Years ago, when it was first published, Gone Girl was my gate way drug into the world of domestic thrillers/noir. Now I read all of them, and have strong opinions on Gillian Flynn vs. Ruth Ware vs. Kubica, etc. But Gone Girl was my first. So recently, because I had never seen the movie and wanted to compare the two, I did a Gone Girl reread.
Surprise, surprise it totally held up. There’s a reason all aspiring domestic/unreliable narrator/thrillers try to claim they are like Gone Girl- it’s really freaking good! Even knowing the plot I was immediately sucked in. It’s a fun different read when you know what’s going on and you can trace the scheming as it occurs.
The movie? It was fine. They nailed the casting, that’s for sure. But I feel like they left out a LOT of Amy’s internal dialogue that informs her. The movie portrays her as a woman spurned who goes WAY too far, sure. But it leaves out a lot of things like how she doesn’t feel emotions the same, and tries on personalities for fun, and things that really get into how messed up her brain is. I think that informs a lot of Amy, and it changes the tone of what you are seeing. There’s so much more happening here then a mere woman spurned.
I won’t go in depth into the key difference I see because spoilers. But I prefer the book’s take.
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