Woo hoo! Finally, 10 days after the opening of the movie, I made it to see Gone Girl! The movie made from the book whose spoiler page has become by far my all time most popular post on Book Journey. Seriously, here are the stats since I wrote the post in 2012:
Months and Years
| Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 6,028 | 5,790 | 6,922 | 23,741 | |||||||||
| 2013 | 2,993 | 2,578 | 2,299 | 40,138 | |||||||||
| 2014 | 140,912 | 264,276 |
* I eliminated most of the months as this graph was just too big to fit into the post.
So lets discuss the book. I read Gone Girl in July of 2012. It was my first Gillian Flynn and it blew me away with all of its twists and turns. I LOVED it, and I had a lot to say about it, which is why I wrote the spoiler page. Gone Girl is a book that had me thinking one way, and then I was wrong, and then I thought another way… and I was wrong again. I gushed in my review of the book! I was so impressed with Gillian’s talent to write characters that can drive you nuts!
The Movie…
As a disclaimer, I must say that I read the book in July 2012, and seen the movie on October 13th, 2014. I had hoped to read the book again before the movie but there just was no time to get it done. That said, I cautiously approached the movie that sat at 2 hours and 35 minutes long. That, on the front end, seemed longer than necessary, as it turns out after seeing the movie, there is nothing I would cut out out to make it shorter.
Gone Girl the movie starred a well played Ben Affleck as Nick, and Rosamund Pike made for a perfect Amy. Honestly, the movie played out extremely well and had a nice running compatibility with the book. I went to the movie with two friends, one who had read the book and one who has not. The one who had not was a lot of fun to watch as she was shocked by what was happening on the screen. I found myself chuckling softly to the game playing between Nick and Amy and hung on to the ending credits. Then we were the last ones in the theater as we sat and discussed the movie.
The Verdict of Book Vs. Movie…. (possible spoilers)
The book. The book is so filled with high energy twisty turns that I feel it comes across better to be read and get the initial buzz through the pages. The movie missed a couple of “what I felt to be important” points:
1. Nick’s dad, and when found wondering around from his retirement home in the book is quite verbal about his negative feelings towards Amy, thus giving you the impression that he may be involved in her disappearance. In the movie, while the dad is found wondering away from his home, shows no emotion about Amy one way or another… this making his appearance in the movie feel a little useless.
2. In the book, it is explained well how Amy’s parents have used her for the books her mom wrote, Amazing Amy and you fully understand the pressures that Amy had on her to live up to an animated character of herself. While the movie mentions these pressures a little… I am not sure if it is enough for the watcher to get the full picture of what that type of perfection caused.
Now, I would by no means rule the movie out. The movie was actually very good and I would definitely watch it again and will probably own the movie. See it. Even if you have no intentions of reading the book, I think you will find the movie to be just a fun crazy insane ride!
Update: The spoiler page for the book is picking up a pot of movie discussion so I am going to open up a spoiler page here for the movie. This page will be for those who have seen the movie and open for discussion if you have read the book or not. Enter below!
Book Journey 
I agree with the points you make about Amy’s parents and Nick’s dad but overall I preferred the film. I liked the book but didn’t love it but I think that the two leads really brought the characters to life for me.
The movie was really good! 😀
I hated the ending of the book so I don’t think I could sit through the movie knowing they didn’t change it. That being said, that book caused intense emotions. So much so I make other people read it and love listening to them discussing it. I will probably see the movie when it hits Netflix or Prime.
Oh yes, you must see it!
I would like to see it even though I agree with thegeekyblogger about the ending. My father-in-law saw the movie but did not read the book, and he enjoyed it. I haven’t seen a “grown up” movie in the theater (the last movie I saw was the Lego Movie with my kids) but I will make a point to see this one!
LOL you are due for a grown up movie!!!
We saw the movie this weekend and my husband leaned over to me at the beginning and smugly told me he had it all figured out. “Ok honey” I replied. By the end I got a Holy Sh– from him. We both really enjoyed the movie and while I don’t think I’ll see it again (or read the book again), they were both a wild ride!
That is awesome! My friend who had not read the book was pretty much the same as your husband 😀
Again, I had a different experience with the movie….I enjoyed the book, and while your points about things not included in the movie were accurate, I don’t think those absent elements in any way detracted from the movie experience. I was swept up into the film and the actors that were perfect for their parts, and will probably see it again…and then buy the DVD.
Movies are more fleshed out than books, obviously, so unless the movie totally misses the mark, I’m going to come down on the side of the film in most cases.
Thanks Laurel! I hope to see it again too! I usually wind up on the side of the book as the book to me usually has more packed into it that movies often miss, or just cut out – although… movies from books are becoming better, I think the readers expect it 🙂
I only read the book fairly recently so haven’t been overly keen to see the movie.
I enjoyed both 😀
I haven’t read the book, but saw the movie over the weekend. I loved it, but not the end. In fact as soon as the credits began to roll I turned to my husband and said “crap ending.” I was waiting for one more twist that would knock the wind out of Amy, and that’s putting it politely.
A couple of thoughts I had was that if Amy was so manipulative surely her parents would have known her character and tactics. Of course this wouldn’t have stopped her, but could have added some interest to their inclusion into the story. And also with regards to the parents I was expecting them to be behind it all, working with Amy in an attempt to gain publicity and reignite their failed publishing business.
Book ends the same way.. it is a frustrating ending but I always felt it was left wide open for a sequel… I don’t think Amy’s parents really connected with their daughter, they connected with the book character based on her (you pick up on more of that in the book I think than the movie), they are not connected to her really. Its funny you thought it was the parents – I thought it was Nick’s dad who had escaped the same night that Amy disappeared. 😀
I was really happy with the movie adaptation. It wasn’t perfect, but I thought they did a damn good job with it!
I think they did too. It really was a tough call but went with the book over a couple minor details. 😀 I am looking for someone to go with to see it again.
I just ran into a friend who thought the movie was better than the book. I almost never think the movie is better than the book, so I doubted her. After reading your post, I can’t believe they didn’t touch on the whole Amazing Amy thing…that was the lynchpin that made Amy’s complete personality change actually believable! I thought it was critical to the whole story…now I’m not sure I want to see the movie!
They do talk about Amazing Amy – I just did not feel they showed how much it made Amy feel as though she was never good enough like the book did. I think that is an important part to understanding who she becomes 🙂 See the movie – it is good 😀
This was one book I could not read-I made it to about page 20 I wonder if I should try again.
I didn’t LOVE Gone Girl as much as you did – by the time I read it, it was so over-hyped that my expectations were really high. And so many people mentioned the twist – that sort of ruins a twist, when you know to expect it. Most of all, though, I didn’t care much about what happened to the characters because they were so unlikable! All that said, I did LIKE the book, just wasn’t blown away by it like some were. And I do want to see the movie, though we rarely get out to the theater. Thanks for your review – you’ve motivated me to try to make it to the theater this time! lol
Sue
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