Color Me Styled - Book Club - Gone Girl Part 2

Here is the Q&A for the first section of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. There are some spoilers in the questions so if you haven't finished the first section come back to this post when you do! 

In this book club with me are Meredith (friend, aspiring author and CMS contributor), Sue (mother-in-law), Katie (sister-in-law) and Pat (mom). Everyone brings a different life perspective to this story which was really fun to pull together. We did a mostly virtual club with the ladies answering questions via email. For Section 2 we were battling having read the book several months before

Please let us know what you think! Answer the questions in the comment section at the bottom of the post or share them with us on Facebook. We'll have a discussion about part 3 next week and the final section the week after.

Gone Girl: Part 2 - Boy Meets Girl

Turn to page one of Part 2... and your first thoughts at the story development - are you surprised, angry, satisfied, intrigued? 

Meredith: I would have to say that I was intrigued and excited at the start of Part #2.  The development of Part #1 set up a great story line full of unanswered questions.  You knew answers had to be coming eventually and that things were quickly spiraling out of control with Nick.  I was happy to see (despite the fact that I wasn't sure in what capacity she would emerge) the attendance of the actual Amy and not her diary entries early on in Park #2.

Pat: I felt angry. What a bitch!!!  

Erin: I was shocked. I knew she was alive but I didn't expect to hear from her. 

Do you think Amy is crazy / psychotic? 

Meredith: Yes! And I love it!  She is a textbook sociopath.  By definition a person whose behavior is antisocial, who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.  Nothing Amy did was for the benefit of anyone besides herself.  She manipulated the people around her, used them as pawns in her game of life.  She didn't desire to be around anyone, there was never a single person (perhaps with Nick being the one exception) whose company she actually desired.  Even then it wasn't the actual Nick she wanted to be around but a figment of her imagination.

Pat: Yes I thought Amy was a NUT case. totally messed up psych.

Erin: Yes! So cray. But I was so fascinated by it. I was amazed at how she planned out everything with such precision. I am no way near patient enough in order to plan something out like that. I kind of respected her... to a point.

What do you think of her change in plan not to commit suicide?

Meredith: I found it weird that she actually ever contemplated it given how highly she viewed her own self worth.  It seems as though she is trying "fix" people of their problems, make them better, make them who she thinks they are capable of being (or so she rationalizes in her own mind). Yet she would remove herself from the world and strip herself of the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of her labor.  I am happy she didn't do it because I think in the end it would have ultimately led to the destruction of her plan.  If she committed suicide they would find some way to let Nick off, and this is one villain I was rooting for!

Pat: Not to commit suicide fits her character. She is so self centered that she would ever kill herself. She wants NO NEEDS to keep AMY alive in some way. Even if it is a false AMY.

Erin: I knew that her plan would unravel as soon as she mentioned the change. Obviously it fits her character to not go through with suicide but she was motivated by pure hatred of Nick that really disappearing would be the only way to ensure he was damned. Her plan continued to unravel and for someone who plans so meticulously, as soon as she had to think on her feet she was lost. Her immaturity came to the forefront.

Both Nick and Amy have "re-connection" moments where they seem to truly want the other back in their life; does that change your thoughts about the depth of their marriage?

Meredith: Not in the least!  Nick's moments come more so in Part #1 and then you find out about Andie and all his credibility goes out the window.  However Amy's moments come as we are learning of Nick's plan to manipulate her into rekindling their marriage because he is aware that she is framing him.  If anything I think these moments make their marriage look even more shallow.  If you can be this easily manipulated by your spouse...do you really know them? How could you ever trust them?  I guess I should quantify these questions by adding that I'm single.

Pat: Nick and Amy, they fit together in some symbiotic way. I don't know if it reflects depth in their marriage or more of a use/use relationship. Each one meets the needs of the other in some way. They don't really seem to have a "joined presence", they simply have individual beings that feed off each other.

Erin: It did for me a little bit. They are connected to each other. It isn't love or commitment but they are tied. I think Amy actually cares more for Nick than Nick does for Amy. But Amy has no sense of self all her own; she is whoever she needs to be for who she is with. It isn't a healthy relationship, and they should not be together but they know the most intimate things about each other. It is a case of "he/she knows me better than I know myself" which usually doesn't lead to a murder framing scheme. 


What is Amy's biggest fear?

Meredith: Being insignificant.

Pat: LOSS. Loss of freedom, loss of self (as ill defined as it is since she keeps recreating herself), loss of control over Nick, over life...

Erin: I think Amy is afraid of being afraid. She has worked her entire life to be one step ahead of everyone else and has tirelessly positioned herself to be the victim, at least perceived as the victim.

Can you identify with morphing your personality to fit in or reinventing yourself?

