A Review of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

In reading Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, I was struck by several things. This book began clearly, as a whodunit, and ended as a descent into madness, for virtually all of the characters. It was uneven for this reason and didn't appear to ever get into a smooth rhythm. It was also a book of pure hate, not the least of which is a long series of characters (not all of them men) who are both obvious and subtle misogynists. The two main characters, Nick and Amy, married five years, are about to celebrate their fifth anniversary when Amy disappears. It seems, for this first part of the book, that Nick may have had something to do with it. However, at about 1/3 of the way through, we begin to see who Amy really is, and who Nick really is as well. These two are the most self-aggrandizing, vitriolic, hate-spewing people on the planet. Amy is ridiculous. Nobody, including her child-psychologist parents, seems to have any idea that she displays clear signs of sociopathy. People seem to "hurt themselves" around her all the time, but they just want to be her or be loved by her, or so Amy says, and her parents buy it every time. They are the few characters who aren't painted as hating women, but they certainly seem to care less for their child than the books they write about her life and make a living from. Aside from this, both Amy and Nick seem to think all women are either smart, but nasty bitches or just flat-out dumb. There was some clear indication that the author, a Midwesterner, seems to find the stereotype about New Yorkers thinking Midwesterners are dumb rubes to be true. I didn't care much for this story. It was too frustrating to read about innocent characters getting framed or hurt over and over, and the ending was absurd. I did think the concept was interesting, but the execution was unpleasant and not at all fun to read. I would not recommend this book.