There are a plethora of books in the market today which have been made into movies.This seems to be the latest trend.As an avid book lover,I have always felt that one should always read the book before watching the movie.That way both the author and the film maker get their due credit.But in this case I did not even know that Gone Girl was based on a novel until I saw the credits on the screen.I was a wee bit disappointed as I wanted to read the story first.It does not really make much sense to read a thriller if you already know the climax but since I had heard such amazing stuffs about Gillian Flynn’s writing ,I could not resist reading her most famous work.
For all those who haven't watched the movie or read the novel,Gone Girl is a thriller story about a couple(Nick and Amy) who are stuck in a dysfunctional marriage .This book is an attempt to understand the darkest depths of human psyche.The story is sluggish but in a good way.It gives the readers ample time to get used to the philandering husband,the psychotic scheming of a manipulative wife and the overall messed up situation.In any thriller novel,white characters are boring,the black ones are necessary and the grey ones are the most interesting.This book does not have any of the three.All the characters seemed pretty inconsistent to me and I could not relate to any single one of them.In fact I felt that all of them suffered from bipolar disorder,swinging from one extreme to another as the story progressed.
Now let’s come to the most talked about feature of this book-it’s climax.I found the finale quite baffling while watching the movie so when I read the book I was expecting the ending to be a bit more well explained.It turned out to be little less absurd than the movie but still not to my liking.Also I hate how the author went complete 360 on Nick’s character-a noble soul who is ready to stay with a psycho killer just for the sake of his kid.His narcissism and misogynistic attitude was equally responsible for all the mess.So why does he get to be the good guy in the end?It did not seem fair.
May be I would have liked the book better if I had not watched the movie first.Now I feel my imagination of the novel is limited to the scenes of the movie.The twists and turns of the story may not catch the reader off guard but the writing style is impeccable.Gillian Flynn has once again proved that she has supreme control over her vocabulary and phrases.The book has strong undercurrents of feminism,which is expected from Flynn.Overall a decent read but no way justifies the hype surrounding it.
