on
3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Suggestion from Ada
Rating: 3/5
Started: September 6
Finished: September 10
Summary:
Nick, fired-journalist-turned-college-professor, returns home one morning to find his house trashed and his wife, Amy, missing. Soon an investigation begins, and between Nick's startling lack of concern for his missing wife and Amy's journal entries which paint a concerning decline from happy couple in NYC to a marriage absent any love at all, Nick isn't looking particularly innocent.
This twisted thriller brings to question happiness, love, and the motives behind actions. But most of all, it is a hunt for the truth.
Thoughts:
This book was okay. It wasn't great: I wasn't super into it — I was never at the edge of my seat, just casually intrigued — probably because I hated the main character so thoroughly. Nick had the energy of a male writer who writes fiction where women describe their extremely sexual figure in detail as part of completing some mundane task, just so the author can show off how sexy his protagonist is. I mean, that was the point, so I guess Gillian Flynn did a great job, but it was a little hard to read. I also wasn't sold at first because there weren't a lot of other suspects, and it looked like either it would actually be the husband, or something random would come popping out of the blue, which didn't seem as interesting as figuring out who out of a group was the culprit. The twist with Amy was good, though. I liked hearing about her plans and seeing her sociopathic side. That was super cool.
There was some really nice writing, though, and I can definitely see it as a style that Ada would like:
- "I had the grave pride of being taken seriously."
- "The skeletal singers, withered beneath bedazzled tuxes, spin slowly, carefully, on replaced hips, the dance of the moribund."
- "Something bad was about to happen. My wife was being clever again."
All in all, I'm not super impressed, but I also don't regret reading it.
Words:
Hoary (adj) greyish-white
Propitious (adj) giving or indicating a good chance of success; favorable
Rictus (n) a fixed grimace or grin
Concord (n) a state of peaceful agreement
Capitulation (n) the act of surrendering or ceasing to resist an opponent or demand
Stymied (v) prevent or hinder the progress of
Malaise (n) a general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify
Randy (adj) sexually aroused or excited; having a rude, aggressive manner
Bespoke (adj) made for a particular customer or user
Pygmalioning (v) behaving like or resembling in some way a king of Cyprus who made a female figure of ivory that is brought to life for him by Aphrodite
Patrician (adj) belonging to or characteristic of the aristocracy
Philandering (v) (of a man) readily or frequently entering into casual sexual relationships with women
Razz (v) tease someone playfully
Pointillism (art movement) a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied to form an image
Newel Post (n) a central pole or support column; central supporting pillar of a staircase
Despots (n) rulers or other persons who hold absolute power, typically exercising it in a cruel or oppressive way
Apotheosis (n) the perfect for or example of something
Copacetic (adj) in excellent order
Vexillology (n) the study of flags
Octogenarians (n) people from 80 to 89 years old
Moribund (adj) at the point of death
Septuagenarian (n) a person whois from 70 to 79 years old
Foibles (n) minor weaknesses or eccentricities in someone's character
Uxorious (adj) having or showing an excessive or submissive fondness for one's wife
Rapacious (adj) aggressively greedy or grasping
Megalomaniac (n) a person who is obsessed with their own power
Anachronism (n) a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned