Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

How is it that one can hate and love a book at the same time? The answer is in a story well told and expertly developed characters.

When I finished, I absolutely hated the book. I hated the characters. I hated the story. I was just mad. My initial reaction was… Since I only give 0’s to books that do not compel me to finish, it’s gotta be a 1.

Then I was in the car on my way to work. I found myself complaining <i>out loud</i> to myself about it… about how the characters were unlikeable and had no redeeming qualities, about how the story wasn’t good, and about how it didn’t leave me with any kind of satisfaction whatsoever. I realized that based solely on the emotion it evoked, I needed to give a higher rating than a 1.

I started thinking more about the characters. It dawned on me that even though the reader (me) wanted something good to come out of the whole thing, the author stayed very true to the characters she had developed. Granted, it would have been more satisfying if one of them had deviated, but it would have been less realistic given the characters’ painted backgrounds. Rating is still climbing… we’re at or above a 3 by now.

So, I thought more about the style and voice(s). I think audio did help. First person is hard to do effectively and with consistency. She did it twice and with two characters who make empathy difficult. The optimist in me likes to think that can be attributed to the author’s creativity vs. ability to identify with either character. Pushing 4.

Finally, to the way the story was constructed… In the middle, I felt like I was getting all sorts of superfluous information. At the end, I really can’t think of many details that could have or should have been left out. Every little detail attributed to how the characters viewed themselves and the world around them.

My rating… 4.5