BOOK REVIEW: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Hello everyone! Today I finished Gone Girl, and whilst the book is still fresh in my mind, I thought I would share my review of the book!

Now, for anyone who doesn't know about Gone Girl, where exactly have you been?! The book was turned into a film that was shown in the U.K over the summer last year, and has been a hit pretty much worldwide. However, me being the type of person that I am, I found myself seeing the previews and wanting to read the book! So I picked up the book from my local supermarket for £3.50, instead of its RRP of £6.99, and it has sat on my shelf ever since, until a couple of weeks ago when I picked it up on a whim after getting bored of my last read!

So what is Gone Girl about?

Gone Girl centres on a couple, Nick Dunne and Amy Dunne (who also goes by her maiden name Amy Elliott, as well as Amy Elliott-Dunne), and is set in a diary format, almost. Each chapter is an entry of theirs, although it doesnt have the usual 'dear diary'. Each chapter title contains their name, and how many days after a certain event takes place that the entry has been made. What event I hear you ask? Basically, Amy disappears, and everyone blames Nick. Cue a book centred on him finding his wife, and proving his innocence. Although things are not all they seem!

***This next section of the review will not be guaranteed spoiler free - if you have NOT read the book, please skip ahead!***

Now, I really do have some issues with this book, which are not exactly spoiler free (another warning!).

I really dislike Amy's character. I mean, she has always been a bit odd (according to her previous entries) in the sense that as soon as she has someone on her team, that actually likes her for her, she starts to push them away at the first sign of them knowing her "too much". Personally, I do believe that this is because she's seemingly under the impression that she knows there is always someone else who can replace the "friend" in question, which is wrong on so many levels.
And then she grows up.
And she is just as bad, if not worse!
I disliked how she basically plotted for a whole year to pull off the disappearance, and the fact that everyone is on her side and believes her because 'why wouldn't you believe this beautiful woman?' is actually an option also disgusts me. The more I read Amy's chapters, the more I wanted to kill her myself.

AND...faking a pregnancy? Killing a  man? Faking your own death? If you dont love your husband anymore, just leave, don't go batshit crazy to make sure he never leaves you out of spite or even pity.

Nick on the other hand...

Well, Nick Dunne. You beauty of a man. I had already seen the trailers so could mainly picture Ben Affleck when reading Nick's chapters but hey, every cloud! The more I read Nick's chapters, the more I supported him. Probably because I was reading Amy's chapters in between and I genuinely felt sorry for the poor bloke, I mean wouldn't you? Regardless of him being a cheat (which goes back on ALL I've said in the past), for someone who supposedly loves you forever to then turn around and fake her own disappearance/death just to make sure you're arrested so you never get the chance to move on from her? Nah, step too far.

***Spoilers end here (or will try too)***

Now, I've vented my thoughts on the characters whilst stating spoilers so lets cut to the chase.
Amy is a character I really dislike.
Nick I feel sorry for.
Go is great!

One other gripe I had with this book is its format. Not in the diary sense, I do believe that is a good idea. Although I think perhaps doing Nick's sections first up to the turning point in the book would be great, followed by Amy's story from the start up until that point. From there, I would probably alternate as already done by Flynn. This way I do believe would allow us to connect to Nick better in the sense of blaming him and then feeling extremely guilty and upset at that turning point.

Overall, I give the book THREE out of FIVE stars. I felt it could have been reorganised to suit the story better, and ultimately, I want to kill Amy myself.

Have you read the book or seen the film adaptation? Or perhaps both? Please let me know in the comments what you thought of the book, I'd love to hear from you!