Meredith: Yes I think that there are key points in our lives where each of us does some reinventing or morphing.  Sometimes it's as simple as starting in a new work culture or a new town.  Other times it is as grand as transplanting yourself completely knew and starting over, swearing off who you were and what led to your current status. I think it is incredibly hard to do and that eventually cracks to you facade start to appear and the old you emerges as happened with Amy.  I feel as though I went through this type of change when I started college.  I swore to come out of my shell, to be more outgoing instead of living quietly in the background as I had all through high school and I think it worked!  Many of my high school friends didn't recognize social Meredith as being the same person that my college friends did.  It's all a part of growing up, sometimes you have to do it in a very intentional manner though. However at the end of the day I often times resort back to who I was then. When times get hard or I don't know how to deal with something, I get just as nervous and apprehensive and old Meredith takes hold.

Pat: I think everyone morphs some with experiences, maturity is a morphing. There is a  line  between trying to adapt and grow AND total personality switches. I can see if someone experiences a MAJOR trauma( like 911 , or a personal loss)  how that could result in changing how you think or react to life, Like looking at life views differently, but the kind of reinventing she displays is psychologically unhealthy. 

Erin: Yes. I never took it as far as Amy did by framing "friends" of stalking or of abuse but I do remember being a bit different around different people. I think I am always "me" and I do have these different interests (fashion, sports, business, design) but different parts of me come to the surface in different environments. People grow and develop and change as they experience life so I think we all do morph but hopefully we are not taking it to the extreme like Amy.

How do you feel about Amy discovering Nick and Andie on the first night Nick and Andie hooked up?

Meredith: She was stalking her husband...that says something about 1. her being crazy 2. her lack of trust in him 3. the already failing aspects of their marriage.

Pat: Amy discovering Nick with Andie... I think Amy's only known emotion is HURT.. She reflects being hurt by parents, let down in life, marriage, job and this is the tipping pint for her to seek revenge.

Erin: I had this moment of "ugh, poor Nick". Obviously I hated him for cheating but after learning how terrible Amy really is I hoped he would have gotten away with a few rendezvous with Andie before he started to be persecuted by Amy. She said she was trying to go and visit him to start to make amends and recreate their kiss in the flour from the night they met so it seemed like she was going to make an effort but then to see Nick the first night he hooks up with Andie she hatched her devious plan.

Do you believe Part 2 Amy? As in, we now know that Part 1's Diary Amy was fake... but do you sense there is some truth to Diary Amy?

Meredith: No and I think that Gillian Flynn set that up perfectly.  In finding out that everything we knew about Amy from Part #1 was a lie you as the reader start to become aware that you have to take everything this woman says with a grain of salt, and this includes Nick's historical interaction with her. I think that diary Amy is who actually Amy wishes she could have been.  The victim.

Pat: Part 2 AMY.. When her suspicion starts growing about Jeff and Great " maybe knowing" who she is, she refers to Diary Amy. Starts to play options, questioning sense of thought process. I think there's a thread of Diary Amy in Part 2 Amy. The true character lies somewhere in the midst.

Erin: Yes. I think there is truth to both versions of Amy. I agree with Meredith. Gillian Flynn wrote this perfectly so you couldn't trust everything but you almost wanted to trust what both versions of Amy were saying. 

How did you feel when Amy got robbed? 

Meredith: I laughed...hysterically.  Serves her right, two idiots robbing her; people she thought she had control over, whom she had written off. It is almost foreshadowing to Nick's staged comeback.  She had written him off as helpless, a pawn in her game and all the while he is manipulating her right back.  I think it is fantastic that the reader got to see just how desperate and helpless she was.  Her plan wasn't as airtight as she originally thought and when forced to improvise she seemed to only get herself into harrier situations. I did lose a lot of respect for her when she calls on a man (even one as desperate and pathetic as Desi) to help her out of the situation. 

Pat: I sort of felt bad for Amy when she got robbed. Then I felt well that's life. A sort of sweet revenge getting balance. She was bound to have life turn on her.

Erin: I felt bad for her too but I felt good about it. I was glad that she had this major wrench stuck into her plan. She had wound it almost too tight and she didn't plan for any "unknowns" which ultimately got her stuck running on fumes. 

What do you think she is up to at the end of Part 2? 

Meredith: Poor Desi...I didn't see things going well for him but then again I only had seconds to think about it as I immediately had to start in on part #3!

Pat: End of Part 2... I though she had figured a way out of Desi's control and was going back to Nick. Getting away from Desi sounded GREAT! Going back to Nick did not seem at all a real possibility. Just showing up on the door step was not going to answer for the police.  Too simple...

Erin: I did have a moment of "aww, shoot" and realized that she was going to take it too far. But I didn't see what she actually did coming! And yeah, I waited all of a millisecond before moving onto Part 3.