GONE GIRL
Genre - Thriller
Year of Publication- 2012
Publishing house- Crown Publishing Group
About-It is the perfect couple,Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Plans are being made and reservations too, for this oh so special day when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears suddenly out of the blue. Mr, Perfect husband, Nick isn’t doing himself any well, with his paranoia and fear, leaving him restless. Amy's diary reveals the perfect girl could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media and Amy’s pestering parents—the town favorite boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is in danger, in the spotlight—but is he really a killer?
Characters- Unpredictable, too smart for their own good.
Nick Dunne : Nick Dunne is one of the novel’s two narrators. His chapters alternate with chapters narrated by his wife, Amy Elliott Dunne. Their relationship drives the plot, and the gradual revelation of their characters provides the suspense in this thriller.Age 34 at the time of Amy’s disappearance, Nick Dunne relies on women to like him and to take care of him. In particular Nick’s mother, Mo, and his sister, Go, protect and support him. Intelligent and extremely handsome, Nick’s life seems magical when he meets Amy and enters her world of wealth and privilege. Nick falls deeply in love with Amy, and they marry.Even as their marriage falls apart due to the strains of job loss, money problems, and parental illness, he respects and admires his wife for her brilliant brain. It is one of her chief advantages over him, and he knows that she is more intelligent than he is.Nick’s affair mirrors his character weaknesses and his fragile identity, particularly with regards to his masculinity. Fearing that he will become like his father—a woman-hater—he over-compensates, self-consciously creating respectful relationships with women.
Amy Dunne: Being the real-life version of a fictional character really damages Amy's sense of adequacy.
Even as a grown woman, Amy can't shake off the desire to out-amaze Amazing Amy.These obviously aren't healthy thought patterns, but for Amy, perfectionism, competition, and love of attention prove to be a deadly concoction.
For a while, she does a pretty good job of sustaining the act—good enough to progress her relationship with Nick to the living together level—but living with Nick winds up showing her who she really is. Growing up, Amy was aloof and unsociable from living in Amazing Amy's shadow, but Nick's charming personality and wit shows her what happiness really looks like. At the same time, though, playing Cool Girl to Nick's Cool Guy also shows Amy what a lie her personality is.
And when she gives up on being Cool Amy and decides to just be Amy.
At the end of the day, Amy's a real head case, but looking at the evolution of her character makes it at least a little easier to understand her obsession with controlling others. It's bad enough that she has a classic case of Spoiled Only Child Syndrome, but hers goes beyond issues of entitlement. She doesn't just want people to give her whatever she wants—she wants total control over their will in doing so. She might look like a good girl, but her insides ooze hatred.
Narrative: A very gripping narrative and an absolute page turner. It plays with your mind and won’t let you sleep till you finish the entire book.
Theme- It includes dishonesty, the ugly side of media, and the unhappiness that comes with a troubled economy, and the unhappy pretentious marriages these days.There’s a brief hint of feminism too.
The characters lie to each other and the reader about affairs and disappearances. Amy makes a fake diary to implicate her husband for her disappearance and murder.
Recommendation- Go for it, it’s an experience, every page, I had a roller coaster ride. And do it before you watch the film, or read it even if you watched the film.
Adaptations- Audiobook- Gone Girl was recorded as a Random House audio book
Film- (2014) Starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike