Why I Should Have Read Gone Girl Before I Watched the Film

gone-girl-PB*Don’t worry- no spoilers!*

So I made the classic mistake: I watched the film before I read the book. And I have to say because as I was reading it, I couldn’t help but think “this would be so much better if I didn’t know what was gonna happen!” Cos this book has so many twists and turns that it easily could’ve been a complete mind-bending shocker. But it wasn’t- because I knew *exactly* what was gonna happen- which was a real shame.

It didn’t completely spoil my enjoyment, because this is a really well-crafted book. According to Amy Dunne, cool girls don’t exist- but not to worry cos cool books definitely do- this one proves it!

I was also glad to see that the ending worked so much better in the book than the film. Half the reason it was better was because having literally been inside the character’s heads I was able to understand why they made certain decisions (as I said, no spoilers). That made it far less frustrating (I mean, there’s still an element of frustration, but at least it made sense). Also, the ending was given far too much space in the film- 30 pages worked out as half an hour and so much that was speculated on was added. Here, it felt condensed, to the point and just drilled home the whole point of the story. Which is another reason why I should have read the book first!

So the moral of the story is READ THE DAMN BOOK BEFORE YOU WATCH THE FILM.

Rating: 4/5 bananas

half bananahalf bananahalf bananahalf banana

It’s kind of appropriate that I’m posting a review of “Gone Girl”, cos I may be gone for a few days (well, I may get the chance to read posts and comment, but I definitely will not be posting).

Advertisements

61 thoughts on “Why I Should Have Read Gone Girl Before I Watched the Film”

  6. rantandraveaboutbooks says:
    Reply

    I loved Gone Girl, especially the rant she goes on about all the things she did to make Nick love her. What a character. I really liked Amazing Amy. She was so insane I couldn’t stop reading. Rosamund Pike was a good choice for Amy. I wasn’t too thrilled about Ben Affleck playing Nick, but he has the whole not giving a crap thing down pat.

    Liked by 1 person

      • rantandraveaboutbooks says:
        Reply

        I know. I was wondering if I was nuts for liking Amy’s madness. She’s high up there on my list of favorite characters. I liked book Nick better than movie Nick. I wasn’t buying his I’m the loving husband act at all in the book or movie. I think I cheered on Amy because he was such a pig. I laughed when he found the stuff in the shed. That was awesome!

        Liked by 1 person

        • theorangutanlibrarian says:
          Reply

          Well, she’s a brilliant character, even if she is nuts. Me too- he made a lot more sense there- and there was more of an edge to him in the book and his phoniness came across really well. Yeah I don’t think I cheered on Amy- but I definitely thought he deserved it cos he was such a prat. He didn’t come across as prattish enough in the film. You’re right though- in the book there was more of an element of humour!

          Liked by 1 person

  10. yourdaughtersbookshelf says:
    Reply

    I can never do both, so usually just read the book. I have the horrid habit of noting the differences between the book and the movie, and my husband refuses to see any movie with me if I have read the book, because I talk the whole way through “I can’t believe they skipped that part!” or “She didn’t say that in the book!” or “the book was sooo much better!” etc etc etc…

    Liked by 1 person

    • theorangutanlibrarian says:
      Reply

      I know the feeling- I usually prefer to read the book too- but I made the mistake in this case cos I didn’t know it was a book- *shock horror*. I know ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law- but still- I feel like I should get some kind of dispensation for my mistake :p haha that’s really funny!!! I can definitely be the exact same!!

      Liked by 1 person

  11. judithrwebster says:
    Reply

    I haven’t read the book OR seen the film yet – but I completely agree with your decision to read a book before watching the film adaption! I run a series over on my blog called What I Watched Wednesday, where I review a film adaption of a book, but I HAVE to have read the book beforehand! And thank you for not posting spoilers – that can be difficult to when reviewing certain things! I really enjoyed this post

    Liked by 1 person

    • theorangutanlibrarian says:
      Reply

      Oh definitely- that’s usually my rule!! The *only* reason I didn’t read this first was cos I didn’t know it was a book- otherwise I wouldn’t have made this mistake! I only found out after when I saw all the rave reviews of the book :/ You’re welcome! I don’t always do non-spoiler reviews (I always say if there’s spoilers though) but I was particularly keen in this case not to do spoilers- glad you liked it! 😀

      Liked by 1 person

  15. transhaan says:
    Reply

    I MADE THE SAME FCKN MISTAKE. GOD LOOORDD. THIS MOVIE made me realize how wrong I was to watch the movie first and read the book damn it! LOL I sowre to never do it again AHHA Def agree with you in everything The ending in the book was genius 😉 (at least THAT part was not spoiled in the movie HA) – Trang

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Kat Impossible says:
    Reply

