One of today’s most acclaimed thriller writers, Gillian Flynn presents a disturbing account of a crisis marriage. With 4 million copies sold worldwide – the biggest editorial success of the year, behind only the Fifty Shades of Gray Trilogy – “Gone Girl” combines witty humor with an electrifying narrative. The result is an atmosphere of doubt that makes the reader change his mind with each chapter. On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Amy, Nick Dunne’s beautiful and intelligent wife, disappears from her home on the Mississippi River. Apparently, it is a violent crime, and passages in Amy’s diary reveal a perfectionist girl who would be able to push anyone to the limit. Under pressure from the police and public opinion – and also from Amy’s fiercely loving parents – Nick challenges a never-ending series of lies, half-truths, and inappropriate behavior. Yes, he seems strangely evasive and certainly bitter, but is he a murderer? With his twin sister Margo at his side, Nick claims innocence. The problem is, if it wasn’t Nick, where’s Amy? And why do all the clues point to him?
Gone Girl has been considered the best book of the year for many readers who came into contact with this work. When I finished it, I didn’t classify it that way, but I couldn’t help feeling the amazement at its insane genius.
I must say that this was the book that took me the longest to read in my entire life. I started reading at the end of April and, after reading just over 100 pages, I had to interrupt it to follow up on other readings. Thus, the book reneged on my shelf until that month, when I decided that I would finish it, even with other pending readings awaiting me. This pause certainly affected my involvement, although I had not forgotten the main points of the story. I feel that she did not take me away with the expected intensity – even though from the beginning she had more to do with my curiosity than impacted me, in a proper way.
The chapters are alternated between the view of Amy and Nick and divided into three parts. In the first part, Amy’s vision is given by her diary and the question prevails about what would be behind her disappearance, mainly because her vision is so divergent from that of her husband as if two opposite stories were being told. I must highlight how much the author’s writing pleased me, because the phrases were composed to accurately convey thoughts and emotions, and because they are notable for that. I felt like I was, in fact, in the shoes of the characters, and the impact phrases were more than a positive point in the narrative.
Gillian Flynn, in fact, constructed this first part to situate the reader of events and begin to lead him to form an opinion. In the other parts, we have the answers to the questions initially created, in addition to the development of the whole situation, and it was then that I felt the anguish grow the most. I longed for an ending, and with each page, it seemed more unlikely to happen.
Perhaps, I didn’t feel so overwhelmed because I solved part of the mystery in the first part before it was revealed. The big initial question mark turned out to be no surprise. However, what amazed me about the work was not the surprise in itself of the revelations made, but how the characters were constructed in such a brilliantly frightening way. This is a psychological thriller that lives up to the genre, both for exploring the insanity of the situation experienced and for addressing the subject of relationships so intensely. The author knew how to explore the relationship between Amy and Nick because she knew how to approach their characteristics separately. By creating their individual characteristics, he was able to combine them to explore the relationship developed between them.
When I finished reading, I felt immense discontent, not because I disapproved of the ending, but because it bothered me. The outcome was not what I wanted, an ideal resolution, but a real ending to that situation and that tormented me. Gillian Flynn managed to build an insanely admirable work, something that amazes us at the madness clearly present, but that causes admiration for having been so well designed.
Exemplary Girl did not become my best reading of the year for not getting involved and impacted as I could since I had the potential to do so. However, it is certainly a book that deserves to be highlighted as one of the best representatives of the genre and will be among my nominations. Be prepared for the paradox of plunging into an unhealthy madness and admiring it for its brilliance.
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