Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Gone Girl (4)

“She wasn’t on the water, she wasn’t in the house. Amy was not there. Amy was gone.” – Gone Girl

GoneGirl surprised me, and I like to think that that’s hard to do. Not only was the plot relatively unpredictable, the characters and what they’re each hiding is thrilling. Gillian Flynn surprised me by not being your run-of-the-mill mystery/thriller author. Flynn’s characters were not only dynamic, they brought to mind a person that you knew and never understood before. There was an amount of Humbert Humbert (from Lolita) in them. I won’t say how much, that would spoil the novel, and the subject matter is thankfully quite different. In Gone Girl, Flynn discusses our ideas and ideals of marriage. But I digress, here’s a synopsis for you:

            The book starts with Nick, a married man in his 30s celebrating his fifth anniversary with his wife, Amy. They live in Nick’s hometown of North Carthage, Missouri, where they moved almost two years previously, after each losing their jobs in New York City and Nick found out his mother was dying. Amy resents Nick for having moved them away from her hometown, and Nick resents her resentment.

            And then, Amy disappears. The novel switches to a diary entry from Amy from seven years before, when she met Nick. From then on we see Nick’s story unravel in present time while we get to hear Amy’s side of the story through her diary.

                        “Give me a man with a little fight in him, a man who calls me on my bullshit. (But who also kind of likes my bullshit.)” – Gone Girl

            I don’t know how much I can say without ruining some plot twist for you, but do be warned it is a bit slow for a thriller. I would not say it was boring, or that you could leave it for long, but you are physically capable of putting the book down, as opposed to The Hunger Games. I might even classify it in the Song of Ice and Fire realm…you can put it down, but inevitably you want to know who done it!

            All of the characters seemed like possible suspects: from old stalkers to jealous in-laws, the husband or too-good-to-be-true parents possibly masquerading as psychotics? this is where my mind goes. And while the suspect was on my list of suspects…when every character you’ve heard mentioned even once is on your list, it’s rather likely that you’ll at least guess. But the method, and the story behind Amy’s disappearance…just wait until you get there.

                        “It’s a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless Automat of characters.” Gone Girl

Faster read than: A Casual Vacancy (which I loved), The Thirteenth Tale (which was sweet)
Another reason to read it: Reese Witherspoon is booked to star in the film adaption. So you can read the book before the movie, which is always a better choice than the alternative. And more importantly you can read the book before the movie is being talked about, which will make you look smart. Which means its happening. And also that Reese Witherspoon is about to make a movie worth watching, which I’m excited for. Maybe I can get famous and dye my hair in time to play Andie.
            I’m actually kind of curious to see how this plays out in the movie…I feel like it could be made into a decent thriller but won’t have the same lovely psychological insanity unless the adapter is really good at his/her job.



Saturday, February 16, 2013

Rehearsing has taken over my life



Acting is my addiction. That is my only excuse for not having updated in the past six weeks. Between filming a short film, rehearsing for Jesus Christ Superstar and getting ready for TPS auditions, I haven't sat down and thought through a blog post. I I also haven't had time to go to the library, and was trying not to go on too much of a book buying spree...so I steadily attempted to plod through "A Prayer for Owen Meany."

I don't know why I keep quitting that book. It's rich and compelling, while I'm reading it, but then after a few weeks I wander into the abyss of Facebook and can't force myself to pick it back up. Perhaps one day I can admit to myself that I love love stories, and Johnny's lack of a romantic interest makes me lose interest. Maybe it's because my brain is tired, and all I can handle is some good old junk food reading, the kind where you can sit on the couch and devour the book in one sitting instead of, you know, actually thinking.

Judas give us your info

These are the books that made the ADD cut:

Cinder: a scifi YA Cinderella novel set in the future. Cinderella's a cyborg, the prince likes her but politics and all that...definitely an entertaining, fast read but the plot is a bit obvious.
Scarlet: the sequel. Adds a little red riding hood and big bad wolf character. I found this plot less predictable, but I also felt that it was very much a second-book-in-the-series, where characters are added wit their own plot and histories are revealed, but the plot itself has merely inched along.
I read them both in the span of...four? Maybe five? days in the midst of tech for JCS. The next book doesn't come out until 2014, I think I'm going to jump off a bridge. Lol

Night Circus: awesome. Love it. Want to play Celia in the movie version desperately. I'm not joking, I seriously started reading up on moving to LA in time to get discovered. It had everything you need: romance, magic, threat of death hanging over your favorite characters' heads. The book's about a circus which is only open at night which becomes the arena for two young illusionists to compete.
That being said: if a character dies in a book I want to cry my eyes out. This book did not make me cry, but maybe I've just become heartless in my old age. You be the judge.



The Thirteenth Tale: at first I kind of hated the main character, Margaret Lea, because she was quiet and mousy and just sat around and read books, but I think you're supposed to. Margaret gets chosen by the reclusive, best selling author Vida Winters to pen the authors biography.
The real story is, of course, the biography, which at times becomes so fantastical you wonder if its fiction after all. What begins as a slow, quiet novel about a shy, quiet girl morphs into an enticing mystery.