Book#Jan2016: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

A suspense thriller which my brother-in-law suggested, since we both had similar liking for Haruki Murakami's work, I don't suppose his suggestion would be that bad. Plus, I didn't have to buy the book so why not? If the title sounds familiar, you may probably have heard of it from Hollywood. Although everyone was hyping up about ex-Mr Jennifer Garner aka Ben Affleck's performance in it, the movie just didn't warrant enough (on my part) to part with good money. I suppose by now, the movie should be more freely available?

Thus, this review will be based solely on the book itself and no  comparison to the movie.
It starts off with Nick who comes home to find his wife, Amy missing and there on begins the search. The plot thickens along the way in a way that it does become somewhat predictable towards the end.

Was it uncomfortable to be reading about where its' antagonist has the same name as yours truly? A little.
Did it get any better in the end? Well.... lets just say that two guys who watched the movie without reading the book told me almost the same thing when informed about my latest reading title:

oh wow. that book of which the movie is based on. right, right. (nervous laugh)... please go read it and tell me what you think. (more nervous laugh)

All I knew (then) about the book was about a woman who went missing and the ensuing search for her. Little did I realize that they were worried real life imitating art. Which I don't blame them at all now that I have finished the book.

Yes, spoilers alert. 

The book is done in a narrative/journal style, switching back and forth between Nick and Amy. It recounts of how they came to be. Starting off well in the beginning, it was evident that things were anything but. Halfway through the book, it was then that I realized their fears were appropriate: I just may turn out to be like Amazing Amy, only less successful, pretty, rich but just as vile and vengeful.

It didn't help that there were quite a number of passages in there which I could identify with and wished that I had the gut to carry out. Most importantly, patience.

There have been more than one occasions when I blame the people around me for my misgivings and misfortunes. After all these years, my mental self is starting to take responsibility more for those but at the same time, I refuse to allow myself to be victimized or be the victim or circumstances. These words resonate in my head more often that they should but that they do.
 

Towards the end, you wouldn't be surprised to know that despite everything that she has done, Amy still decided to stick with the man that she initially set out to destroy, thinking that she could change him into her ideal. While I think that is sad, over the years, we would have heard of not one but few such stories in real life from our friends and relatives.

Not that people would have spent at least half a year to plot revenge but our first plan of attack would be to leave that scumbag. The fact is women stay on. Some for the kids. Some for no other reason than they have no where else to go. Some just don't know how to go on outside of that broken relationship that they succumb to that eternal cycle of being hurt and remain hopeful.

In the case of Amy Dunne nee Elliot, it was for a vastly different reason. For one, she could have still made it on her own (would probably have been better off without Nick) but her future as she saw it was with him and their child. If there is a lesson to be learnt here:

everything requires careful planning. Once the right plan is laid out, have patience. And they will fall into place.