Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: Book Review

This is the story of Nick and Amy Dunne, how they met, their courtship, and marriage. It's their 5th anniversary and Nick comes home to find Amy missing, with signs of a struggle in their living room. Amy is gone. As her husband, Nick of course becomes the prime suspect in Amy's disappearance. As the investigation unfolds, so does the story of their marriage together...a dying, dysfunctional marriage. Or is it?

Wow. How do I even review this book? For one, the writing is brilliant. Sharp, perfectly paced, dark wit, twisty. Very twisty. Does the author have some sort of degree or background in psychology? I wouldn't be surprised. At first, with the switching back and forth between the narratives of Amy and Nick, I couldn't remember if the author was a man or a woman. You truly cannot tell; she does them both so well. Or, at least, she does Nick as well as what I THINK a man's thoughts would be. I'm not a man so I don't really know. Anyway, it's good. 

It's definitely a psychological thriller, and the people are seriously messed up. The story messes with you, it gets in your head. I certainly won't be forgetting this one anytime soon. But it didn't mess with me in a way that I feel I needed to take a shower immediately after reading it. That was a nice change. Usually books like this creep me out, make me feel uneasy, like I need to watch The Marx Brothers or listen to Disney music or play with a puppy after reading it (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo did that to me). I loved the way Flynn messed with my loyalties throughout. At first I felt bad for Amy. Then I sympathized with Nick. I flip-flopped like this until the end, and I really had no idea how it would end or even how I wanted it to end. All I knew was that these people's lives would never be the same - how would they recover from it? - and it was all just so sad. 

I was disappointed in the ending. I really thought it would have ended stronger, differently. It was kind of a let-down, actually. I felt like the whole story was paced so well, until the last 50 pages or so. At that point it seemed rushed, too fast, with a lot of things left out. But I wasn't completely dissatisfied. It still gets 5-stars from me.

It's so nice to read a book that's just a self-complete story, not part of a trilogy or more. You pick up a book, you read it, it's a good story, the end. Excellently written, in a nice, one-book package. How refreshing! Are they going to make a movie of this one? I wouldn't be surprised. It would make an excellent movie. Probably one I couldn't bear to watch. (Note: I just checked - Reese Witherspoon's production company has picked up the rights to this one, with suggestions that Reese would star as Amy. That would be perfect.)

I'm definitely interested in reading more by Gillian Flynn.

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Reached (Matched #3) by Ally Condie: Book Review

This is the third and final installment of the Matched series of dystopian YA novels by Ally Condie. The three main characters, Cassia, Xander, and Ky, have all left the Society to join the Rising, but at high costs. Cassia is stationed as an undercover sorter working in Central. Ky is a Rising pilot, flying airships here and there and everywhere to aid their cause. And Xander is an undercover medic working in Camas. A major outbreak of a strange illness catapults the entire world into chaos, and the three friends have to rely on each other to survive and to save others.

I enjoyed this enough, but the ending just didn't satisfy me. I felt like the love between Cassia and Ky wasn't believable, probably because they were so rarely together. I couldn't understand why they were so completely devoted to each other when the last time they had any true quality time together was on the hill...in the first book. And the fact that all three of them - Cassia, Ky, and Xander - were so altruistic and completely selfless in their total devotion to one another was unbelievable to me. They are still teenagers, right? Their selflessness and sacrifice to each other (well, at least the boys' to Cassia and to each other) was just not believable. Maybe living in conditions such as those (in the Society), and seeing all the death and destruction that they saw caused them to grow up really fast, but I still feel that there would have been some hint of jealousy or selfish notions on someone's part.

There was too much external conflict in these books, and not enough of an internal conflict to make it compelling. I kind of started to feel like the Plague parts were dragging. I'd had enough of that story line by the end. My feelings toward Cassia were consistent throughout - she's my lest favorite character in this story. I like Xander and Ky more, by far. I wonder if that was the author's intent. All in all, an interesting premise for a dystopian story, and pretty well executed. I'm glad I read this one, but I believe the first book was the strongest of the three. Three stars from me.

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Read about the author, Ally Condie, on Goodreads.com.

The Casual Vacancy: Book Review

We're definitely not at Hogwarts anymore.

Very long and slow-paced, more character sketches than plot-driven. There's no main character; you follow the stories of several people in the small town of Pagford and how their lives are affected by the death of council member Barry Fairbrother. No one is painted black or white, but rather shades of gray, so it's difficult to fully like or detest any one character. Rowling is a fantastic storyteller. I'm always amazed at her talent for developing characters and interweaving their story lines. Even though the book was sometimes tedious and slow, and quite depressing throughout, I found myself compelled to read on. I wanted to know how it would all end, how Rowling would tie it all together. I was a little disappointed in the ending. It seemed a little anti-climactic after all the excitement of that one fateful day about 3/4 of the way through. But in the end I was just kind of relieved it was over, so I didn't care all that much about how it ended. Now I feel like I need to do something uplifting and fun-filled, to get the heavy, depressive feeling off me. Ugh. Three stars from me.

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Read about J. K. Rowling on her Goodreads page.

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: Book Review

This book must not have been too terribly compelling because it took me nearly a month to read. I felt a bit like it was an effort to cash in on some of the Downton Abbey craze and fame, but I didn't really mind that so much. It was well-written and easy to read, and it definitely gave me a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the culture and times of Downton Abbey. I had already read about 30% of the book before watching the last two episodes of season 3, and it did enrich the experience for me. I have since gone back and started season 3 again, and I absolutely understand and appreciate the show even more after having read about the real people who lived at Highclere Castle. Just little things like why the younger servants asked Carson for permission to go see a movie after work make more sense to me now. The entire social structure makes more sense to me now.

