Book Review by Heidi Simmons
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Gone Girl
By Gillian Flynn
Fiction
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Some marriages are made in heaven, while others can feel like being trapped in hell. In Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl (Crown Publishing, 419 pages), a husband and a wife must come to terms with their future in this provocative, psychological thriller of crazy love and twisted obsession.
Author Flynn constructs a story about a young married couple who have struggled to make it work, but have fallen apart. On the morning of Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary, it appears the two are trying to hold it together after a challenging relocation from New York City to Nick’s small hometown in Missouri.
Told in first-person, the entire narrative unfolds as both the wife and husband intimately share with the reader their individual perspectives on their marriage and life as a couple. When Amy disappears later the same day, Nick becomes the primary suspect. Amy is the “gone girl,” but her diary serves to tell us her point of view.
As an investigation unfolds the reader gets an inside look at the tense moments and psychological turmoil Nick is put through. There is the confusion and horror of not knowing what might have happened to his wife, compounded by the doubting police, the concerned relatives and the curious media.
There are no guidebooks on how to act when a spouse goes missing. Is it right to judge someone based on their behavior alone? Maybe. In this story, Nick is not good at being a distraught husband. He is calm, charming and aloof — borderline inappropriate?
What makes Gone Girl a compelling read is that things are not as they seem. With every chapter going back and forth between Amy and Nick, we learn something new about them and their relationship. As evidence is collected, they both reveal the information. Although the reader cannot be certain, it does not look good for Nick. But even the precious, innocent and beautiful Amy — as portrayed by the media — has a dark side.
I won’t ruin the ending for you — or for that matter the middle. I will give you the opportunity and pleasure to indulge in this horrifying dilemma that only continues to deliciously worsen.
Gone Girl has been on bestseller lists since its debut in June 2012. There is still a wait for the book at the library even though they have multiple copies. Certainly Flynn can tell a compelling story, and the construction of the narrative is intensely clever. But it is Flynn’s astute insight into the human psyche where Gone Girl really shines.
In many ways, Gone Girl is as much a look at the challenges and strains of modern marriage and the changing roles played in relationships, as it is a murder mystery. The author asks, of course through her characters, how well do we really know the mate we’ve chosen? Why, in even good relationships, do we become self-destructive?
Flynn writes in both the male and female voice. As a woman author, she aptly draws Nick and fairly actualizes him as a rounded, complicated, but very real guy. There is no man bashing, other than from the angry media that demands justice for his missing wife. Flynn is equally honest about women. She does not tread lightly regarding the evil women are capable of administering to the men they “love.”
There are many great passages in this book but I particularly appreciated “Amy’s” description of “cool girls” and the challenges of being an “only child.” Nick has observation about twins and sibling order that give the characters additional depth.
Intentionally or not, Gone Girl gives us a look at our own insatiable appetite for sensational human drama. The author taps into our desire to know and understand the details of a horrendous event. She also illustrates how quick we are to circumstantially condemn, disregarding “innocent until proven guilty.” In more than one way, Flynn shows us our hunger for story.
The first third of Gone Girl may feel like it lags. But trust me, when the momentum picks up, you cannot put this atypical psychological thriller down.
