Gone Girl

by Gillian Flynn

First Posted Oct 2012

Sometimes I try to do different things with my reviews. Sometimes it does not work. I barely talked about anything! Vibes-based reviews do not suit me, I don’t think.

Gone Girl is foundational twist-lit, The Sixth Sense of modern text thrillers. I refuse to accept it might be unpopular to like this book. I refuse to look. It’s a good book (though, in my opinion, not a great review by me. I basically just shrugged and said, “Go read it.”)

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Narrative. This book is a study in narrative. The writing is as strong as the plot, an integral component to being ensorcelled not simply by the events (which are fascinating and never slow down) but the manner in which they unfold (which is a work of construction so strong, so underutilized, that it will quickly be usurped reproduced ad nauseum) [editor’s note from 2024—yup]. Distinct narrative voices are structured and created and maintained, pushing multiple sides to the same events, not always contemporaneously. It becomes impossible not to read just a bit further, trying to unfold the mystery before you should. You really, truly, won't see the big picture, the twist; not due to absurdity or shock or nonsense. It's there, ready to be known, underlying everything. But it’s obfuscated just enough. Basic rules of the reader/writer relationship are—not violated, not exactly—but flexed, prodded, ignored.

I won't touch the plot, because you should really just read it. Anyone, anyone could read this book, enjoy it, discuss it. Take in the disparate voices of the narrators, their closed-system understanding of the world, their limitations and their expectations. Take it in and see a writer capable of creating multiple, believable people that are constructed so you like them, trust them, even when the events swirling around them are telling you not to. That's the way to do it!