# Gone Girl - book and book vs movie (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!)



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

OK, just finished reading Gone Girl:



Gone Girl: A Novel

I saw the movie in the theater first and then got the book because I enjoyed the movie so much. (Picked it up because it was $2.99 the other day ) And this is my preferred method--see the movie first and then read the book so that I can enjoy the additional detail as a fresh read.

I read, in some reviews of the movie, that some readers were disappointed with the movie. I thought the movie was a pretty faithful adaptation.

I loved the book. I thought the transition between the two voices (Nick's and Amy's) was seamless and very well done--and I often find jumps between characters jarring. I loved


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the ambiguity in the ending.



Anyone else here read/see one or the other?

Betsy

(To read spoiler text--the text with the black bar--just hover the mouse over it or, if on a touch device, touch it. To create spoiler text, tap on the icon that looks like SP, third from the right and type your text to be hidden between the [nobbc][/nobbc] tags.)


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## KindleGirl (Nov 11, 2008)

I read the book but it's been quite a while ago so I don't remember all the details. I read it after the hype started, so maybe I was expecting more, but I was disappointed in it and don't understand the hype. Opposite from you, I hated the ending.  I do want to watch the movie though and see if it changes my mind. I guess I liked the book well enough while it was going along, but the wrap-up ruined it for me. I seem to be in the minority though.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Usually I'm underwhelmed by books or movies that have been hyped...so I get where you're coming from. Oddly, I hadn't really heard much about the book until the movie began to be promoted.

I can see where the ending could be disappointing. And it may be that seeing the movie first helped with that. I generally like things


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to be more clear cut than that.



I'd heard from some people that the movie made the husband more sympathetic/less sympathetic, depending on who I talk to, than in the book, but all in all, I think it was a pretty faithful adaptation.

Betsy


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

I read the Gone Girl & loved it. I haven't seen the movie yet, but definitely plan to.

My preferred method is opposite from yours, I always like to read the book before watching the movie. Your method may be better though, since I'm usually disappointed in the movie adaptation. I know it's impossible to squeeze everything in a book to play out in less than 2 hours, but I hate it when they take huge liberties and drastically change things.

Good to hear that you thought the movie was faithful to the book... looking forward to watching it!


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I'd heard from some people that the movie made the husband more sympathetic/less sympathetic, depending on who I talk to, than in the book, but all in all, I think it was a pretty faithful adaptation.


I haven't seen the movie yet, but if people are complaining on both ends, I figure they probably did a pretty good job! I have read the book, and loved the messy ending, but it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea. I was fairly sympathetic to Nick once Amy started telling her side.


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I mean, he _was_ kind of a tool, but she was just so bad that he looked good in comparison.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

cagnes said:


> I read the Gone Girl & loved it. I haven't seen the movie yet, but definitely plan to.
> 
> My preferred method is opposite from yours, I always like to read the book before watching the movie. Your method may be better though, since I'm usually disappointed in the movie adaptation. I know it's impossible to squeeze everything in a book to play out in less than 2 hours, but I hate it when they take huge liberties and drastically change things.
> 
> Good to hear that you thought the movie was faithful to the book... looking forward to watching it!


I've never had much trouble separating books and the movies made from them--I like oranges and orange marmalade but they taste quite different.  Different products, and I'm always more interested in how they succeed as a movie or as a book. I don't always agree with the decisions the moviemakers make, but I can appreciate the product on its own. But reading the book second helps, I think. Though that doesn't always happen, as sometimes I read a book long before it's made into a movie (Unbroken--read that a couple years ago.)



marianneg said:


> I haven't seen the movie yet, but if people are complaining on both ends, I figure they probably did a pretty good job! I have read the book, and loved the messy ending, but it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea. I was fairly sympathetic to Nick once Amy started telling her side.
> 
> 
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> ...


LOL, agree about your Nick and Amy comparison. Definitely


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a tool, even to his sister.


 I thought Ben Affleck was well cast in the roll.


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## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

I loved the book (could not put it down) and really enjoyed the movie. When I first read the novel, I was disappointed in the ending, but by the time I saw the movie, I came around to it. I agree that Ben Affleck was well cast in it, as was Rosamund Pike. She's nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. Well earned, I think.


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

I saw the movie this week & also really enjoyed it.   They did do a great job with the adaption, casting & acting.


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## Pikko (Oct 21, 2014)

Rosamund Pike didn't just get nominated for Globe, she got nominated for an Oscar! Very cool!

I **loved** the book. I'd been hearing about it, plus I saw the EW cover, and I kept thinking, yeah whatever, I'll get to it when I get to it. Then I finally got it at the library and I loved Gillian's writing style. I loved how she made me feel terrible for Nick, even though you kind of had suspicions about him. Then you feel so much for Amy and the life they had in NY. I usually tell people, "Text/msg me when you get to a certain point, you'll know what I mean." Usually I'll get a


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WHAT JUST HAPPENED


 text later, hahaha!

If you haven't yet, you should read Dark Places and Sharp Objects. Dark Places actually already wrapped production on an adaptation last year. I have NO idea why it's not being released, but it's got some big names attached like Chloe Grace Moretz and Charlize Theron.


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## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

Pikko said:


> If you haven't yet, you should read Dark Places and Sharp Objects. Dark Places actually already wrapped production on an adaptation last year. I have NO idea why it's not being released, but it's got some big names attached like Chloe Grace Moretz and Charlize Theron.


I've read Dark Places. I like it, but not as much as Gone Girl. Sharp Objects is waiting on my shelf, begging to be read. Always so many books to get to, not enough time. But I look forward to it!


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

I actually liked the ending of the book- I thought the movie made it look like he was


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simply trapped by the baby, which makes him a nicer person than he actually was.

