Gone Girl : A peek behind closed doors.

 

‘People judge. Fast’ But what is behind closed doors ?

On the morning of their fifth anniversary, Nick’s wife, the beautiful, intelligent, warm and compassionate Amy Dunne, disappears. People start to whisper. That she was afraid of him, that he might have killed her. Nick says he’s not guilty. Who is telling the truth?

                     

Well, hello Charlie. Did I grab your interest like this book grabbed mine?

Written by Gillian Flynn in 2012, Gone Girl is a thriller about a two married new yorkers who move to Mississippi, hoping to find a better life after both losing their jobs. Shortly after their wreckage, they start to lose faith in each other. Nick still wants to think that his wife is the perfect, never angry, nurturing woman he met, and Amy misses the husband she believes she used to have, the Nick who cared about her and loved her for who she was. And then Amy goes missing. Everything comes crashing down. Everybody thinks it’s Nick. But what really happened?

                                                                   

From the second you start the book, you know that the characters are REAL people, with emotions, doubts, fears and a heart. These feelings won’t leave you alone, because you understand these people, you can read them, you’re inside their minds. You are Nick Dunne. You are Amy Dunne. And from the beginning, you know that something is threatening them, that there is something wrong, toxic in the way they behave. You raise an eyebrow in front of your book when you read the difference between what they said and what they’re actually thinking, written in italic, it’s like they were taking the time to think through every single choice they have to make, often angrily, and then put the appearance the outside world expects.

Just like every other human, they fear people’s judgement. Nick tries to compensate for his “humanity” by trying to be perfect, in everything, and Amy puts on personas (as many as she needs to) to be in the likes of others, to be cool, to be what they want her to be in spite of everything she wants as a woman and as a person. She lets others control her appearance, her moods. She is a strong and brilliant woman yet uncapable to take control of her life by acting the way she wants to. She is faking Amazing Amy, the childish character her parents invented as a model to make her happy. Nick is also much more complicated than the good guy who is certain he did no wrong and fails to admit that he waits for other to rescue him. He struggles as he tries to confront what he has done to Amy, to himself, what they have done to each other and fight by himself instead of hiding in everyone’s shadow. He develops from a guy who resents most women and fears facing people’s feelings to someone who cares for more than his own interest and wants to do the right thing.

Amy is a saddening yet realistic example of a sheltered woman who was actually feeling trapped and lonely, driven crazy by society. She is resenting her husband for his incapacity to keep loving her when she stopped being what he wanted her to be : a Cool Girl. This book, through Amy’s character, is tearing apart a trope deserving woman who try to fit in a men’s world by acting like men want them to act. By acting like the “Cool Girl”, they choose not to be themselves despite how unique they are, and how much better they could be if they were playing “their own persona”, be who they are.

 I think this book is deeply feminist without neglecting its male characters : there is more depth to both men and women than just one negative and reducing trait that defines their whole being. Nick was a cheater, he’s trying to be a better man and understand others, Go is a sister who unconditionally loves her brother, but she’s also a strong woman who has lost her work, her parents, watched her brother almost go down, got back a job by herself, told her brother when he messed up and made ‘the best out of a terrible situation’ as Nick would say. Not a single character lacks development and each point of view depicts society in a different way, pushing us to ask ourselves how we want to live and where our choices will lead us.

 

This book is definitely a page-turner, good luck trying to put it down !

Thanks for reading my article ;)

N