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

[Jacksmania]

^ that's it, really...

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

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?

[SingingSilver]

After I finished this I googled reviews to see what other people thought, and I was quite surprised by the reccuring comment 'If the genders had been reversed there would have been a public outcry!' Really? We see machiavellian sadistic male villains all the time, I found the reversal quite refreshing!

If it had been a beautiful, spoilt, lazy young woman with a low-level hatred of men, living off her husbands money and having a torrid affair with a younger more virile man ? many people would have thought she deserved a psycho husband! In fact I'm sure some would have felt she'd driven him to it. A female Desi? An obsessive bunny boiler, of course he had to kill her!

In real life the bad guy (or the bad woman) often wins. It's refreshing to see it in print.

[Jidget]

I agree SingingSilver. It was a refreshing change.

[JillJ72]

Just finished this. Had an inkling she'd have engineered the whole unravelling. Found it really quite disturbing, and somewhat odd as a writing style. I think she got away with it far too easily; it all became a bit lax by the end; loose ends left untied and a quick wrap. I can't but help think they are very welcome to each other, I did like his last word though. Happy ending? Only as manufactured by them......

[Andcake]

Like others enjoyed the details of the relationship. Guessed the twist, which is fine. Had me gripped i wanted to see if she got found out so the ending did leave me a bit 'meh' is that it at the time. But then thinking about it the ending itself is original. Amy needs to win an award for one of the most devious evil characters in a book. I'm interested to now hear about her other books.
Gave so many books to charity to make room for ds I'm a library girl now - loving it don't have to waste money or space on books I don't enjoy :-)

[Alisvolatpropiis]

I enjoyed it,though as others have said guessed the "twist" long before it actually happened.

Rarely have the main protagonists of a book been so thoroughly unlikable. Nick and Amy deserve each other.

I agree with what somebody said unthread about having the main female protagonist as the Machiavellian dark one being a refreshing change for this genre.

[Southeastdweller]

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.

That's the problem I had with her style in this book. Too clunky to be truly engrossing. But I will try Sharp Objects.

[SonyaL80]

Loved this book! Couldn?t put it down. I really liked Amy?s character throughout ? even if I wasn?t sympathetic to her in the end, she was so intriguing. I also felt like Gillian gave us a real differentiation between Amy and Nick and it was so easy to understand their characters.

Definitely going to read her other books

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Just finished this. I found it incredibly hard to get into. But did enjoy it from about a third in and from there was gripped until the last page where I just didn't get it. Looked to see if there was an epilogue thingy at the end.

Re read the last bit and still didn't get it.

Maybe I am a bit thick or a bit old fashioned but just wanted the bitch to get her comeuppance .

[ElizaCBennett]

^ what Brigit said! Did not like the writing style at all and worked out the twist quite early on. Would not rush to read anything else by the author.

[Bue]

Finished this yesterday. Although it was completely implausible, which irked me somewhat, I found it to be one of the most gripping, unputdownable books I've read in a long time, although I guessed the twist very early on (and I am not usually great with plot!). Did not see the ending coming, but I was mildly disappointed as I really, really liked Nick by the end of it (which my husband would say is odd for a rabid feminist like me ) so I wanted him to exact revenge. I loved his line about feeling sorry for her having to be her, though. Made me think that he would hate her for the rest of their lives together.

All I could really think at the end was, That Poor Child! If those two are fucked up, imagine what their offspring will end up like.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Read it recently with my book group. I agree the 'twist' could be seen coming, but I liked the writing style and structure of the book. I thought there was a real note of horror at the end - Amy had got away with it, the couple were bound together and yet Amy was still angry and vengeful.

[sherbetpips]

hated it - hated the ending. Found the name 'Go' very irritating, wanted her to go. Annoyed I paid for it on Kindle.

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

I read it last week I wasn't horrified - by the end I was getting throughly bored as all the twisty-ness had gone - the ending was predictable and had been sign-posted. They were both unpleasant. The so-called Pyscho Bitch Amy did not read as particularly intelligent to me and she would have been sectioned years ago - so the situation covered in the book was laughably implausible (and I enjoy magical realism). The protagonists aside from the two main characters were very two dimensional. The twin 'Go' served only to make Nick slightly less repulsive but had no life outside her relationship to him - I was beginning to think she would be revealed as a figment of Nick's imagination.

Amy's parents were also poorly realised and seemed to be very unlikely - as well as unlikeable. I liked the structure but I also think the story suffered from that rigid structure of alternate chapters.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

Oh dear.

I read the book ages ago and just found this thread.

i really liked and identified with Amy. We're you not supposed to?

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

were

[valiumredhead]

In what way?

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

I thought her husband was a useless whiny slacker so quite pleased to see him get a comeuppance and the rich guy she went to school wuth was just creepy. I really identified with her comments about 90s men / ironic urban hipster sexists. She is quite sharp and manipulative. Plus I am a control freak who really hates small towns.

I think it's a shame Reese Witherspoon bought the rights but isn't actually playing Amy. That would be good casting.

[Blu]

Valium, I think we have the same taste in books we don't like!

[valiumredhead]

God, it was such a shite book

[valiumredhead]

I actually thought a man wrote it, it seemed so anti women some of the comments. I'm still not convinced it's not a bloke in disguise tbh

[qazxc]

Liked this book, not my favorite read but kept me entertained which is quite a feat considering the characters are so unlikeable.

[HarpyFishwifeTwat]

I loved the book but hated the ending. I just felt so cheated that there was no conclusion and the horrible characters were just going to continue living their horrible little lives. Hugely disappointed.

I do think the casting of Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike is brilliant though.