Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Hey look, a book which isn't YA!

I read Gone Girl on a random whim. I should probably make it known that I absolutely adore murder mysteries but usually don't read anything that isn't written by Agatha Christie. I also tend to shy away from thrillers because a lot of them focus less on the mystery and more on the EXCITING CAR CHASES AND PLOT part. But Gone Girl was intriguing enough for me to try it and I'm glad I did,

Gone Girl is the story of a man called Nick and a woman called Amy. On their anniversary, Amy disappears and Nick finds himself the top suspect for murder. The book is split into three parts and each chapter alternates narrator. This brings me to my first issue-the first part. It becomes apparent pretty quickly that Nick is hiding some stuff from the reader which is supposed to make him seem super suspicious. The trouble is, it's so obvious that you don't suspect him because of how obvious it is.

This is my main issue with this book on the whole. It's clear that the way it's supposed to be is the reader suspects Nick in the first part and then is totally shocked when *GASP* Amy turns out to be the evil mastermind all along! OMG, Gillian Flynn is so clever, I never saw that coming etc etc. As I mentioned though, it's so clear that a twist is coming that the first part of the book seems pointless. I knew it wasn't Nick because if it was, the book would have been two-thirds shorter. So instead of coming across as clever, it just frustrates the reader while they wait to get to the good part.

After that however, Gone Girl actually becomes quite an interesting story. Amy is one of the least sympathetic characters I've ever encountered and the fact Nick isn't that great a person either stops her being cartoonishly bad. I would have enjoyed this book a lot more and given it a much higher rating if it weren't for one thing.

The ending.

Major spoiler here but Amy does not get her comeuppance. This is good in a sense that it's probably more realistic but bad because it is really, really unsatisfying. Flynn creates the ultimate bitch character and then SHE GETS AWAY WITH IT ALL. Not only that, but she remains completely evil. It's one of the most frustrating endings I've ever encountered.

Ultimately, how much you enjoy this book will depend on your ability to deal with an unsatisfying ending. Though this review has mostly focused on the negatives, I did really enjoy a large portion of it. It's just a shame that certain things let it down

Overall Score: 

.5

Looking for Alaska by John Green

I really feel like I should hate this book.

I mean, come on. It's pretentious. It has characters which don't resemble real people in the slightest but are quite clearly characters. It has the typical 'nerdy boy falls in love with beautiful but troubled girl' cliché. There are so many reasons I should hate it.

But I don't.

John Green is an author I have avoided for a long time. This is partially because as I understand it, his books follow the pattern of 'quirky teenagers do fun things and ponder life for a while before unexpected tragedy hits and then they ponder some more', and also partially because I swore I would never read The Fault in Our Stars. So far, this pattern has rung true. But hey, I was feeling curious.

Looking for Alaska was pretty much what I expected. Fortunately it was so well-written that I couldn't bring myself to hate it, despite its obvious faults. I plan to read a few more John Green novels out of sheer curiosity so it will be interesting to see how long this tolerance lasts. Also, this book surprised me with the actual event since it wasn't what I expected (though it probably should have been) but not with the reason for it which I guessed fairly early on, making the second half drag somewhat.

One thing I do want to raise though-Alaska. She is the perfect example of the shy, awkward guy's dream girl. Beautiful but bitchy, mysterious and tempting. I am so sick of people like her in fiction. It's the standard 'save the damsel' dream and it needs to stop. Alaska is an even more perfect example because she dies before the main character can figure her out, thus preserving the mystery girl fantasy. 

Ultimately, Looking for Alaska is not the kind of book I approve of but I couldn't help but find it strangely entertaining. It's well-written, the characters are mostly likeable (if not realistic) and the plot is palatable enough. Should you read it? Eh. I won't advise it but I won't hold it against you if you do

Overall Score:

.5

Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

What a strange, fascinating little book.

Teeth has been described as a modern day fairytale and yes, I suppose that's an apt enough description for it. The book starts with the main character, Rudy, moving to an island where they have magical fish which can keep people alive and it only gets weirder from there. He befriends a merman fishboy by the name of Teeth and the rest of the story is about the problems of that friendship. Well, I say 'befriends'. The relationship is actually hinted to be much stronger than that and one of the stranger parts of the book is the fact Rudy seems to lack any concern about being in love with a fishboy. Well, that and the fish rape.

Yeah. There's fish rape in this. Just go with it.

Anyway, my point is Teeth is a weird book. It's surprisingly dark in parts by which I mean, the darker side doesn't really mesh well with the rest of the story. Having said that, the story on the whole is really dark so maybe it's the writing style which doesn't work so well. Either way, I enjoyed the darkness but something wasn't quite right. Also the main character was never quite horrified enough by what was happening to Teeth so maybe that was part of the issue too.

This is a dreamy little book though and one I think it's very easy to enjoy if you like that sort of thing. The characters are more realistic than most tend to be in this style of fantasy/fairytale and that is quite impressive in itself. The blurb is a little vague but essentially, if you love fantasy stories with a fairytale-esque feel then I see no reason why you shouldn't enjoy this book

Overall Score:

.5