This post contains spoilers for gillian flynns gone girl i read gillian flynns gone girl, a novel about a woman in a troubled marriage who goes missing, in a single sitting on monday, and while i raced compulsively through the book, i was left with a rather empty feeling at the end. Oct 31, 2014 the movie, gone girl, with a screenplay by gillian flynn based on her own novel, vividly illustrates how easily our point of view can be controlled. The sense of suspense in the novel comes from whether or not nick dunne is involved in the disappearance of his wife amy. The structure of gone girl establishes itself early on as a kind of ballet between nick and amys points of views in the wake of amys sudden and mysterious disappearance from their home in north carthage, missouri. This is a summary of the book and not the original book. Oct 06, 2014 this post contains spoilers for the gone girl movie and book the highly anticipated film adaptation of gillian flynns gone girl is out, and nobody can agree if its a sexist portrayal of a. Gone girl observes the unraveling of a longtime relationship that starts out as your romantically comedic love story and ends up as the opposite. A novel and millions of other books are available for instant access.
Told from the viewpoints of nick and amy dunne, the story follows a marriage that is less one day 2009 by david nicholls and more full dark, no stars 2010 by stephen king. The novels suspense comes from the main character, nick dunne, and whether he is involved in the disappearance of his wife. The movie, gone girl, with a screenplay by gillian flynn based on her own novel, vividly illustrates how easily our point of view can be controlled. The novel sold two million copies in its first year and went on to be translated into 40. Gone girl is an example of mystery, suspense, and crime genres. Gone girl is this authors third novel, after sharp objects and dark places. Nonetheless, its filled with psychologically complex characters, lots of subplots, and tons of important detailsso dont zone out, blink, or skim passages, because you very well might. Overview of the entire book introduction to the important people in the book summary and analysis of all the chapters in the book key takeaways of the book a readers perspective. Gone girlas conveyed through finchers direction, flynns script, and pikes performanceis an extreme, terrorizing, almost microcosmically dystopian picture of a female breaking down and striking back, retaliating against a lifetime hijacked by impossible standards set by her parents, friends, spouse, media, and the public, all of.
Dark places, in particular, drew attention from mystery aficionados, but gone girl is. Nick lance nicholas dunne nick dunne is one of the novel stwo narrators. Gone girl by gillian flynn darkly funny, suspenseful and cunningly plotted, gillian flynns gone girl will be published june 5. Its estimated the novel sold more than 15 million copies worldwide by 2016.
Nonetheless, its filled with psychologically complex characters, lots of subplots, and tons of important detailsso dont zone out, blink, or skim passages, because you very well might miss something. The famous speech from gillian flynns 2012 novel gone girl. Amy is wealthy, beautiful, and born and bred in new york. The director bathes the bmovie scenario in the queasygreen hues of a morgue, while affleck flashes his milliondollar smile like a dimestore dracula and the beautifully inscrutable pike. An essay on david finchers gone girl movie mezzanine. When nick first hears the name of tanner bolts wife, betsy, he initially pictures a diminutive. It was published by crown publishing group in june 2012. This is a wonderful and terrifying book about how the happy surface normality and the underlying darkness can become too closely interwoven to separate. The film stars ben affleck, rosamund pike, neil patrick harris, and tyler perry. Gone girl study guide from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. This 43page guide for gone girl by gillian flynn includes detailed chapter summaries and analysis covering 3 parts, as well as several more indepth sections of expert. In the center of the story is the disappearance of amy dunne, house wife of nick dunne, famous for being the inspiration for her parents successful childrens books.
