I may have mentioned starting a book club with some friends. We started with
Divergent, which we totally loved. March, we read
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I'm not one for dark suspense and from what I understand, this book is by far less intense compared to her other titles.
Blurb from
GoodReads.
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?
As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.
What our book club thought:
It was simple, they loved it. I think a major seller for us is we are Missouri Girls who make soup casseroles and eat Fritos. One or two admitted to finding the story a bit predictable, knowing early on what the outcome would be. But the general consensus was they couldn't put the book down. We later discussed aspects of the book we found interesting; did we ever think so and so committed the crime, what would we have done, do we plan on reading her other titles.
We did all enjoy the idea of a he-said, she-said sides of the story which offered much conflict in the book and kept some of us guessing.
My thoughts:
I tend to read very quickly and thought I was clever in not reading this book until closer to our meeting. WRONG! I didn't finish the book until a few hours before we met. Why? Even though I gave the book 4 stars on GR (the writing is very good as well as the story) I wasn't as engaged. I think because it's not my normal go-to genre, which is the point of the book club. I enjoyed the quirky comments and tangents, finding most of them funny but after the author did it a few times, I began to find them boring. Yeah, yeah, everything has a story. Hell, we all have those moments but I kept wanting to skip the tangents and get on with it.
And unlike my group, I liked the wife. I felt if my husband did to me what hers did to her, I'd hope to have guts or be creative enough to do something. Maybe not on such a grand production like in this book, but something. I liked her gumption.
Our next book: Paranoia by Joseph Finder.
