Gone Girl (Warning: Thar be spoilers ahead)
I noticed that I haven't done a book post in quite awhile - it's really because, sadly, I haven't read anything worth posting about.
However if you follow me on Instagram, you know that last night was Book Club Night at my house and the novel we chose for this month was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. And yesterday I broke my own rule of book club, which is that you have to read the book. I got one third of the way through this book, skipped to the last 15 pages and didn't even bother to skim through the rest of it. I just didn't like it - any of it.
"Tra and la!" is how we first meet Amy, the female character in the book, and the first time that I knew she was crazy. It's how she starts out her diary entry in the second chapter of the book and the whole thing started smelling fishy from that point on. Reason? I could understand maybe if she was a 15-year old girl but at 30-something years of age starting out her diary entry with "tra and la"? I've kept a journal for the majority of my life and, as an occasionally dramatic diarist, I have never started out an entry with anything close to that. My opinion of the book only spirals downward from there.
At book club, someone adroitly pointed out, there wasn't a single character in the book that was normal. Maybe that's what really got to me - the stock characters that, instead of exhibiting depth and complexity of character, only plunged more and more into the deep end of one-sidedness. The slow-witted, lying husband? The sociopath wife concerned only about her and her family's image? As Sheldon Cooper so aptly puts it...
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Haha, if only real mail carriers were so understanding about people changing their house numbers.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the title, I thought "gone in 60 seconds" and imagined Amy as the head of an auto chop shop--having just had a car part stolen probably influenced my thinking a little. Too bad the book itself wasn't gone in 60 seconds. :)
"Sometimes everything is just the worst." -- Liz Lemon
That's too funny that you read some and skipped ahead. It's always a bummer when books aren't good. I'm one of those that has to finish something so I will read the whole thing even if I don't like it. You know it's really, really bad when I don't.
ReplyDeleteugh - nothing worse than a disappointing book. So hard to decide if you should cut and run, or just hang in there for a few more pages in the hope that it might....just might....improve.... sadly it never does.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I find bad books a wee bit depressing sometimes. An unopened book has such promise!
ReplyDeleteSee...I'm also not a fan of books where there's not one "normal" character. I guess no one is normal...but you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteAt least you made a fun night out of it :-)
Had to skip reading this post, my dear, as it's on my To-Read list....
ReplyDeleteI have not read this book. I love book reviews, they help avoid reading books that disappoint, especially those with so much hype around it and having to skip because it was a torture to read right through page after page. I know that the author has worked hard to write them so I stick around hoping the rest of the chapters gets better.
ReplyDeleteThis happens some time.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like it, either, as a whole (but I did read the whole thing ;) The characters are all effing crazy and only out for themselves, and it just gave me an awful, uncomfortable feeling at the end thinking there are people out there like this, in relationships like that. Thank god it's just fiction!
ReplyDeletethis is not the first time i have heard less than raving reviews about this book. i think i will officially take it off my "to-read" list. at least if served as a reason to chat and drink and eat.
ReplyDeleteGood to know not to bother with this one. It's always disappointing when a book isn't good.
ReplyDeleteI guess because our generation thrives on drama, this book developed a fellowship? I pretty much did the same thing you did with the whole, skim, skim, skim, and read the end of the book. It was okay but not nearly as entertaining as that Sheldon picture. Day = made.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your opinion. I will not read this for sure!
ReplyDeleteLUXESSED
Thank you for confirming exactly how I felt about this book. I really don't understand how this book has gotten so popular and made everyone's must-read list. There was not one character that I cared for or even remotely liked in this book, and therein lies the problem (for me). Is that the genius of this book? The upside: a night spent with girlfriends over good food and drink. I'm sure that helped get that bad book taste out of our mouth. ;)
ReplyDeleteI didn't read this post, because I am getting ready to start this book this week, but I can't wait to come back to this post when I am finished.
ReplyDelete*Erin
I want to read that book ;) The Remembrall
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