Gone Girl (Week 1)

September 25, 2015

My first reader's workshop book for the year is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I have heard that it is an interesting read, so I thought I'd give it a try. It was indeed a recommendation from a fellow friend of mine (*cough* Abby Robinson *cough*). I have not seen the movie yet and neither has she, so once I finish the book I plan to watch the movie with her. 

I have not gotten far into it just yet. I'm telling you now, though, I am definitely not putting this book down. I love the tone of the writing. It is very sarcastic and casual, almost like you were talking to the characters themselves. If you were ever wondering how to hook me on while reading an essay or story, just throw in some sarcasm. That is all I need. It's just like Mr. Ellis's class. If you have him, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Within 5 minutes of him solely speaking, I knew I was going to love his class.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though. Allow me to describe the situation so you understand the general context. Two of the main characters (the story is told from both of these characters' points of view) are Nick Dunne and Amy, polar opposite people bound together by marriage. Interesting way for me to describe that, right? Amy Elliot is a sophisticated city girl, much like my own mother, honestly. Born in New York City, her way of thinking, her behavior and her overall personality reflect those of New York descent. On the total opposite side of the spectrum we have Nick Dunne, a country boy born in the rural state of Missouri. Missouri. I have nothing against the state, but that was definitely a surprise. Country boy and city girl... classic contrast. You can practically smell the chaos arising. 

Take a deep, long inhale. 

Do you smell that? You do?

That is the stench of foreshadowed chaos. You better get used to it because I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon.

In the book's abstract, I read about a guy being blamed for his wife's disappearance. Did I not just mention chaos? We're talking murder, folks. I don't know if I'm ready for this just yet. I am actually terrified. 

Perfect.

Unbroken

Unbroken was an interesting read for me. I did enjoy the book, believe me. It took me a bit longer than most of my friends to finish the book within my busy summer schedule, but I still did finish it as fast as I could. Alright, that's partially a lie. I finished as fast as I could with all the Netflix breaks in between. I mean, come on... this is my summer vacation. Spending hours on Netflix is basically a requirement. Anywho, I'm going off on a tangent here.
I am not a fan of the layout of the book itself, but I am a fan of the story and how it is told. The concept of longer pages with smaller fonts is a turn off for me, but it was easy to overlook with such a captivating story. Louie Zamperini is truly an inspirational being. This was the book that I probably annotated the most out of the three, most likely due to its scrupulous detail. I am utterly flabbergasted by the numerous situations times that Louie was actually faced with death. This man was a living miracle. Please tell me how many times that you actually hear about a guy that passes out while drowning in deep ocean water somehow wakes back up and survives the 800 foot swim back to the surface while being tangled in plane wires. Exactly, you can't say because it simply doesn't occur on a day to day basis. Or ever, really.  But somehow Louis Zamperini handled it and I give him full creds. I mean, if a plane crash survivor can pass out, drown and wake up with oxygen, I definitely should be able to run that one minute jog in gym effortlessly, yet I still complain about it every single day.
I'm not one to critique much, but there's a threshold for all things. Once you pass that threshold, it's just way too much. That's how I felt about all that detail. I love detail, I love imagery, I love description... but remember, thresholds. There was way too much unnecessary detail going on in this book. Like it started to bore me sometimes. I wanted to enjoy my summer reading, I wanted to vibe with the text, but how am I supposed to do that when I'm bored? I simply can't, and I put the book down. Things like that are what make me unmotivated to finish my summer reading. I pushed through it all, but it took much longer than it should have. I mean, at least I still enjoyed the story.
I think that the will to live is what allowed Zamperini to be able to live through such harsh conditions. On page 182, he describes himself as "a dead body breathing". Can we just take a moment to understand how significant this is? He was straight up dead. Long past starvation, his organs are probably on their last legs. He's looking pretty sickly right about now. So many people surrounding him are dying just the same, losing their sanity in the process as well. But his internal will to live, never giving up and always pushing through got him to live to be 97. That's a favorable quality and probably something everyone should think about. If you were looking for a call to action, here it is: LIVE! LOVE LIFE!! If you're strong enough, if you live enough, you'll be just like legendary Louie. #goals