Secrets: Gone Girl

For secrets I read "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn. Everyone loves this book. I apparently, am not part of everyone.

Now that I have had some distance from it I am not as perturbed with it as I was when I first finished the book. My pacing in the first half of the book was normal and then zoomed into obsessed mode quickly in the latter half. I NEEDED TO KNOW WHY AMY WAS GONE. Because this book is a thriller I will not give away too many details.

***minor spoiler****

I think I didn't enjoy this book as much because I found the ending unjust/disgusting. As someone who advocates for the welfare of others I found the ending really disturbing - there is no way that is going to turn out ok and that is the WORST way to.......can't think of how to not give that piece away. Those of you who have read this will understand what put me over the edge.

The theme of this book is pretty obvious, Amy disappears and we don't know why. Everyone involved turns out to have lots of secrets. Ba-da-bing.

Up next: Books into Movies!!!!

SECRETS: Miseduction of Cameron Post

The first thing that Cameron Post feels when she finds out her parents have died is relief--relief that they will never know that hours earlier, she was kissing a girl. Before anything, The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a story about finding yourself during the most difficult and confusing time of your life--the teenage years. It's about navigating through first relationships, it's about staying true to yourself, and it's about understanding the way the world works. It follows Cameron as she realizes she is attracted to girls, it follows her as she falls in love for the first time, and it follows her as all of that comes crashing down and she is sent off to be "fixed" at a de-gaying camp.

This book was phenomenal. It made me nostalgic for a childhood I didn't even have--the small town, lazy hot summers of swimming in the lake and exploring the countryside. The writing was phenomenal. To give you just a small example:

It was one of those August afternoons that Montana does just right, with heavy gray thunderheads crowding out the movie-blue sky and the feeling of a guaranteed downpour just beginning to change the touch of the air, the color of the sunlight. We were right in the middle of the maybe twenty minutes before the storm would hit, when it was only just promised, and every single thing in it's path--from the strings of multicolor turn flags over the pool to the sheen of the oily puddles in the parking lot to the smell of fried foods wafting over from the Burger Box on the corner--was somehow alive with that promise.

Though this book has a very heavy message, it is subtle and delicate and REAL. Most of the "message" books out there are so heavy handed they forget entirely about the plot, it becomes secondary to the grand message of the author. But in the Miseducation of Cameron Post, her being gay is so integrated into the story that you often forget that it's supposed to be different--because in this book, Cameron isn't different, she's just herself. I only wish, for one character, there would have been justice. They did something that made me SO angry that I was fuming when I realized there would be no revelation for this character--no "wow, I really screwed up, and I should apologize." But, unfortunately, real life doesn't work that way and neither should the book--it is so infuriating because it's so real.

SECRET: Cameron never denies her true self, and just like every other teenager (even though her sexuality means she has many more roadblocks and bumps in the road) she has to grapple with the reality that she is who she is and nothing can ever change that. She is able to keep her biggest secret throughout most of the book, but eventually she is forced to face it. Even though she is surrounded by people who do not accept or understand who she is, she understands that they are doing what they feel is right, just like she is:

I'm just saying that sometimes you can end up really messing somebody up because the way you're trying to supposedly help them is really messed up.

Goodreads rating: 5
Recommendation: Yes, yes, yes. Beautiful, real, intense.

Just a note, this book does contain graphic scenes with sex and drug use.