New York : Broadway Books, [2014]
422 p. ; 21 cm.
Publisher's Weekly describes Flynn's Gone Girl as the "tale of a marriage gone toxically wrong" which "gradually emerge[s] through alternating accounts by Nick and Amy, both unreliable narrators in their own ways." I couldn't have said it better myself - so I won't! Booklist calls it a "compelling thriller and a searing portrait of marriage" which it is, though I'd say it's a pretty twisted and horrible portrait to be sure. Booklist does note that Flynn "possesses a disturbing worldview, one considerably amped up by her twisted sense of humor." That is definitely true.
Almost all reviews note that it is compulsively readable and I have to agree. But it does present a rather sordid and extreme view of human relationships and has some pretty crude generalizations about men, women and their interactions.
I think the strength of the book is the plotting (which is creative and unpredictable) and the use of the unreliable narrators - which keeps the reader guessing and on edge.
Anyone working with young adults should be aware that though there is not a lot of graphic sex in the novel, sexual situations are frequently referred to - and occasionally described in very explicit and crude terms. It's definitely a novel for mature readers, but there will be a lot of requests for the book given its phenomenal success and the successful movie version of it which opened the day I finished the book, Oct. 3, 2014.
The title of this post is a nod to a Carter family song - and it's wonderful performance by the late Doc Watson.
