A Review: Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn.

Navigating relationships can easily be one of the toughest things that each one of us has to tackle every day. What is that person thinking? How do we approach this? Is this acceptable to everyone? We are plagued by doubts day in and day out, regarding the people we are surrounded by. No matter how independent, we can never fully shake off the influence of the people we are surrounded by.

But how much can one person influence the other? Can they be or not be such an impact on you? From doing things together, unconsciously picking up and reflecting those around us, to setting expectations, the inside joke, figuring out what the other person is thinking, to where we stand, relationships are fraught with ups and downs that are tough to navigate. But what extremes can it go to?
Gillian Flynn gives us a glimpse of such a relationship in her book, Gone Girl.




Two people, Nick and Amy, get together in New York. They fall in love, get married, face recession, and move to the country, and time reveals that they are not the persons they fell in love with, nor were they completely honest with each other. A failing marriage in small town America and unfaithfulness is a prelude to Amazing Amy’s disappearance n their anniversary. With nothing but Amy’s customary treasure hunt as their clue, th police and Nick try to find her, in the face of increasing evidence of foul play, pointing to Nick himself . 
Will Amy be found? What happened to these two people? Can they complete each other? In what way?

This book virtually topples the concept of marriage upside down, a bleak, destructive relationship that cannot be broken. Everything held sacred in a relationship is thrown out of the window. In fact, it shows us why we get caught in the very things that can destroy us, and why we hold on to those. The book offers no answers, just a unique look into the other side of human relationships, of mutual misunderstanding, distrust, of complements and two halves of a whole. It merits us to look back, and try to find patterns in our own lives (hopefully for all of us, never as extreme in the book), but somewhere, find resonance. For the author bravely uncovers everything that can go wrong between two people in the worst way, tackling relationship issues that are in the depths of our hearts and swept under the dignified rug but never spoken aloud.

A tad scary, but brilliant plot by the author. If anything, it reads better than either, thriller, mystery or suspense, and has taken a hybrid of these genres to a new level. The scope of the novel itself sends us spinning. It makes you rethink all relationships ,for better or for worse. Best read in breaks, and don’t let it give you nightmares. Goosebumps are unavoidable.

Cheers. Happy reading. Or not.

A Review:The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

I first came across this book a long time back, when I was fresh from reading Haruki Murakami and was eager to discover other Japanese authors. . the description for this book said Keigo Higashino-san was the Japanese Steig Larsson. . Not really ready to believe it, I finally picked the book up here in Dubai.

As a feminist, I have a special place in my heart for Steig Larsson. So I wasn't sure how  the comparision would work. Anyway, it became time to see how Japanese suspense literature read.  

 

 

The story opens with a middle aged single mother, Yasuko Hanaoka, coming home from work to  her high school going daughter., when their evening sees the undesirable intrusion of Yasuko's ex husband. When things go out of hand, they only have their neighbor, a middle aged schoolteacher for help. The events of that night puzzle Detective Kusanagi of the Police Department, for nothing seems to add up. The clues lead everywhere except to a solution. And when traditional methods fail, he falls back on his old friend, , Professor Manabu Yukawa, a physicist at the University. 

Will they find a solution to this maze of a crime, where information only seems to throw them further off track? Will the Suspect X be named, and will that person' devotion bear fruit?

The story was well written, and was an interesting read. However, it lacked the intensity that whodunits typically have. The characters are typically Japanese, very local, . However, the nature of the crime itself and the solution offered aren't. . The typical elements of a crime, which are motive, and opportunity, and alibi, are central to the plot. Opportunity and alibi are evaluated at length. But the true motive of the character is a rather selfless one, which is rare in this day and age.  In that sense, it does justify the name..

A novel with a rather ingenious plot. But for non Japanese readers, very original? I don't think so, perhaps because the setups and relationships otherwise seen, leave us with a sense of Deja vu of other whodunits. This book reads rather dry in comparision to most detective novels, and perhaps the depth of relationships could have been further elaborated. But in review, , Keigo Higashino stands in  his own league, and may be a Mar Higgins Clark or a John Grisham, but is certainly no Steig Larsson. Best read at a stretch, so as to not lose track of the narrative. . ..  . . 

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