Nick and amy manipulate each other with savage, merciless and often darkly witty dexterity. The complexity of human behavior promotional still for the upcoming gone girl film adaptation. When the wife, amy, sets up her philandering husband, nick, for. Gone girl by gillian flynn 15minute instaread summary inside this instaread summary. The novel soon made the new york times best seller list. David finchers 2014 adaptation of gillian flynns 2014 novel, gone girl, is a parablealbeit extremeof the darkest elements of irrelationship. Tony kushner, the illusion part one boy loses girl nick dunne the day of. Gone girl summary and study guide supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides for challenging works of literature. Gone girl study guide from litcharts the creators of. I hunger for stories about difficult women, sometimes even dangerous ones, and so i felt i should have.
You couldnt ask for a clearer portrait of the allamerican girl than amy elliott dunne. Gone girl study guide contains a biography of gillian flynn, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and. Gone girl is a 2014 american psychological thriller film directed by david fincher and with a screenplay by gillian flynn based on her 2012 novel of the same title. The book version of gone girl, so ive heard, is a crime novel. The novel became quite popular and soon made the new york times best seller list. One of the most important differences between the book and the film is the. Oct 10, 2017 amy dunne was wonderfully played by rosamund pike, in the movie adaptation of gillian flynns gone girl. February 24, 2007 nick and amy go to a party held by her parents rand and marybeth david clennon and lisa banes. During the preparation process for a standard anniversary which includes the wrapping of presents and creation of reservations. Gone girl is a thriller novel in the mystery and crime genres, by the american writer gillian flynn. The themes and ideas she explored in her first book violence, abuse, secrets and lies, and the false idea of the innately good womanwould go on to make her third novel, gone girl, a riotous bestseller and a veritable literary phenomenon.
It is to celebrate the latest amazing amy book, where amy gets married. Gone girl by gillian flynn thug notes book summary and. The character of amy elliott dunne in gone girl from. Essentially, the story highlights the themes of marital. In the opening moments of david finchers domesticunion gone bad thriller gone girl, nick dunne a seemingly vulnerable and sympathetic ben affleck voices a desire to crack a skull open.
This detailed literature summary also contains topics for discussion on gone girl by gillian flynn. The story follows a married couple, nick dunne and amy elliott dunne, from the time they meet and up until amy goes missing under suspicious circumstances. The investigators find amys first treasure hunt clue, which is an anniversary tradition, and insist on going with him in case the clues will shed some light into amys recent whereabouts. Amy s diary is the most potent symbol of amy and nick s alternating attempts to control the narrative of their lives, their marriage, and indeed their entire selves. Ultimately what makes gone girl so watchable is the threeheaded monster of fincher, pike and affleck. It particularly exposes how gender misconceptions foster such a conflict. Gone girl by gillian flynn book analysis brightsummaries. Andie hardy is a home wrecker worthy of being the subject of an angry country music song. The creators of sparknotes gone girl study guide from litcharts. Gone girl is one of the best and most frightening portraits of psychopathy ive ever read. On the morning of their fifth commemoration, nick dunnes wife, amy, vanishes from their north carthage, missouri home. For my sins i am a budding author and read this book as part of my plot analysis of best sellers.
May 30, 2012 gone girl is this authors third novel, after sharp objects and dark places. Earlier this year, many fans of gillian flynns 2012 thriller gone girl were dismayed to learn that the author had changed the storys ending for the film adaptation. Dark, intelligent, and stylish to a fault, gone girl plays to director david finchers sick strengths while bringing the best out of stars ben affleck and rosamund pike. What are the differences between gone girl the movie and gone girl the novel. As the story moves between nicks perspective and amys increasingly. Suspense, secrets, and unsolved crimes all make gone girl fit the classic definition of a mystery novel.
Gone girl by gillian flynn is the story of nick dunne and amy elliot, a married couple whose surfacelevel perfection hides a number of unpleasant truths about their marriage. Their relationship drives the plot, and the gradual revelation of their characters provides the suspense in this thriller. Oct 05, 2014 the opening movement of gone girl, with its sympathetic fall guy apparently framed for a horrendous crime that he may have actually committed, is a setup that eszterhas reworked time and time. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel s plot, characters and main themes, including gender roles in literature, the construction of false personas and the influence of the media. Amy elliott dunne is the diabolical dual protagonist and antagonist of gone girl.
