{"id":2600,"date":"2014-09-18T17:01:22","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T00:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/?p=2600"},"modified":"2014-09-18T17:01:22","modified_gmt":"2014-09-19T00:01:22","slug":"gone-girl-i-wish-shed-kept-going","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/18\/gone-girl-i-wish-shed-kept-going\/","title":{"rendered":"GONE GIRL – I Wish She’d Kept Going"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dorothy<\/a>OK so I was all set to do some real <\/em>work this morning. \u00a0I was. \u00a0Then I saw this in my friend Katherine Stone’s Facebook feed<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Gonegirl<\/a><\/p>\n

Katherine is a remarkable person whose fierce advocacy for women with post partum mood and anxiety disorders<\/a>\u00a0is legendary. \u00a0I listen to her.<\/p>\n

The problem is, I really really hate Gone Girl.<\/em><\/a> \u00a0Really.<\/p>\n

First of all I figured out the ending near the beginning. \u00a0Secondly, the ending was kind of lifted from SPOILER ALERT: Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0Third, I’m betting the movie, soon to be released, is really good, which will just get more people saying nice things about the book. \u00a0David Fincher<\/a>. \u00a0Ben Affleck<\/a>. \u00a0Neil Patrick Harris<\/a>. \u00a0What could go wrong? \u00a0I read they changed the ending, too. \u00a0In principal, that usually bothers me but in this case I’m really curious to see if the change makes the story more palatable.<\/p>\n

I am far from the only person with negative feelings toward this novel. \u00a0The sample in Katherine’s feed includes comments like these:<\/p>\n

Rachel Kaffenberger<\/b><\/a>\u00a0Great writing but the characters just pissed me off. I hated that book. Awful, horrible people are in that book.<\/p>\n

Jen Neeld Bradshaw<\/b><\/a>\u00a0Ha! I read it two weeks ago and I still have some rage.<\/p>\n

Asha Dornfest<\/b><\/a>\u00a0That book freaked me out.<\/p>\n

Deb Rox<\/b><\/a>\u00a0I threw the book. You can guess which scene.<\/p>\n

Kit Kelly<\/b><\/a>\u00a0I hated it.<\/p>\n

And my own two personal favorites:<\/p>\n

Susan Petcher<\/b><\/a>\u00a0I feel like “Books that Make You Hate Humanity” needs to be a new FB meme.<\/p>\n

Doug French<\/b><\/a>\u00a0I wanted the last sentence of the book to be, “And then they all piled into a Greyhound Bus and drove into a volcano.”<\/p>\n

I’m with Doug. \u00a0There were also some positive comments but these are the ones I agree with and there are already enough good comments out there in the ether and it’s my blog so….<\/p>\n

Even so, it is\u00a0<\/em>true that the book evoked a ton of comments and a lot of emotion. \u00a0I guess there’s some skill required for that to happen but if that’s true, she’s squandered it. \u00a0Allegedly her other work is better but that’s no excuse – especially for a public which seems to be gaga for this one.<\/p>\n

Right now I am reading California<\/a><\/em>, a dystopian, almost too real story of a dark American future. \u00a0It’s probably only on the radar screen because Stephen Colbert used it as an example of books by young first-time authors who are most hurt by the Amazon-Hachette battle<\/a>. \u00a0Since then it too has gotten a lot of attention<\/a>\u00a0so one makes me think of the other.<\/p>\n

California<\/em> doesn’t have as many stars on goodreads<\/em>. \u00a0For me though, it’s so very much more exciting and provocative. \u00a0Her characters are more than horrible stereotypes, and it’s Edan Lepucki’<\/a>s first published novel which is exciting.<\/p>\n

This is not a contest between California<\/em> and Gone Girl<\/em> or between Stephen Colbert and Ben Affleck. \u00a0At least not to me. \u00a0I just didn’t want to be this mean about a book without including one that has my attention, is unpredictable, and includes some decent, interesting people.<\/p>\n

Don’t we love that books can get us all riled up like this? \u00a0Far more fun that terrorists and the NFL!<\/p>\n

And for a treat, here’s the Colbert Report after LePucki’s book made the New York Times Best Seller List:<\/p>\n

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