dark places
by sam on 12/31/2012
I was glad to read in an interview today that Gillian Flynn is apparently a well-adjusted married mom, because after finishing this final book of hers (the second chronologically in order of writing, but third in my order of reading), I was getting a bit worried about the dark recesses of her soul. Her ability to get into the heads of thoroughly unlikeable people, who do thoroughly unlikeable (and unspeakable) things, is profound. Many people didn’t like this book because Libby, the narrator/main protagonist is such an unpleasant person, but she’s unpleasant because of the horrors that have been visited upon her, first by the person who murdered most of her family when she was a child, and then by the people who sought to take advantage of her story, and even those who cared for her but waited until it was too late to explain to her that she had to grow up at some point.
You can see the seeds of Gone Girl here, with the shifting narrations (Libby in the present day and her mother and brother in the past), but they’re a bit more straightforward in the sense that they’re true narratives from each of their perspectives.
In any event, if you liked her other books, I certainly recommend this one, and any future books Flynn may write.
Tags: books