Gone Girl
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season475 pages, about 10 hours: the length of 1.5 typical books on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbFour readers report a slow opening that picks up between pages 100 and 150.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 14 reviews from critics and book blogs, 13 credit the plot and 7 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesA 2023 genre retrospective names James M. Cain and Patricia Highsmith as forerunners of the domestic-noir style it popularized.
The case for it
on the readability
“Compulsively readable, creepily unforgettable, this is a must read for any fan of bad girls”
Unsigned review · Publishers Weekly, 2012 on Nick and Amy
“Flynn crafts remarkably authentic characters and utterly believable relationships.”
five stars · a book blog on the Cool Girl passage
“the observations about underlying resentment in relationships and ‘Cool Girl’ are spot on”
a book blog on the structure
“One of the most astonishing elements of this book is its brilliant structure.”
a book blog
The case against
on the peripheral characters
“At times keeping track of all of the peripheral characters”
a book blog on the prose
“The prose also feels heavy-handed and overwritten.”
a book blog on the swearing
“The swearing is too much for my taste”
a book blog on the first 150 pages
“It took about 150 pages to get to that and it was so excruciating”
a book blog
