Gone Girl

When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. The shape of it to begin with. The very first time I saw her, it was the back of the head I saw, and there was something lovely about it, the angles of it.

WOW JUST WOW. I spent the majority of my bank holiday monday reading Gone girl by Gillian Flynn. I needed a day or two to fully process my thoughts and feeling towards this book and honestly, my feeling towards it still confuse me, but i LOVED it. A story about two people who messed each other up and were so toxic, it makes me feel better about myself.

Who are you?

What have we done to each other?

The story begins with a girl who is utterly in love with her husband, he is someone who she adored, her best friend, her soul mate, her lover. However, Nick seemed odd. Emotionless, his mind always elsewhere, he took her for granted. Did he love her? Yes. But did her show her time and attention? Not really.

Amy, a beautiful woman with shiny blonde hair married to a handsome man. She was perfect, she was the “cool girl”, she was Amazing Amy. Nick, on the other hand was relaxed, laid back but made her feel great, in the beginning. It was the perfect marriage, they weren’t like other couples, she did nag him, she let him be him, she let him do what he wanted to do.

On the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. ‘It’s always the husband’. Amy’s friend say that she was scared of him, that she kept secrets from him, but he says that is not true. There are strange searches on his computer, there are strange items that have been bought by him, and there are persistent calls on him mobile phone. So what did happen to Nick’s wife?

I was discussing this book with my mum (she’d already read it) and I told her what I thought happened to Amy (and I guessed correctly) but I could never have thought of what ACTUALLY happened.

This book messed with my head a lot. I went from hating Nick, to liking him, to hating him to liking again. The same with Amy, I loved her, I hated her and I liked her again. The only way I can describe how it made me felt is by saying it went from 0-100 real damn quick.

I had heard this was a good book by many people, I’d seen people talk about it a lot and even my sixth form studied it in English lessons (although I did not take this subject) so I was intrigued to know what all the fuss was about. It had been on my TBR pile for a long time, and I’m so good I read it. However, this book did make me kind of thankful that I am not currently in a relationship, but I’m hoping to never be with someone as fucked up as these two.

Overall, I found this a really good read. It made me feel uncomfortable, but it was exciting (is that the right word for a deranged, dark book?)  Gone girl gets 4 stars from me! I look forward to reading more by Gillian Flynn!

 

The film

SO. I have just watched the film and I am impressed. The casting was very well done. The characters I had imagined were very similar to the ones that were casted.

The book IS ALWAYS BETTER than the film, but for me, the film was as good as it could possibly be. I honestly cannot fault the way the story was portrayed within the film and I think that the film stayed pretty true to the book, so I am happy and satisfied!

 

 

April 4, 2018 by dickensreads Categories: Crime, Mystery, PsychologicalTags: 4 stars, Crime, Mystery, Psychological Leave a comment

Can You Hear Me?

In the August of 1978, the summer I met Anna Trabuio, my father took a girl into the woods.

–First sentence

Can You Hear me? By Elena Varvello is a book I recieved from BookBridgr. I loved this book, I thought it was great, although there were times when I lacked understanding of what was going on, but I’ve just put that down to the fact that it was originally written in Italian but was later translated to English.

The book is based in 1978. Ponte is a small community in Northern Italy with peaceful woods, discarded rubbish and a closed-down factory. An unbearably hot summer wilted flowers and trips to the waterfalls.

Elia Furenti is sixteen and living in a secluded house with his parents, a life so unremarkable that even its moderate unhappiness is considered normal, until the day the beautiful and damaged Anna returns to Ponte and propels Elia to the edge of adulthood.

However, things then start to unravel.

Ettore (Elia’s father) is let go from his job and loses himself in the darkest corners of his mind. A young boy is murdered, which shakes to small community to its core. And a girl climbs into a van and vanishes in the deep, dark woods.

This book is a story of Elia Furenti and his father Ettore, it is a story of one summer and one night and everything that happened. What I liked about this book, is that in alternate chapters, there is a different story being told, It’s what keeps you glued to the book, you carry on reading and can’t put it down because you want to know what happens next within both of the stories being told within the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, at the end of every chapter I was left wanting more, I wanted to know what was going to happen next, it was very cleverly written. This book gets 4 stars from me.

