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Click for Source Image By Pamela Banayoti
Gone Girl should be gone. Forever. Drawing a reader in has never been harder than now; in a world that has seen everything. While I understand that the demands for a complex plot may at times take precedence over the fluidity of language, Gone Girl failed in its attempt to keep me hooked. Is the plot complex? Yes. Is it credible? No. Perhaps the expectation was too high.
Gone Girl should be gone. Forever. Drawing a reader in has never been harder than now; in a world that has seen everything. While I understand that the demands for a complex plot may at times take precedence over the fluidity of language, Gone Girl failed in its attempt to keep me hooked. Is the plot complex? Yes. Is it credible? No. Perhaps the expectation was too high.
Click for Source Image Everywhere, people were reading this book. When it was eventually recommended by a friend who believes that reading is a waste of her beauty salon time, I was determined to get past my own pride and just read the book. After all, I had a spot for crime that was oh so soft. From time to time I would pick up a crime book, tickle that soft spot and listen to it purr. James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia sent that tickle into overdrive – a brilliant book, part of the LA Quartet series.
I found myself hunched in the corner of Foyles, eyes glazing over the blurb. Amy Dunne is missing; she is believed to be murdered. Main suspect is Nick Dunne, her husband. Sounds interesting enough, I thought. The unreliable narration in Nick’s voice proved to be the better part of Flynn’s choices, however, I failed to connect to both the characters and the plot itself which appeared to be overambitious. But I gave it a chance, picking it up again after a week of stranding it by my nightstand.
It was hard to empathise with characters I had no care for. Perhaps this is due to Amy Dunne’s underdeveloped voice, and the fact that she was also narrating half the story. The two voices were both distracting, and rather than spurring me on to read further, I had to constrain myself from wanting to punch both Nick and Amy Dunne. While Flynn’s flair for language shines through in some instances, her brilliance is lost at the overt attempts of building suspense. It felt that at times, Flynn was grasping for a connection to these supposedly interlinked incidents. Let’s take Amazing Amy, the franchise that made Amy’s parents rich, for which they are able to put together a trust fund for her (which they eventually squander away). These books are the reason for Amy Dunne’s insanity; -- there is a graphic moment in the plot in which she murders her ex-boyfriend Desi, which I urge people to read just for its ridiculousness. The psychological damage inflicted by her own parents set Amy up with expectations that she could not keep up forever. Understandable, yes. Credible? Still no, I’m afraid.
A mix of styles and plot techniques diverted attention from the story and the language. Flynn is excellent at pace and atmosphere, she can draw an image and have it resonate, but in the case of Gone Girl, I was left feeling underwhelmed and annoyed at how determined I was to finish reading a book I really thought I would love. Forever I will remember Nick and Amy Dunne, but not for the right reasons. Kudos to Flynn for Gone Girl having reached the number one spot on the New York Times Best Seller list, but I affirm my point. The book loses points on credibility.
I found myself hunched in the corner of Foyles, eyes glazing over the blurb. Amy Dunne is missing; she is believed to be murdered. Main suspect is Nick Dunne, her husband. Sounds interesting enough, I thought. The unreliable narration in Nick’s voice proved to be the better part of Flynn’s choices, however, I failed to connect to both the characters and the plot itself which appeared to be overambitious. But I gave it a chance, picking it up again after a week of stranding it by my nightstand.
It was hard to empathise with characters I had no care for. Perhaps this is due to Amy Dunne’s underdeveloped voice, and the fact that she was also narrating half the story. The two voices were both distracting, and rather than spurring me on to read further, I had to constrain myself from wanting to punch both Nick and Amy Dunne. While Flynn’s flair for language shines through in some instances, her brilliance is lost at the overt attempts of building suspense. It felt that at times, Flynn was grasping for a connection to these supposedly interlinked incidents. Let’s take Amazing Amy, the franchise that made Amy’s parents rich, for which they are able to put together a trust fund for her (which they eventually squander away). These books are the reason for Amy Dunne’s insanity; -- there is a graphic moment in the plot in which she murders her ex-boyfriend Desi, which I urge people to read just for its ridiculousness. The psychological damage inflicted by her own parents set Amy up with expectations that she could not keep up forever. Understandable, yes. Credible? Still no, I’m afraid.
A mix of styles and plot techniques diverted attention from the story and the language. Flynn is excellent at pace and atmosphere, she can draw an image and have it resonate, but in the case of Gone Girl, I was left feeling underwhelmed and annoyed at how determined I was to finish reading a book I really thought I would love. Forever I will remember Nick and Amy Dunne, but not for the right reasons. Kudos to Flynn for Gone Girl having reached the number one spot on the New York Times Best Seller list, but I affirm my point. The book loses points on credibility.
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