    I read the book before the movie and I have to say that the first part of the book dragged a lot for me and then BAM! so much happened! I couldn’t put it down anymore because it was so twisted. I understood the ending as well, but I really would have liked something less frustrating nonetheless hahaha

    Liked by 1 person

  18. alloftheseprompts says:
    Reply

    I’m probably one of the few people who generally like Flynn’s books but really, really didn’t enjoy Gone Girl. Neither the book nor the movie, even though I have to compliment the casting choices for the adaptation.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. bambiquim says:
    Reply

    Are you referring to a general or a specific sentiment? Personally, I feel that you are far more likely to enjoy a movie that is well done if you have not read the book on which it is based. The movie will inevitably leave out something that you loved from the book, if not make numerous changes so that a condensed plot line makes sense, but that does not necessarily make it a bad movie, or even a bad adaptation.

    And then, there is always Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which is my go-to for a film that I adore (barring, of course, Mickey Rooney’s racist character), but we must all admit that Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Go-Lightly bears little resemblance to Truman Capote’s. Is it terrible of me to love both? I don’t think so.

    If you are talking in a specific sense, however, I will keep this in mind, having neither read the book nor seen the film as of this blog post writing. Thanks for the tip!

    Liked by 1 person

    • theorangutanlibrarian says:
      Reply

      Good question- I think it was more for this book in particular. Personally I prefer to read the book first, cos if I don’t then I’m far less likely to actually read the book- whereas I’ll usually watch an adaptation of a book I love. In this case, there were a few reasons why I would have preferred to read the book first- it’s not that it was a bad adaptation or movie, but quite simply that the book was better. I don’t think much could have been improved upon in the film, except making the ending slightly shorter (like it was in the book)- but that was something I’d criticised at the time cos I don’t like false endings and the movie felt like it had one. Also, the writing in this book was magnificent and I realised as I was reading it I would have enjoyed reading it a lot more if I hadn’t heard the bits that were lifted from the book before.
      In general though, I agree with what you’re saying. And it’s not at all terrible to like both! Personally I *love* Hitchcock’s Rebecca, which has a *lot* of differences to the book, and it didn’t stop me loving the book either.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. TheBookishUnderdog says:
    Reply

    Oh I watched the film first too but really enjoyed the book. Sometimes, if I’ve really loved the film, it heightens my enjoyment of the book even though I know what’s coming. Even better, though, is when the film missed loads of stuff out and I get lots of extra scenes in the book!

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Pingback: Books And Life And The World In General – AKA The Kinda Weekly Recap – The Galaxial Word
  24. Ana says:
    Reply

    I usually try to read the book first and watch the movie late. With Gone Girl I just didn’t go through the trouble of getting the book as the movie was just about to premier when I heard about it. I am not sure if I made the right decision because it’s always a lose-lose situation for me. If I read the book first, I will always be disappointed in the movie and keep thinking ‘hey, that’s not what happens in the book!’. If I watch the movie first, as you say, I will know what comes next. So I found that the next to perfect balance is to either deal with the upcoming disappointment of the movie adaptation of the book or watch the movie first and read the book only when I have forgotten it. I can tell it’s going to take me a long time to get to Gone Girl, the book. It was not an easily forgettable movie. So yep, I totally get what you are saying and, as often as I can, I will try to always read the book first. It is a shame that you could not fully enjoy the book because of this. Interesting what you said about the ending being shortened in the book. I am extra curious now. But alas, still a lot longer to wait!

    Liked by 1 person

    • theorangutanlibrarian says:
      Reply

      Oh I completely get what you mean. I’m usually disappointed by book to movie adaptations :/ it’s very rare that I’m satisfied :/ I agree that the movie was pretty forgettable (even though I enjoyed it at the time)- but the book was really good- so it was a shame I didn’t just read the book :/ but knowing the twist was a bit of a pain. It’s really good though and I hope you give it a go! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      • Ana says:
        Reply

        Oh, I will, I just need to let more time pass till I forget most of the twists xD And boy were there some. I want to be able to fully enjoy the book. Plus, from what I have read in reviews of the author’s other books this seems to be the best so I definitely want to be able to enjoy it 100%

        I honestly cannot recall whether I ever preferred the movie version to the book’s. However, if I see the two options, I always want to watch/read them both.

        Alas, I doubt I will ever be satisfied either way. Book or movie first? is, to me, a dilemma of the likes of what came first – the chicken or the egg. Just can’t win!

        Liked by 1 person

        • theorangutanlibrarian says:
          Reply

          That’s definitely a good idea!! It was still too fresh for me :/ I haven’t read her other work, so I couldn’t say for sure, but it is great in my opinion. Me too!
          I know the feeling! It’s hard to ever be satisfied with this for sure! haha

          Liked by 1 person

  25. Pingback: Why I Should Have Just Watched the Movie Version of Girl On The Train | the orang-utan librarian

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s