I just finished reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn yesterday. I will start off by saying I probably would have stopped a few pages in if I hadn't been reading it for book club. It sounded interesting and the premise was fairly clever, but reading it was a chore. There were times when I was so disgusted, I felt ill. Frankly, I wouldn't care if this book was well-written (which it isn't), the subject matter alone makes it horrid.
[WARNING: Serious spoilers ahead. Do not continue reading if you do not want to know the story.]
It was written in first person, which, I have decided, can be quite a lazy way of writing. You can excuse your poor grammar, lack of imagination, and obsessive use of profanity because "that's how the character would act/think/speak." Lazy.
I won't go on and on about the profanity, but one paragraph... It drives me crazy because it is happening more and more. I understand people swear, and to each his own, but why are we using it so much in print? What happened to creativity and using actual words? Profanity implies lack of self-control and imagination. Your brain is taken up with other functions--pain, frustration, fear--so you resort to cursing. Completely understandable. But if you do it all the time, where are your other more intelligent words going? Obviously, in some ways we seem to be getting less intelligent, at least American society, though I know it is happening in other countries as well. Texting does not happen in complete sentences or even complete words. It doesn't matter if you spell everything incorrectly. We are changing spelling and grammar rules to be "more natural" for everyone to use. I could go on, but I'll stop. Right after I praise author William Joyce for writing children's books that use a larger vocabulary to broaden our children's minds, rather than talking down to them. Bravo.
Profanity aside, this book focused on two utterly dysfunctional people. One an extreme psychopath, the other an extreme co-dependent mess. SPOILER: But, hey, let's keep them married and living "happily" in the end. Sounds like a great idea. No consequences for all! Lovely. And this is what our society has become. If you can get away with murder, especially if "they deserve it," go for it. Definitely if you're not actually hurting anyone, go for it. No consequences for the psychopath keeping her husband terrified of being killed in his sleep so he will stay married to her. No consequences to the absolute evil of bringing a child into this dysfunctional catastrophe.
This book is basically saying it is okay to degrade and abuse someone else, as long as they are "okay" with it. Or as long as you can guilt them into thinking they are okay with it. Or threatening them enough that they have to be okay with it. Allowing violence in some areas, opens the door for it in others. At the very least, it leaves the door open for excuses. Counseling might be helpful. There are quite a few more books that are glorifying masochistic behavior and it needs to stop. There is a reason it is defined as a "sexual perversion." It's not healthy. It makes me angry that society has embraced one trilogy in particular. It makes me even more angry that some women are thinking maybe that's what is missing in their marriages or relationships. It will not "spice up" your sex life. It will slowly but utterly destroy it. Your marriage is NOT missing violence, no matter how "mild" you think it is. I promise. If you think it is, again, counseling might help.
We are sliding quickly into the foul, depraved Roman lifestyle. Well, we were already there, but we're getting worse. We've already covered most of the Colosseum-type behavior with all of the disgusting reality shows on TV right now. Rome FELL, people.
Back to this horrific book. The violence and anger these two people feel toward each other is disturbing. The fact that the woman is SO conniving and messed up that she would plan everything a year in advance is a problem right there. I kept hoping she would "get what was coming to her." Or something. Anything. But no, she gets her doting husband back because he's terrified of her and he can't kill her because somehow he "can't imagine life without her." I don't like reading books unless the killer is brought to justice in the end. I applaud Denzel Washington for only playing the bad guy if he is properly defeated (or thoroughly destroyed) in the end. There is no justice in this book. Nothing but a "happy" ending for a woman who nearly destroyed at least two lives, killed a man in cold blood, and then is having a baby she doesn't even want to keep a man she doesn't even truly care for and who very nearly hates her. Dreadful.
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