Books: Gone Girl By Gillian Flynn

(Drivebycuriosity) -  Sometimes a movie wakes my interest for the book the film is based on. Last year I enjoyed the film "Gone Girl" (driveby), now I read the book by Gillian Flynn (amazon). This time I was less interested in the plot - which is close to the film, adapted by David Fincher - and focused more on the style.

I enjoyed the cool and sarcastic observations about relationships & marriages, about New Yorkers and people in the rural south of the US; about economical decline, family, friendship and more. The story is told with a sharp wit and a dry humor. "Gone girl" could be used as a contemporary psychological study with philosophical elements. Maybe in some years historians will study the book to get impressions how middle class people in the US behaved and communicated at the begin of this century.

The book reads like a movie script. It is written in first person, alternately by the husband and his wife. I think the author got the femal chapters (and insights) better than the male segments, which isn`t surprising. Flynn doesn`t care much about nature, architecture, weather and other atmospheric aspects which fill so many novels. She focuses on the persons and describes what husband & wife think, how they act and respond, nothing else. Both protagonists are smart & shrewd, maybe too much for themselves - and this spices the story.

"Gone Girl", the book, is as cool as "Gone Girl" the film and recommended for those who enjoy shrewd stories about relationships.

PS For illustration I choose "Untitled, Swimming Pool XV" by William Betts.