Gone Girl: a brief review

taken from Goodreads.com

Holy crap, this book.

I literally just finished the last page and my eyes are still bugging out of my head a little and my brain is still saying "what the heeeeck...?" and "holy crap, this book" seems like the only logical thing for me to say, but that's probably not enough. So I'll say more. 

Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl is one of those that's been on my radar for a while, just because it's been really popular and seems to be everywhere. I mentioned in my Books-to-Movies Challenge post back at the start of the new year that I wanted to read it sooner rather than later because it's being turned into a movie this fall. (A little bit more on that in a minute.) It's forever on the waiting list from the library but when stumbled across it available last week on the library's website I snatched it. And then proceeded to absolutely devour it.

Nick and Amy Dunne are celebrating their five-year anniversary in their newish home in their newish zip code in Missouri, having relocated from a posh and carefree life in New York City. Stories from their early relationship paint a picture of a genuinely happy couple, playful and excited, but perhaps things aren't still quite so perfect. When Nick comes home from work and finds the front door open, the house a mess and Amy gone without a trace, the town - and soon, the country - becomes obsessed with figuring out what happened. Where is Amy? What happened in their home? Who is responsible?

I honestly can't even tell you how swept away with this plot I was. It was basically from the first page; I couldn't put it down, and when I had to I thought about it almost constantly. I really can't remember the last time I felt that way about a book...that I was that obsessed with finding out what happens next. I've always wanted to be the person who could stay up super late at night reading, but I get tired and fall asleep. I'm human. This book, though, had the opposite effect on me in the middle of the night. Okay...have I painted the picture for you enough? I really and thoroughly enjoyed this crazy book. From an entertainment perspective, I really did devour it. Couldn't get enough, couldn't stop thinking about it, couldn't stop wondering what absolutely insane thing was going to happen next. Yeah, I think you get the picture.

That all being said: I do need to give a disclaimer. I read mostly Young Adult books, and therefore review mostly Young Adult books on this blog. That's not because I have anything against books written for adults; it comes from my background in teaching middle school Language Arts and I've gotten comfortable with the genre for lots of reasons. Gone Girl, let me be very clear, is not a Young Adult book. Not that anyone would think that, but I just needed to say it. There's quite a lot of vulgar and sexually descriptive language (although not much actual sex) throughout the book in its entirety, which wasn't my favorite and makes it harder for me to actually recommend, but the plot is mind blowing...which I think I've already covered.

As far as the movie goes, it's far away and coming out in October, so there's not even a trailer to get jazzed about yet. There is, however, a full cast list on its IMDB page, and I had a ton of fun with it while reading the book. Most of the time, I read the books well in advance and then get super annoying and vocal about how Hollywood cast the characters wrong because they're not how they look in my head. Sometimes, though, I read the book when there's already a Hollywood framework in place and I get to spend a lot of time flipping back to my IMDB app on my phone to see who they cast for this new character. And sometimes, that is super fun. I have to say, the cast list for the movie works really well for the characters in this book. Time will tell whether the movie will actually be good, but (in my opinion) Ben Affleck is a great choice for Nick, Neil Patrick Harris is a shockingly terrifying but excellent choice for Desi, and I even think Tyler Perry will do a good job with Tanner Bolt. The only one I'm slightly unsure of is the choice of Rosamund Pike for Amy, just because she will always always be sweet and wonderful and perfect Jane Bennet from Pride & Prejudice, but I'm sure she will be great.

So...those are my thoughts. I really do think, though, that I could have gotten away with only saying "holy crap, this book."