The life we have left, this is all it is, and we must not waste it.

–Last sentence

October 8, 2017 by dickensreads Categories: Crime, MysteryTags: 4 stars, Crime, Mystery Leave a comment

The Disciple

The Disciple by Stephen Lloyd Jones was given to me from bookbridgr. I absolutely loved the sound of this book. It sounded like the type of book I would have LOVED, and therefore I was so excited to start reading it! I had never read a book from this author before, but there was something about this book that caught my eye and I was dying to read it.

This book is about a girl who is like no other. On a storm-battered road near Devil’s kitchen, a woman survives a fatal accident and gives birth to a girl who should never have been born. Edward Schwinn must protect this girl and her arrival triggers a chain of terrifying events that no one can explain. She is being hunted by an evil beyond measure. This book had the potential to be AMAZING, but for me, I was disappointed. The story line was great, it just didn’t catch me in the way other books have.

The first few chapters were slow-paced and were unable to grab my attention. Unfortunately, this made initial reading a struggle rather than an enjoyment. It did, however, get slightly better as I read on – but only to let me down again as I kept reading. For a lot of the book, nothing really happens, there are a few bits here and there, and the last few chapters, but that was it. I think for me, what didn’t catch me was the way it was written. The story line was so amazing, and it was clever, and there was the occasional unexpected twist, but overall, I was so disappointed with the book.

The most annoying part of this book is that the ending was so good and interesting, and if Jones had gotten me so into this book that I couldn’t put it down, I would have no negatives. However, I found myself just continuing reading this, so I could finally finish it and move onto the next book. AND THE ENDING. It was a good ending; however, it felt like the book shouldn’t have ended where it did. I know, it was probably meant to be a cliff-hanger, but it didn’t feel like that. It felt very strange to me that the book ended where it did. I felt like the last chapter was completely pointless.

Maybe my interpretation of the book is all wrong, maybe I just didn’t understand it, but personally, I was happy when I finally finished it, rather than being left to want more like I usually am. It has some good reviews such as “so gripping you’ll want to read late into the night; so terrifying you shouldn’t” and personally, I disagree. Therefore, I would give this book 2 stars.

November 15, 2016November 15, 2016 by dickensreads Categories: Crime, MysteryTags: #2 stars, Mystery, thriller Leave a comment

Her Darkest Nightmare

Her Darkest Nightmare by Brenda Novak was a book that I received from bookbrigr. I absolutely LOVED this book. From the moment I picked this book up, I just couldn’t put it down again. It was so gripping and intriguing and I was left wanting so much more!  It is so gut-gripping and it really does leave you breathless and wanting more, it is impossible to stop reading after a chapter has ended because it makes you want to find out what is happening now, and what is going to happen next.

Dr Evelyn Talbot has learnt to live with fear. When she was 16, she was targeted by her boyfriend, Jasper Moore, and survived days of torture. She escaped with her life, however, Jasper managed to disappear before he was caught. Now Evelyn lives in a world of psychopaths. As the head of the Hanover House institute in Alaska, she engages daily with killers who have no remorse, no conscience and a desire to murder her. All Evelyn wants to do is to try to figure out why they do what they do and how to stop them. But when a mutilated body is found in her Alaskan town she is forced to question herself, her inmates and whether her darkest nightmare has come back to taunt her.

This book completely kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. Novak was brilliant whilst writing this book. The plot was amazing, she used emotional intensity and she had true to life characters. This book was so satisfying, it’s such a great book to get lost in.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves mysteries, anyone who, like me, has a huge passion for books and loves to be left wanting more and really enjoys constant cliff hangers throughout a book. I can’t fault this book at all, therefore  I would give this book a big 5 stars.

October 9, 2016October 9, 2016 by dickensreads Categories: Crime, Mystery, PsychologicalTags: 5 stars, Crime, Mystery, Psychological Leave a comment