Hello and welcome back bookworms! This month is all about masculinity and I just finished a book which I thought matched the theme, perfectly. The book is called “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn. Alongside the book, the movie adaptation is very popular and the only comment I get from anyone who had watched it is “Amazing!”. So the first thing I’d like to tell the readers is, to get ready for a wild ride on a roller coaster.
The title itself is a huge spoiler. Nick Dunne’s wife, Amy Elliot Dunne disappears on the day of their fifth wedding anniversary. Each chapter is narrated by either Nick or Amy. The book contains three sections. The first talks about a relationship between the loving couple. The police investigate the missing woman and gradually build up a case, primarily making Nick the suspect.
The real story starts in the second section. In it, Amy is alive and well! She made a very elaborate plan, over a year ago, to frame her husband so that he could be wrongly punished for infidelity and ignorance. This may not sound new to you as themes like this are seen in many movies. This story, however, was quite different.
I think the whole persona of Amy was based on manipulation. She manipulated her husband, the police, and the public. She did it so well that no one figured out what happened. By the end of the novel, I could not comprehend what I truly felt. It made me want to scream into a pillow. Who do I hate? Who do I feel sorry for? Honestly, I still cannot tell. The end of the book was difficult to process and even though the story had a proper ending, it still felt like a cliffhanger!
I had been thinking about the story and what came to my mind was that the public’s opinion was too narrow. They blamed it all on the husband and never even thought of the possibility that it could have been the woman’s fault. This is why we should all step back and try to see a clear picture before jumping to conclusions as seen by not only this story but in general, too.
I will conclude this review with the final paragraph of the book which I loved so much. The end is narrated by none other than, Amy...
“I don’t have anything else to add. I just wanted to make sure I had the last word. I think I’ve earned that.”
Until next time…