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Original poster

Just read "Gone Girl"... feeling a bit shell-shocked and horrified

72 replies

Jacksmania · 17/03/2013 16:56

^ that's it, really...

The ending left me feeling like "WTF?" Shock...

Also feel a bit like "what was the point of that????"

It's obviously well written, it completely sucked me on, and not only because I wanted to know how it ended, but now I feel a bit helpless and horrified.

What did anyone else think?

OP posts:
Ragwort · 23/04/2013 08:40

Souteast - I loved Gone Girl so ordered another book by Flynn from the library but was bitterly disappointed, gave up after a third of it, nowhere near as good as Gone Girl.

One of the best books I've read in a long while.

NicknameTaken · 23/04/2013 10:45

Other books - I loved Sharp Objects, was less keen on Dark Places.

SPOILER ALERT
I was really disturbed at the future ahead of that baby. Talk about parental red flags.

Corygal · 23/04/2013 11:10

I wanted more from the other characters as resolution - eg to know what happened to Amy's parents - they vanished pretty quick by the end of the book. She'd have wanted to feed off their reaction - we didn't get much from their final meeting with Nick either.

Southeastdweller · 23/04/2013 13:37

Think I'll put Sharp Objects on my list then...but won't read it for a while as Gone Girl was really draining!

valiumredhead · 26/04/2013 08:11

SPOILER

I finished it last night.

The only thing I liked about it was the fact that the ending fizzled out instead of a big Hollywood 'wrap it up and everyone gets their just deserts' ending which happens all the time.

Saying that though, I bet they change the ending for the film.

I found the style of writing so hard to read ( might have something to do with having just read The Bell Jar which was so beautifully written) clunky and as someone said earlier I kept having to read the same bit twice to make it sink in. The plot was implausible imo which irritated me.

I was bored as well, I stopped caring what happened as I disliked every character in the book which hasn't happened since I read The Slap. I would have given up had it not been reading it for book club.

One reviewer on Amazon said it was like a teen writing and they had been told to use a thesaurus - that sums it up for me.

The other think I noticed was that I had no idea what any of the characters looked like - apart from Amy changing her hair, I had no mental image of any of them.

ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts · 26/04/2013 12:24

Valium, I also finished ot the other night. Your review there pretty much sums up what I thought. I never had an image in.my.minds eye of the characters, i couldn't give two hoot about them and found it totally implausible.

are they making a film of this? it might work better as a film.

valiumredhead · 26/04/2013 13:44

Yes, the reading notes at the end say she is working on the screen play now.

I actually looked through the book club notes to see if I was missing something - but I wasn't Grin

ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts · 26/04/2013 13:47

I didn't read her notes at the end. I was too glad to be finished!

valiumredhead · 26/04/2013 13:56

I just thought I might have missed something - you know like when you read books at school and the teacher points something out and you have a light bulb moment and think 'Oh THAT'S what the represents!?'

Clearly not in this case Grin

ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts · 26/04/2013 14:31
Grin
grabaspoon · 26/04/2013 21:56

Read this on a recommendation but struggled to read and enjoy it - powered through but never felt anything for the main characters and didn't care what happened to them etc.

Kasterborous · 27/04/2013 19:31

I read it, but got Confused about what actually happened at the end. Can anyone tell me what actually happened?

valiumredhead · 29/04/2013 10:30

What bit didn't you get Kas?

looselegs · 12/05/2013 13:34

I struggled for about the first 200 pages! As I was reading, I kept thinking "Yeah yeah-get on with it". I too was a little disappointed with the ending-"is that it?"-but I did feel that no-one could be as clever as Amy to plan everything that she planned,months in advance,and then for no-one else to find any evidence or clues about what she'd done.
Not the 'Thriller of the Year' that i thought it was going to be.

rubyslippers · 12/05/2013 13:51

I did like this very much but it took me two attempts to get into it

I read Sharp Objects after which was eerie and gloomy

I think she's a good writer and can build tension well

Many of the characters are deeply flawed which can make the books challenging

Jidget · 14/05/2013 20:00

I've been saving this thread until I finished the book which I just couldn't put down.

I didn't like Amy or Nick at all - but I don't think the author intended them to be likeable! I really felt the frustration of the supporting characters when they realised that they just couldn't prove anything against Amy.

And I thought the ending was what would happen in real life, but I would have preferred justice of course.

AnonYonimousBird · 16/05/2013 09:09

I thought it was clever and warped, but ultimately, just like OP, I thought, really? What a let down of an ending.

Her Dark Places was similar - warped and page turning and then..... OH really? You mean, that's it? Another utterly rubbish ending.

And the first major twist was obvious from very early on, it was just a question of how and when.

Dull dull dull.

AnonYonimousBird · 16/05/2013 09:10

And quite a lot of inconsistencies that Nick/Go/Tanner/the Police would have clocked!!

Glad I can move on really.

Craftycat3 · 16/05/2013 11:08

Southeastdweller, totally agree with everything you said. I thought it started well, but felt a bit unsatisfied when I finished. Really had to suspend disbelief for certain 'twists'.

Have read one of her others though, Sharp Objects, and thought that was a lot better. Still very dark and disturbing.

twirlyagogo · 16/05/2013 11:17

Thought it was awful - can't understand the hype. She must have a very good publicity team!

Kept waiting for the twist then finally realised there wasn't one, or the one that is claimed to exist is the thing that is incredibly obvious from the start.

Think she's ripping off Linwood Barclay who is much better at the 'crazy thing happening to ordinary people that you can't quite believe but like reading anyway' trashy type of thriller.

myflabberisgasted · 16/05/2013 12:55

Kasterborous I felt the same as you about the ending. I just didnt understand what she meant by having the last word?

was she going to kill Nick?
Or herself and the baby? i just didnt know what to think!

Jidget · 16/05/2013 19:43

myflabber I think she just wanted to have the last word in the story?

And my thoughts are that she wanted to control Nick completely and she succeeded in that.

I don't want to think about what she might do to the baby who was just a bargaining tool in her plan Sad

myflabberisgasted · 16/05/2013 20:13

Ahh right I see jidget!

I thought it meant something much darker than her just wanting the last word in the story.
Just when nick said he felt sorry for her just waking up and being her I thought she would do something for revenge!

SarahAndFuck · 19/05/2013 05:14

I really hope that baby grows up to be worse than Amy.

When I finished the book I was imagining it growing up obviously damaged by it's (his) parents but so much so that he was able to give Amy the run-around, perhaps fond of Nick but without respect for him, but more than a match for Amy and her games, so she feels like the one without any power.

I'd read a sequel that revisits them when that baby is an older teen and giving Amy a taste of her own medicine.

SarahAndFuck · 19/05/2013 10:44

I just recently read Sharp Objects and guessed two big plot points and found it really hard reading.

I think Camille and Wind Gap were meant to be portrayed as beaten down and empty but it made for a very draining read, I always felt very down after reading a few pages and found I didn't really want to pick the book up again.

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