Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Our meeting was very sad this month as we said goodbye to our dear friend and fellow book cluber Carol Clancy. Carol joined us some 10 years ago and her lovely smile and pleasant disposition is going to be missed by us all. Carol would have been the first of us to rail against the hatred that has resulted in the MH17 disaster, so for her sake we did not dwell on that but recalled some of our more enjoyable moments with her. In her own quiet way she will always be there, at our meetings.

 What did we think of Gone Girl? Well, it scored high with most of the group (a 10 in Nancy’s case) but as low as 6 with others. There was no argument concerning the creepy factor of Amy. Her sociopathic character inspired great discussion, mostly about whether her extremely well-thought out scheme was plausible. It was decided that realistic or not, the storyline, although somewhat disturbing, was well constructed, compelling and kept you coming back for more. In fact, a few of us believed that the constant ‘whodunit’ interchange was a key element in the story’s appeal.

 

Cathy and Denise both enjoyed its contemporary setting, ignoring the crude language, but were curious about what message the author was looking for. Ann found too much background padding and wanted the story to get moving. Within the group there was little to no love for any of the characters, but it was unanimous that Nick was nothing more than an average male (no better, no worse than most) and that Amy needed to be caught and held to account! The role of the media was also touched on, along with Amy’s parents and their lapse of parental duty heavily underlined.

 

The book’s conclusion also gained much interest in our group. Some thought it weak, others clever. We all had an idea of how we thought it would play out, and apparently the movie has its own ending … so with the film placed firmly on our ‘to see’ list, we will all be waiting to see what they have come up with!