"Gone Girl" contrasts what we expect of men in relationships with what we expect of women. The couple the books centers around, Amy and Nick Dunne, struggle with the same things a lot of marriages do: money troubles, infidelity, a loss of passion. They have a lot of resentment towards each other, a resentment based on the fact that they both feel as if they need to play a role and be someone they aren't in their marriage.
Flynn uses Amy's diary to paint a caricature of a failing marriage on the brink of collapse. Amy says she's feels guilty for nagging Nick, but can't make him do things without it. Nick resents Amy for babying him. Nick sits around on the couch all day, drinking beer and playing video games. Amy resents his lack of effort towards finding a job and his lack of appreciation for her.
What makes this work truly significant it the moment the twist is revealed. After being missing for several days, it is revealed that Amy ran away and left behind a trail of clues pointing to her clueless husband. She takes on a new identity, dying her hair a lousy shade of brown and gaining weight to make herself less recognizable.
She talks about how in the beginning of her relationship with Nick, she wanted to be the "cool girl"; the type of girlfriend who is down for anything, who never gets mad at her man, who likes what he likes. She compares this to how all women are expected to add or delete aspects of themselves to match their partner or to come across as different from other women. Amy explains how this farce led to her hating the man she tried to be different for, but she could only blame herself.
Her running away and allowing Nick to take the fall was punishment. She says that draining someone of their money, their identity, and their purpose is worse than death. Worse than murder. "Let the punishment for the crime", she says. Whether or not this was justified, it brings up interesting points about how we relate to each other in relationships and how we view betrayal. We know that, in most cases, infidelity has no legal repercussions. However, Amy wanted to strip Nick of his identity and freedom like she imagined he had done to her. She wanted him to be put to death for his infidelity and lack of respect for the bonds of their marriage. While this is certainly an extreme example of a woman scorned, is she justified in wanted bad things for Nick? If she hadn't eventually returned and cleared his name, would he have been killed for a crime he didn't commit?
This novel brings about questions of justice, revenge, love, and betrayal. It is a novel I think will be studied in the future for its genius, and absolutely everyone should at least try to read it.
