group, I thought, would make me allocate much neglected reading time and  I have been longing to read it for a while. As it turned out, I didn’t need any help or disciplined reading time to get through this book!

Let’s start by saying Gillian writes extremely well, with each chapter being cleverly written and seen through the alternating eyes of the main characters.  The ‘voices’ of each are instantly recogniseable, which made it a great, easy read and I felt I could slip in and out of each character and chapter easily without getting confused about who was who. The story centres around Nick and Amy Dunne, who are a self indulgent American couple and not particularly nice human beings. They love each other (supposedly) and all is very well, until both lose their successful New York writer jobs and have to move back to Nick’s hometown of Missouri when his mother becomes terminally ill. This is both a culture shock and a reality check for the pair, who were once at the heart of NYC cool and we join them as they come to terms with their new, boring, struggling, married, Missouri lives.

Then, one day, Amy vanishes. Was she kidnapped? Murdered? If so, by whom? It’s always the husband, isn’t it?

The book has an amazing pace and I would read late into the night to finish a chapter, only to cave in to curiosity and read the next. I won’t reveal the storyline too much here as this book is famous for it’s twist, however I will say that this is the first book in a long time where I haven’t been rooting for a hero. I am not sure if it’s because the twists and turns kept you guessing so much you have no idea where to place your loyalty, or if I felt the characters deserved all that came to them!

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I cannot wait to see the movie, Ben Affleck is to play Nick Dunne and I thi nk their could be some awards coming Neil Patrick Harris way for his role as Desi. Do you think the movie will live up to the book?

The Movie Review

Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay to the movie and it makes all the difference! The tone is dark, if not darker than I felt when I read the book and the casting is perfection. The storyline stays true to the book, for the main characters at least.  It is a shame supporting characters such as Hilary Handy and Desi’s overbearing mother are not on screen to offer perspective to the life of Amazing Amy. There is so much happening and i’m sure some ‘darlings’ were killed off for time and  although I missed the supporting cast, I personally felt the movie didn’t suffer for the streamlining.

The pace is like a heartbeat. Rhythmic, building and although I know exactly what happens, there was a point in the movie where I ‘Gasped’.  A thoroughly unsettling, clever, addictive thriller which sees Ben Affleck back to his best (this may even forgive Gigi) and if Neil Patrick Harris doesn’t win a supporting actor for his role as Desi, I will eat my hat.

As the credits rolled, the cinema was eerily quiet as people filed out on a Monday afternoon, all absorbing the experience and processing the previous two and a half hours. Isn’t that the mark of a brilliant movie?

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