Has anyone read "Gone Girl?"

[SheilaT]

38. I've read it. Plot spoiler alert

although this entire thread is a pretty much a plot spoiler, although fortunately no one has mentioned any real details.

The character of Amy is a complete and total sociopath, possibly even a psychopath. There is no larger message about women adapting to men's wishes in this book. Not at all. Nick, by the way, while not a sociopath, is totally self-centered, and in the end is totally terrorized by Amy.

Someone who played the game about the perfect woman and came to resent that the game was necessary, would simply stop playing. She wouldn't go to the extremes Amy does. Amy has the good fortune to be very attractive, and simply makes use of that. She makes use of her assets to do what she wants to do, with zero regard for anyone else. Because she is so totally oblivious to the reality of others, she is able to be caught off guard and therefore robbed partway through the story. Someone else might have had her guard up and not less it happen.

While the movie was in production a big deal was made about how the author, who also wrote the screenplay, changed the ending. Well, she didn't really. It just plays out a little differently, that's all.

I thought the movie was very well cast, and neither Ben Affleck nor Rosamund Pike ever hit a false note in their characters. They both deserve Oscar nominations.

The writer, Gillian Flynn, is amazing, and you should read her other novels. She writes about unlikeable people, and while she doesn't make you like them -- doesn't even try actually -- she does make you willing to go along for the ride.