Gone Girl: Gillian Flynn

Image Credit : EW

It's the start of what I hope will be a busy reading year! Last year I think, was exceptional in the book-reading world. We had the 'mommy porn' phenomenon and we had best-sellers, like Gone Girl that dig a little space in that deep wall of human psychosis. A thriller? Yes. A who-dun-it? Not so. But readable? Very.

I should add here that Gone Girl was the first book I have read on the Kindle. No, I didn't succumb and buy one. Birdy here on LWS was kind enough to download it for me on her e-reading device, and I unscrupulously used it to read this book while holidaying in Jordan. And? I enjoyed the Kindle experience. Initially, I was a bit distracted with the page flickers, but I did become used to it. I loved the ease of searching a word up on the in-built dictionary, and I liked highlighting passages. That's one thing that I forget in books. The print ones, that is. Would I buy it? No. Not yet. If only they can make the Kindle a page-turning experience! Then I would.

Gone Girl is also the most-reviewed book of last year. I thought of that while writing this review. Just what can I add to Gone Girl that hasn't been said already? The past year or so - and indeed, even before that, I have been witness to some fascinating human machinations. At work. At play. As a person, I hate lies. Hate being lied to. Snip, snip, snip, and there lies a relationship that I cut because the other person didn't play true. So imagine a book where the two lead characters lie to you. Lie to themselves. Lie to others. Snip, snip, snip. The coils of the human mind. I didn't like Nick Dunne. Or Amy Dunne. They were by far the most unlikable characters I have come across. But there is a little Nick and a little Amy in all of us. In the people you know. I know. That's frightening. And strangely reassuring.

Nick and Amy Dunne's marriage is a sham. Or a wonderful compromise. Depending on which side of the ocean you are standing on. When Amy disappears on their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick is thrown into a maelstrom of chaos. Of human engineered chaos. And deceptive lies. And sociopathic tussles. Last year, I have seen much the same. Not sociopaths, but all the warpedness of the human mind. Do I really believe what the person next to me is saying? Is your life what you claim it is? Hey! I remember that you didn't pass me the ketchup in that restaurant last year...I still feel so hurt about that. And hence, I won't be talking to you for the rest of the year. Well. I think we are all Gone Girls and Gone Boys sometimes. This novel is the same. Like some toxic relationships that you can't get out of. Can't get inside. That kills you while giving you life.  

Gone Girl is dark, deceptively packaged as a thriller, and masquerading as a marriage tale. The ending was like how I saw the year end in Jordan. Standing on a rock under an almost full-moon, the stars shimmering, and Bedouins lighting fireworks. It seemed a bit strange. It's close to freezing, and having been lured to the rock by a Bedouin who thought that he might as well throw in a proposal of marriage in there, I am standing in bare feet. Frozen toes. Lighted skies. And all too soon it ends. And you think what was that? Did that make any sense? That's how the ending felt. Of the book, and this year for me. I look back and I think, none of this makes any sense. Apt.

Verdict : You really should read it, shouldn't you? 

Rating: 3.5/5