What I am reading – Gone Girl Phenomenon

I actually have some time in third year to read something besides medical literature, text books. Despite the fact that I am on night float right now, cranky and tired.
* God I Just want to go home and sleep in my bed!!! *
I am committing to blogging at least once a week. Hopefully from a bonafide commitment- phobe this will last. * shrugs shoulders*

Anyway I recently read “Girl on the Train.” I saw the trailer and was very intrigued. Although I do roll my eyes on the  new “gone girl genre.” It just seems like there are a series of psychological thrillers  with “girl” in the title being released in the past two to three years with close similarities to Gone Girl.

For instance,

Girl on the Train
The Good Girl
Luckiest Girl Alive.

You get my drift.

The hook of the these novels always includes something like this “Hailed as the next Gone Girl, with a breathtaking, mild blowing, gripping, “insert another overly dramatic description here.”

Please yall publishers need to stop this;. Stop it. Stop it.

It just sets these other novels for failure because the reader is going into the novel with expectations that sometimes cannot be met. You aint Gillian Flyyn.

Its actually interesting how we all try to duplicate success or be associated with it.

As my fellow Nigerians would say “Please God make me a point of reference. Make me a Gone Girl.”

I read two novels in the new “girl” genre. Girl On The Train (GOTT) and The Good girl.

Let me start with the good. I read GOTT a few weeks ago, so its not as fresh in my brain. GOTT is told from the POV of three narrators, Rachel, Anna and Megan around the same time period.  Rachel in my opinion is the more central point of view because the novel starts from her perspective. However it was intriguing to me because she is a troubled woman that is an alcoholic so her narrative perspective cannot be trusted. She lost her job and to hide the fact from her room mate she takes the train everyday at a certain time and then rides it back “after work.” Its profoundly sad and cra cra at the same time. The train passes  Megan’s  home everyday where Rachel spies on snippets of her seemingly perfect life. Then a murder happens, and Rachel becomes entangled in the investigation.  I really was intrigued by the premise of the novel and that is  why I  over rode (if that’s a word) my “cheap skate” gene and bought it.  The whole premise of spying into a seemingly perfect life where nothing is as it seems is very relable to me. I constantly remind myself that Instagram life is not real life, its a seemingly perfect overly rehearsed snap shot that I have to stop comparing my life too. But that’s a post for another day. GOTT got me guessing till the very end and I would like to think I am very good at figuring out the “whodunit”. I figured it out right before the reveal.  I really enjoyed the extra layer of unreliable narrators because as the reader I could never trust that what I was being told was an accurate narrative. I know other people find this problematic but for me its quite enjoyable. GOOT was a solid novel, not quite Gone Girl but close.  The only con of the novel for me would be the ending felt rushed and although it was a psychological thriller the ending wasnt particularly uplifting. It was borderline depressing.

Now moving on to The Good Girl  

Mia is the black sheep daughter of wealthy Judge Dennett. She meets a guy Colin at a bar and goes home with him, thinking he will be a one night stand as there is a palpable attraction between them. It turns out he was sent to kidnap her by some unsavory characters who plan to demand a ransom from her father.  Colin decides to have a guilty conscience midway in the kidnapping (terrible timing) and takes her to a deserted cabin instead of the designated drop off. The story is told from the pov of Eve (Mias mom), Colin and  Gabe (detective assigned to the case.) The pov alternates between before and after the kidnapping for each character. This could be problematic for some readers but I didn’t have a problem with this. However , I kept reading the novel hoping for the “twisty roller coaster” twist that had been promised by the novel description and the the reviewers. By the time I got to 3/4 of the book I didn’t care and when the “twist” came I was only mildly surprised.  I also did not particularly relate to any of the characters ; as a result, I was not invested in them. The Good Girl was not as good as  GOOT and Gone Girl outflanks the novel in all areas of comparison. Maybe it was a little bit to slow to warm up for me….actually the novel never warmed up it trudged tepidly to the climax at the end.

Live Fearless Folks, until next time.
On to night float 🙁 *Screams in agony*