I feel the book really got bogged down in the middle, and don't fully understand why the current Countess of Carnarvon felt it necessary to spend so much time talking about WWI in such detail. There really was very little need for all the details of the war that she provided. Some of it was somewhat difficult to read; it was a downer and most certainly contributed to my lack of enthusiasm about finishing the book.

In reading this book, you can easily see the real people and events that have inspired certain story lines in the TV series. Not everything that happens on the show actually happened to the real 5th Earl and his wife, but most of them happened to people in their circle, home, or to their contemporaries. I laughed out loud to find that there truly was a Mr. Bates who had an injury and walked with a limp!

I had no idea that the 5th Earl of Carnarvon was the man who discovered King Tut's tomb; that part was fascinating. I only wish the author had included more photos of this discovery, from the first time the Earl ever went into the tomb. It was so sad that he passed away before ever actually seeing everything he had discovered. I also find it interesting that archaeology, specifically in Egypt, was such a huge part of the real Earl's life, yet the writers of Downton Abbey have not used it at all.

In the end, this is probably a book that only the most dedicated fans of Downton Abbey (or of English social history) will be interested in reading. Three stars from me.

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Read more about Lady Fiona Carnarvon, the current Countess of Carnarvon.

A Discovery of Witches: Book Review

It's going to be difficult for me to rein myself in and not be too terribly critical of this book. I don't want to hurt any feelings; I know several friends who loved this one. I wanted to love it too, and I really think it could have been a fantastic story. But it just wasn't. Before I go any further, I will say that I am not interested in witches at all, so that may have colored my thinking on it from the beginning. But I was willing to give it a try, based on the glowing reviews. I was surprised at the very beginning to find that witches aren't human! I had no idea they were an entirely different creature; I always thought they were just humans with special powers. So that threw me off from the beginning, and made it much harder for me to suspend my disbelief.

Speaking of disbelief, here is a list of some of my biggest disbeliefs (I'm told this isn't a word.) from this story:
1) Diana has this amazing job as a reputable professor and researcher, and her work is so important--SHE is so important. But from about 45% until the end, SHE DOESN'T GO TO WORK OR DO ANY RESEARCH AT ALL?!! How does that work? I want a job like that.
2) Diana obviously has super-human (super-witch?) intelligence, but is she really an expert in alchemy, history, chemistry, biology, poetry, literature, religion, and every other possible subject as well? Every single line of poetry or literature that was "murmured" by the ancient vampire, or anyone near her, she instantly recognized and could recall perfectly? Yeah right.
3) Diana has resisted her witchy (yet another non-word) skills her entire life, and all of a sudden she finds she possesses every single skill ever known to witches...and then some? Really? Unbelievable. It would have been much more believable if she'd had just one or two more than what is typical for "average witches."
4) Matthew is a vampire who has lived for 1500+ years. What? That's insane. I don't buy it. Even if vampires were real. Not only that but he was also right in the thick of every single human conflict in recorded history. Right. Oh, and he was also close and personal friends to just about every famous historical figure EVER. Honestly? Yes, and not only was he personal friends with everyone famous you've ever heard about, he also has autographed copies of their original manuscripts, drawings, paintings, and anything else these famous people could have ever created. Right.
5) No one seems to have a job, but they keep going places, spending money, doing things, taking private jets and private helicopters, renting cars, buying wine and tea, etc., and spending money! Where does all this money come from? How can you just not work for 40 days and sit around the house sipping tea and taking daily walks in the apple orchard? Once again, sign me up for one of those jobs!

I could go on, but you get the picture. The author was just so over-the-top in everything she pulled into this book that it was simply too far "out there" for me to take seriously.

Harkness writes well though. It's solid writing, and for that I am thankful. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to finish it. But the book could have benefited from some heavy editing. I got so tired of reading detailed descriptions of Diana's rowing, running, horseback riding, and yoga workouts; what kind of wine they drank and all Diana's cups of tea; not to mention all the times Diana slept and how long she slept (usually while big stuff was happening). The first half of the book was so tedious with all this tripe, and NOTHING HAPPENED! Seriously, nothing happened until the 56% mark (thank you, Kindle), and then it was like reading a completely different book. Almost as if there were two different authors. Then the action came too fast and furious for the most part, and so much happened but nothing was really significant. Sometimes the action was so briefly described, or described so cryptically that I had to read and reread the sections several times before really figuring out what had happened. New, interesting characters were introduced but you really learn nothing about them. Nothing from the first half of the book is really even mentioned, leaving you scratching your head. In the end, no questions are answered, nothing is wrapped up, and you really have no idea where the next book is going to take you.

The most interesting character in the entire book to me was the Bishop house. What a brilliant idea! And it was so well done - just the right level of reference and inclusion in the story, and it wasn't goofy or ridiculous. I wish we could have learned a little more about the Bishop family history and how it was intertwined with the history of the house. I kind of wanted someone evil or scary to show up, so we could witness the house acting up and maybe even spitting the person/creature out. That would have been great.

2.5 stars from me, and I'm not convinced I care enough to read the second book. Sorry, friends who loved it!

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Read more about the author, Deborah Harkness on Goodreads.