Gone girl is a pretty gripping story, the kind where just one more page easily turns into five more chapters, and in this respect, its a pretty easy read. Gone girl, written by gillian flynn, has multiple ways of reading. The skull in question belongs to his wife amy superbly played by rosamund pike, a slickhaired, gorgeous blonde whos, on the surface, perfect. Amid an unbridled media feeding frenzy, inevitably, nicks life comes under the. Rhonda comments that she loves the books and is surprised to learn that nick is married to amazing amy herself. The themes and ideas she explored in her first bookviolence, abuse, secrets and lies, and the false idea of the innately good womanwould go on to make her third novel, gone girl, a riotous bestseller and a veritable literary phenomenon. Under very curious and suspicious circumstances, the former new york city columnist, nick dunne, finds out that his home in missouri has been intruded. Alongside david finchers excellent direction, this movie will always be one of my. Still, gillian flynn gives the story a modern twist that. Gone girl by gillian flynn thug notes book summary and analysis wisecrack.
Gillian flynns crime thriller gone girl became a worldwide success in large part because of its deliberate. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of gone girl by gillian flynn. We budding authors are encouraged to put a twist in at the end. The novel gone girl intimately analyzes conflict within marriage.
It provides a thorough exploration of the novels plot, characters and main themes, including gender roles in literature, the construction of false personas and the influence of the media. Gone girl and the literary uses of deviance and anti. When amy rosamund pike says, of her plot against her husband, nick. Gone girl goes to the darkest reaches of irrelationship. Nick comes home from the bar that he owns with his twin sister margo to find that his wife has gone missing.
Flynn adapted this monologue for the 2014 movie version of her book. The most intriguing thing about gone girl is how droll it is. The novel s suspense comes from the main character, nick dunne, and whether he is involved in the disappearance of his wife. This engaging summary presents an analysis of gone girl by gillian flynn, a hightension novel about nick dunne and his wife amy, who disappears in suspicious circumstances on their fifth wedding anniversary. When readers first meet amy through her diary entries, she is a successful quizwriter for a womens magazine and living in manhattan off the trust fund that her parentswriters of the insanely popular amazing amy series of childrens books, cribbed. Oct 08, 2014 the book version of gone girl, so ive heard, is a crime novel.
In the center of the story is the disappearance of amy dunne, house wife of nick dunne, famous for being the inspiration for her parents successful childrens books amazing amy. Unlock the more straightforward side of gone girl with this concise and insightful summary and analysis. Gillian flynns name has been placarding book stores all over the world for a while now and pretty soon, its going to take a tour around the silver screens as well. The story of gone girl pits a feminist psychopath against a misogynist jerk in what might be the worlds most twisted marriage. For long stretches, finchers gliding widescreen camerawork, immaculate compositions and sickly, desaturated colors fuse with trent reznor and atticus rosss creepyoptimistic synthesized score to create a perverse bigscreen version of one of those tv comedies built around a pathetically unobservant lump of a husband and his. The book starts with the celebration of nick dunne and amy dunnes wedding anniversary, notably their 5th one. His chapters alternate with chapters narrated by his wife, amy elliott dunne. The first part of the novel centers on nick dunne and his wife amys marriage. Aug 23, 2017 the book gone girl written by gillian flynn begins in north carthage, missouri.
Why gone girl s amy dunne is the most disturbing female villain of all time psych of a psycho duration. Gone girl is also the title of a lew archer story, in the 1955 collection the name is archer, by ross macdonald, who flynn has also cited as a favorite author. One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, new york times bestseller gillian flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly. The symbol of amys diary in gone girl from litcharts. I have chosen to look at gone girl in terms of reading it in the feminist theory, paying attention to the females both in and surrounding the book, including the production company for the film adaptation produced in 2014.
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