Gone Girl

By: Gillian Flynn

Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Kirby Heyborne

Length: 19 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

What are you thinking, Amy? The question I've asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I suppose these questions storm cloud over every marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do? Just how well can you ever know the person you love?

These are the questions that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone.

So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife? And what was in that half-wrapped box left so casually on their marital bed? In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war.

©2012 Gillian Flynn (P)2012 Random House

Loved it!

What made the experience of listening to Gone Girl the most enjoyable?

Loved it! Great story and narration! I would highly recommend this book to crime lovers!

Brilliant

What did you like about this audiobook?

Loved the narrators, so engaging. This book interrupted my life as I had to listen at every opportunity.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

Generally I stick to non fiction, but this book as reignited my enthusiasm for quality fiction.

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

Beautifully written - some colorful language - but in keeping with the characters. Otherwise great writing, and neatly woven together strands of narrative. Kept me on the edge of my seat.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

Could not fault narrators performances whatsoever.

Do you have any additional comments?

Such a great book - surprising twists, even after 19 plus hours I did not want this to end.

Horrible characters

The story was okay, although the ending was a sort of fizzle out.
My main issue with the story is how unlikeable both leading characters are. By the end of the book I truly hated both of them. I found it very difficult to connect with either of them.
I don't mind a flawed leading character, who at least has a single redeeming quality. Both of these people were written as just awful human beings, who probably deserved each other.
Maybe that was the point.

Very smart

Apart from being a great listen the author has a very good choice of words and expressions. It’s not just written to make yet another psychological thriller but to make you think about relationships, marriages and even friendships. The Amy character is not very foreign. I’m sure everyone had that friend or partner who was a bit too controlling and dangerous that you wouldn’t wanna mess with. I loved the movie and reading the book and now listening to it .

Intruiging

The story was intriguing. I picked some of the plot points, but not all of them and enjoyed the twists.

The two main characters were both likeable and unlikeable; it was a bizarre feeling to mostly dislike the characters, but want to keep hearing their stories.

The author seems to have no idea what the word "literally" means. More than half the times it's used it's about something that is figurative... if those things were literal it would have been a more horrible and terrifying story. It bugged me so much that I wasn't sure I wanted to keep listening, but I persevered and was glad I did. That is the main reason I didn't give the book 5 stars all around.

Complicated dark and intriguing

What did you love best about Gone Girl?

The characters are delightfully packed with dark secrets.

What did you like best about this story?

The suspense and surprises....

Which scene was your favorite?

The flip in the middle when everything becomes clear. ....but I don't want ,give anything away !!!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely and I more or less did between the gym, office and car.

Any additional comments?

Listen and enjoy

Fantastic!

I listen to my audible books on my way to and from work. I suddenly found myself looking for excuses to go for a drive just to find out what was going to happen next.

Gone in no time

Where does Gone Girl rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I loved this book when it first came out and so when my book club chose it I was excited to read it again....or listen to it as I thought a change of venue would be nice. I was wrong. While the story was as good as every and great to revisit, Julia Whelan's voice was so grating, so annoying that I had to forward past her. Kirby Heyborned more than made up for it. I ended up reading "Amy's" parts and listening to "Nick's" part.

What did you like best about this story?

The unreliable narration and how brilliantly that is done gets me every time with this book.

Any additional comments?

Julia Whelan's voice, in particular her long sssss's got on my last nerve. It completely ruined the audible experience for me I'm afraid.

A bit disappointing

Would you try another book from Gillian Flynn and/or Julia Whelan and Kirby Heyborne ?

Probably. And the performance by Heyborne and Whelan was REALLY good. I believe they really did absorb the essence of the characters.

Would you be willing to try another book from Gillian Flynn? Why or why not?

I would. She can write, I'll give her that, her story here is pretty clever, but I found the characters quite real and at the same time they're like the worst people with the worst character you can find, well, I didn't find that appealing, people are pretty messed up as it is. Moreover, I'd probably try another book because Flynn seems to really be good at writing, I just hope to see some characters the you could empathise a little bit more.

What does Julia Whelan and Kirby Heyborne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

They make it sound a lot more real, they make you think of the characters as if they were real people. Their performance was excellent, I guess that's one of the reasons I kept on going with the audiobook.

Was Gone Girl worth the listening time?

Not really, but it wouldn't be fair to say that there was nothing to it. I guess it made me think a lot about how we behave, how we try to be accepted(or not), how we play cool, just to fit in, or to think it is the only way we can be loved; and a lot more concerning behaviour, acceptance, deception...

Inconclusive

What disappointed you about Gone Girl?

After a promising start the book lost it's grip in parts. The central plot was good but wish more attention was paid to the planning which makes the plot thicker

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Amy's character

What three words best describe Julia Whelan and Kirby Heyborne ’s voice?

Articulate, persuasive, cogent

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment - not about the plot but about the lack of authenticity in a relationship