Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

17 reviews

hannahsk's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Mental illness

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Rape, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Vomit, Dementia, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Confinement, Body shaming, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infertility, Medical content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

clare072's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Pregnancy, Blood, Chronic illness, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Rape

Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Grief, Miscarriage, Violence, Misogyny, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, and Dementia

renyoi's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Evocative, thrilling, ridiculously clever, sinister. Sharp and complex commentary on feminism, misogyny, generational trauma, heterosexual relationships, sociopathy, familial dynamics, and the media sphere circa 2010. It’s a lot of ground to cover, but somehow this book weaves these threads together deftly into one whole, complete, devastating portrait of mutually assured destruction. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexism, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexual content, Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Blood, Terminal illness, Torture, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, Cancer, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Sexual assault, Dementia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Vomit

Moderate: Incest

junowo's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is one of the most clever books I’ve ever read. If you think you already know it from the movie, you don’t. I was pleasantly surprised by both the complexity of the characters and the way this book constructs a world informed by patriarchy and misogyny. There are no certainties in this book, and that’s what makes it incredible.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Classism, Blood, Violence, Self harm, Dementia, Chronic illness, Sexism, Murder, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Drug use, Rape, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicide, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Incest

david_slack110507's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

You know a book is good when even a reading slump and an admittedly slow and uneventful first part of the book can't take away from your overall enjoyment and still leaves you with the decision to rate it 5 stars. It took me a while to finish this once started for two main reasons, 1) As mentioned earlier I was in a major reading slump, so I struggled to be even interested in some amazing other books I was reading at the time such as the AGGGTM series and 2) The first part of the book was really slow and difficult to get into. 

Gillian Flynn's writing is brilliant and feels much more complex than some of the other writing I've read before, the way she writes both Nick and Amy but particularly Amy is amazing (Pun intended). She makes sure that they are presented as awfully complex and toxic people yet gives them many layers that the reader can both love and hate them at the same time. I will admit that the supporting cast of characters isn't really developed beyond bits and pieces of detail, but they don't really have to be, this is a story between Nick and Amy and their complexities as characters. 

The book really hits its stride when it begins its second part, reading about Amy was much more fascinating to me because she's written with such brilliance that she genuinely believes that the things she is doing are a reasonable reaction to what Nick has done. She's a well-written example of a morally complex and grey female protagonist/character. I didn't expect this book to go into such gritty detail about Amy's plan, but it made her all the more interesting in how she rationalises her behaviour whilst Nick's perspective is also intriguing as he goes from loving his wife to hating her and planning to kill her within a second's notice. 

I'm really glad that I read the book rather than watch the movie first (which I will be doing soon hopefully) as I feel like I wouldn't have had the motivation to read this if I already knew what happens and if I knew how long it would take me to finish it. Looking forward to potentially reading more of Flynn's novels in the future and seeing how their adaptations fare in comparison to the source material. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual assault, Stalking, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Rape

Moderate: Gaslighting, Self harm, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexism, Misogyny, Grief, Kidnapping, Death, Gore, and Miscarriage

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Deadnaming, Vomit, Drug use, and Dementia

janset's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Classism, Sexual content, Dementia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Minor: Medical content, Gun violence, Drug use, and Vomit

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Alcohol, Dementia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Classism, Drug use, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Racial slurs

nabila99's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

as someone who adores david fincher's film adaptation of this book, and watched the film first, reading it was actually quite revelatory. because of the nature of film and TV, it's not always possible to show a character's introspection and inner world the way it is in a book - and gone girl the novel felt very introspective compared to gone girl the film.

i especially enjoyed how much more of amy we get in the book, even if

Spoiler

it is just Diary Amy, and i genuinely found her pov very poignant, despite my knowledge of how the story would go

. it was also very enlightening to see nick's 

Spoiler

misogyny, how he battles against it throughout the whole book but is still a shitty man in many ways, how parental attitudes and bigotries are passed down

.

while i did find that the book dragged a bit at times (especially in nick's chapters), and the ending was a bit abrupt and ambiguous, i flew through the story and was always engaged. what a ride!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Dementia, Drug use, Terminal illness, Vomit, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Medical content, Abortion, and Kidnapping

mle11's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Blood, Cursing, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Stalking, Cancer, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Classism, Infertility, Vomit, and Miscarriage

louisegraveyard's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Cursing, Dementia, Drug use, Sexism, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Blood, Body shaming, Violence, Bullying, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit