Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

 

Candice:  As readers may remember I bought this book awhile ago (October to be exact) and havent got round starting reading it until January.  I bought the ebook version to so had to find the appropriate time to wrench the iPad back off the other half.(Stop surfing Amazon I want to read my book).  Anyway, I finally finished it a week or so ago so these are my thoughts.

First off I want to say, I really liked this book.  I havent said that about one for awhile but it was very clever and the end surprised me.  As is always the way with our reviews I wont give too much away but will add PLOT SPOILER ALERT here.

Nick and Amy are a nice, happy, well off couple living in New York with jobs they love as writers.  Then the crash happens and suddenly they are both without jobs or money.  Nick’s mum is terminally ill so they (he) decides to move back to the town his grew up in Missouri, in other words the middle of nowhere compared to NYC, to look after her and start again.  But things go from bad to worse when, on their five year anniversary, Amy goes missing and eventually Nick is arrested for her murder. But all is not as it seems…

Told from Amy’s view, Nick’s view and Amy’s diary’s view this book twists and turns around.  At first they sound like a loving couple then you start to discover that things are not rosey as we think.  Nick is a poor husband; forgetful, rude and generally a self centered man.  Amy has been brought up as an only child of parents who’s money comes from the children’s books they have written featuring her as the main character.  She is selfish and resents her parents for selling her life as a story, which is exacerbated by them taking her trust fund money back as they run out of money.

The story keeps you on your toes as initially we believe Amy to be have been kidnapped or murdered, but we are not sure if Nick is involved.  The book flips from Nick’s point of view to Amy’s diary, where she tells the story of what a bad husband Nick is.  The centre point is her annual treasure hunt, where the clues reference things in their life leading to a present, but Nick always fails miserably to get any of it right.

As the Police begin to investigate a picture starts to emerge that Nick might have killed his wife but he still protests his innocence. Things about Amy become more confusing: she’s bought a gun, she has friend’s Nick doesnt know about, she’s pregnant.  The story builds against him as they then discover her diary and becomes even stronger when it emerges he has a mistress.

But then, Amy’s real voice appears and we start to find out what is really happening.  She’s pissed off with her husband, so has set an elaborate plan to frame him for her murder to get her own back.  You come to realise that this cosetted upbringing as an only child has created a psychopath who wants everyone to love her. And if they dont, there is all hell to pay.

Amy had a staker at school, Desi, and she goes to him for help but then the tables turn as he traps her, locking her into his holiday home and making it her prison.  She escapes and goes back to Nick, now convinced he is really the only man for her.

But the book doesnt finish there.  As, for Amy to escape, she murders Desi, and she uses this fact to control Nick and make him her perfect husband.  As the book closes they are still circling each other deciding what the future will bring.

The ending was a shock to me I was waiting for Amy to get her comeuppance, but actually I realise that Flynn was trying to say that neither of these characters are nice people so they deserve each other.

The book is very clever, as even though I worked out that Amy was tricking everyone, by giving you the impression you are reading Amy’s view point versus Nick’s you think this is a conventional murder mystery story.  However, when you get the real Amy, you realise how twisted she is.

I certainly recommend this one if you want something that will make you think.  Its more than just a ‘sunlounger book’.

 

Multi tasking

Candice:  I’m currently writing this post while rocking someone with my foot in their baby chair.  You know what they say about women being able to multitask, well I’ve been doing a lot of that recently since my new addition – making bottles, loading and unloading washing machines, eating – all this one hand.  My ultimate multitask has to be reading a book while doing a feed.

I’m reading two books at the moment – Michael J Fox’s autobiography and ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn.  They are two totally different styles and even their format is different, one a paperback and one an ibook. The Fox book was bought for me as a Christmas present by the other half.  He knows I had a big crush on the guy when I was in my teens; posters on the wall, obsession with Back to the Future, dreaming about marrying Michael – all the usual teenage angst stuff.  However, when I grew to be taller than him I fell out of love with him (and moved on to Matthew Broderick I think).  The other book was bought for the plane back in October when we went to America, but as I didn’t read anywhere as many books on that holiday as usual it didn’t get touched.

I’ll review both when I have finished them but my question here is more about – how do you cope with reading two books at one time and really enjoy either of them.   I’ve done it before but not to this extent.  The Fox book is my wind down before I go to bed, as it is impossible to hold a paperback open when you have a small person on your other arm.  However, once we got past the early stuff and into the Hollywood stuff that interests me, I don’t always go to bed as early as I should!  The ‘Gone Girl’ is good for flipping though on a back-lit screen in the early hours as it doesn’t disturb someone and the pages stay flat.  I’m have to admit I’m struggling to remember what happened last time with the ‘Girl’ book but now I am trying to read it every night that helps.

I think it is possible to read two at once, especially if they reflect where you are at that time.  Also, doing a fiction then non-fiction must be the best way as you aren’t trying to keep up with two complex story lines.  It might be harder with two twisting murder mysteries for example, though I am sure as I come to the end of the fiction book I might need to just read it to really get the whole story (though we know I hate endings).

What examples have you of successfully multitasking books, and why have you done it?