This
story was better than I expected. I enjoyed the modern-day, sleepy
Southern town setting. I definitely related to that. The characters were
likable and believable. I liked the term Caster and enjoyed the
witchy lore part of that. My favorite parts were the flashback scenes to
the Civil War days. Incidentally, those are my favorite parts in The
Vampire Diaries TV series.
A friend and I just rented the
Beautiful Creatures movie and watched it this past weekend and I tell
ya, I'm so thankful I didn't pay money to see it in the theaters. It was
awful. And I'm positive that if I had not already read the book, I'd
have absolutely no idea what was going on in the movie. So if you
haven't watched it, don't bother. Just stick with the books.
I
will probably read on in this series. It's entertaining and easy to
read, with good pacing, an interesting plot and good character
development.
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.
Get the book from Amazon.com.
Read about the author, Gillian Flynn, on Goodreads.com.
