Gone Girl Gillian Flynn Audiobook Review

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLEROn a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 

You know how some books are so totally out of your comfort zone and genre, but they still kind of call to you anyways? Friends, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn called to me. It first really came on my NEED TO READ THIS NOW radar when Books Are My BFs read it and then went on a Flynn binge. THEN Tara at The Fiction Folio mentioned it in her shifting priorities post. And in my head I was all, hey if Tara wants to read outside of YA because of this book, then holy mother I need to read it now. Of course, I went for the audiobook version because it’s really hard for me to fit adult books into my schedule unless they are romance or on audio.

Friends, I am pretty sure the audiobook of Gone Girl was a total mind warp. Oh my god. Like, that was my reaction the entire time listening to it, just a big long drawn out Janice from Friends sort of OH MY GOD. Okay, so I’m not married and usually I lament that fact, but this book, Gone Girl made me kind of glad that I am not married because OH MY GOD. Okay, so we start out the book on the morning of Amy Elliot-Dunne and Nick Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Things are going pretty normal until Nick comes home, sees the cat outside and the door open. Amy is missing. THEN Nick becomes the prime suspect in her disappearance. Did he kill her?

Gone Girl alternates chapters between Nick and Amy’s point of view. As a reader, I kind of felt like I needed to take sides. When we first meet Amy, in her opening diary chapters, she is a perky, cool girl head over heels in love with Nick. She seems pretty fabulous. Like, Nick and Amy used to live in NYC, but then they lose their writer jobs and relocate to Missouri where Nick grew up and you’d think Amy resents it but she seems to be trying her best. Anyways, throughout MOST of the book, I was rooting for Amy. I was all you go girl, you get that SOB. YOU GET HIM GIRLLLL.

But then we get Nick’s chapters! And friends I kind of felt bad for him, to the point where I wasn’t sure which team I was on. I ALSO had no idea in the beginning if he killed Amy or not, probably because I am super dense. But okay, I also felt like for some of it, he deserved what he got because he crosses a line. Yet, when we are in his chapters, it’s hard to know what to feel for him because he’s an unreliable narrator so you can’t exactly trust everything coming out of his mouth and my brain was all I HURT WHERE IS MY MORAL COMPASS throughout the whole book, in a good way.

Look, if you are scared of taking a break from YA because of the pacing of adult books, don’t be. Maybe take a break with Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. The audiobook is a tad long, but I listened to it in fewer days than I do with ten hour audiobooks. I was such a nerd you guys. I actually would walk with this audio out to the mailbox playing on my phone, and usually I just shut the audiobook off in public. But, I was SO drawn into the story and I needed to know what would happen next. AND I was gasping SOOOO much that it felt like I was doing some sort of breathing exercise.

I cannot recommend the audiobook of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn enough. It has dual narrators – Julia Whelan reads the Amy chapters and Kirby Heyborne reads the Nick chapters.  This is one of the few audiobooks where I can say the narrators are the characters. I cannot imagine two better people to narrate Amy and Nick. Their voicing was just spot on, and also, pleasing to my ears, like I legit never set this audiobook aside. I even listened to it before going to sleep instead of reading a physical book and I NEVER ever do that.  Gone  Girl is 19 hours and 11 minutes long, but it definitely doesn’t feel that long. Kudos Random House Audio for a job that is TOTALLY well done.

Disclosure: Purchased with Audible credit.

Other reviews of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn:

Books Are My Boyfriends – “gets ALL THE TONGUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Novel Sounds – “is what Kanye West means when he says, “that shit cray.””

The Reading Date – “I had a hard time putting it down”

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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