I thought the brilliance of the ending lay in Nick realizing _he was just like his father_ and that Amy was right- anything less than a challenge would leave him bored and mean. I really thought it was so much more satisfying than Amy getting her comeuppance, because, let's face it, they were both fairly rotten people.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

MyraScott said:


> I actually liked the ending of the book- I thought the movie made it look like he was
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...


I agree that the movie's ending couldn't leave the same impact that the book's ending did. To me, after reading the book 2 years back, what stuck out to me right after I read the last page, was that after everything was said and done,


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Nick and Amy knowingly maintained their charade and their knowledge of each other's real selves, fully aware that their marriage is one big facade, retained for each of their selfish reasons, leading me to believe that going forward, it will be a game of chess between them until one of them ends up gone (for real this time).


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

Exactly, Brownskins!  In the end, no sympathy is needed.  Not only do they deserve each other, in a perverse way, they've found the perfect mate.

The movie however, leaves you thinking that Nick is noble and sacrificing because of his decision.


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## Pikko (Oct 21, 2014)

I was one of those people that hated the ending, but reading what you guys said, I guess that does put things in perspective and maybe you're right,


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to end it any other way wouldn't have been true to Nick and Amy. I did really love that they kept Nick's whispered cuss when she finally came home. Maybe you can look at this as a sort of prequel to a War of the Roses type story, lol!



Going back to the movie though, I didn't like Ben Affleck in the role, though that could just be leftover annoyance to him casting himself as the lead in Argo. I did love Go both in the movie and the book, and I loved the actress that played Boney.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

MyraScott said:


> Not only do they deserve each other, in a perverse way, they've found the perfect mate.


The bitter truth.


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## Ryan Kurr (Dec 23, 2014)

To be fully honest, I don't quite get the hype over this story. I just don't. I thought the ending was completely unrealistic, and I didn't really understand why she was doing what she was doing. Often people say "....she was crazy." Which isn't enough for me. She just seemed like a bored, unhappy wife.


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## pmac (Sep 22, 2014)

Have to agree with Ryan. By the end of it you are just left scratching your head on why people are doing what they are doing. Also, I thought the movie wasn't very good. Everything just felt off.


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## Kenneth Rosenberg (Dec 3, 2010)

I'm one of those people who read the book and didn't like the ending.  I felt it was contrived, and not authentic or organic, in that I felt like the author had characters act in ways that were unrealistic just because she wanted the ending to go a certain way.  I felt like, if she were true to the characters, they would have behaved differently (Nick in particular).  That said, I downloaded the movie and decided to watch it in case it changed my mind, since it was getting good reviews.  I watched 30 minutes of it and haven't been able to bring myself to watch the rest.  Not that it was badly done, but it just didn't seem to add anything to what I'd already read.  So yeah, not a big fan of this one in either case...


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Hated the book. I thought they were


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both thoroughly nasty, miserable self-obsessed and selfish characters who got exactly what they deserved


. No desire to see the film.

But I do admire Flynn's writing. Very tightly-plotted and clever, and I keep meaning to read her other books.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

DebBennett said:


> Hated the book. I thought they were
> 
> 
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I got that impression just from the blurb and never had any desire to read it for that reason!  Won't see the movie either.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I got that impression just from the blurb and never had any desire to read it for that reason!  Won't see the movie either.


I wasn't interested in it either--but this NYtimes article on what people buy versus how much of a book they read mentioned Gone Girl (40 percent appeared to read it/finish it).

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/arts/international/keeping-tabs-on-best-seller-books-and-reading-habits.html?smid=fb-share&_r=1


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

DebBennett said:


> Hated the book. I thought they were
> 
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And that's what was so delicious about it.  It was kind of a dark comedy.


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> And that's what was so delicious about it.  It was kind of a dark comedy.


True! A book can be a good read even though the characters aren't endearing.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> And that's what was so delicious about it.  It was kind of a dark comedy.


Never thought of it from that angle. Maybe it should have been marketed more that way, rather than as a lit-fic-thriller?


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

cagnes said:


> True! A book can be a good read even though the characters aren't endearing.


Hmm. I'm a pretty character driven reader, so I doubt I could enjoy it. Since I read to escape, I don't really want to spend time with annoying people...that doesn't meant it won't work for others, but I'm not about to dive into it!


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## KindleGirl (Nov 11, 2008)

I read the book several years ago and watched the movie a couple of weeks ago. Of course I had forgotten a few things about the book, but I did enjoy the movie, more than the book actually. That's usually not the case so I was pleasantly surprised. Overall I wasn't impressed by the story though. Not worth all the hype that the book got.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

MariaESchneider said:


> Hmm. I'm a pretty character driven reader, so I doubt I could enjoy it. Since I read to escape, I don't really want to spend time with annoying people...that doesn't meant it won't work for others, but I'm not about to dive into it!


This is me. I've started watching some TV series, even, and though the plots are good and all, if the people are all just despicable characters, I don't want to watch it. I just don't find it enjoyable. I felt that way about _Under the Dome_ -- the book -- couldn't find a character with any redeeming value so it was a DNF. And I had ZERO interest in watching the TV series.


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

I've been wanting to read this book since I saw the movie.  The ending of the movie did make it look like the husband was sacrificing.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

SunshineOnMe said:


> I've been wanting to read this book since I saw the movie. The ending of the movie did make it look like the husband was sacrificing.


I think that's kind of the point.


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Nick was a jerk, but he was just kind of an ordinary jerk of a guy. Whereas Amy was a psychopath.


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

marianneg said:


> I think that's kind of the point.
> 
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> ...


Oh, I thought from the reviews that the book was about the fact that they were both that way.


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