Gone Girl

Gillian Flynn's novel Gone Girl has triggered heated debates over the portrayal of women in its pages. Is Gone Girl feminist, or anti-feminist? The main character, Amy Dunne, certainly commits many horrendous crimes (spoiler warning): framing her husband for murder, making false rape accusations, and actual murder. Basically, she is the woman meninists have warned us about.

How could such a despicable and conniving woman be a feminist icon? We must consider her motives. Amy is unhappy in her marriage to Nick, as he tries to mold her into his ideal women, and force her to fit into his image of a happy life; "He took away chunks of me with blasé swipes: my independence, my pride, my esteem. I gave, and he took and took. He Giving Treed me out of existence…He killed my soul, which should be a crime."The final straw is when Amy catches Nick having an affair. She then deems that he should serve the sentence for murder. After all, he murdered her soul.

The question I've asked more often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I supposed these questions stormcloud over every marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?”--Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

Is Amy the perfect feminist icon? No, false rape accusations and murder are obviously never acceptable. Yet, the overpowering theme of the book is certainly a feminist one. That is, women are tired of trying to be a man's dream girl. Amy speaks out against how women tend to hide their real selves, in order to be "cool girl":

"Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl."

Gone Girl discusses how women hide their personalities , adopting false personas, in order to please men and match society's vision of a perfect woman, until their true selves disappear. They become "gone girl." Amy acts like Cool Girl, becomes Gone Girl, and then returns taking back the power in her marriage. She is now simply "Girl," complex and unapologetic Girl. 

Author Gillian Flynn is a self-proclaimed feminist, and has defended her book. In an interview with The Guardian, Flynn said "For me, [feminism is] also the ability to have women who are bad characters…the one thing that really frustrates me is this idea that women are innately good, innately nurturing. In literature, they can be dismiss ably bad--trampy, vampy, bitchy, pragmatically evil, bad and selfish…I don't write psycho bitches. The psycho bitch is just crazy--she has no motive." Amy certainly has a motive for her actions, and crushes female stereotypes in a truly feminist story. 

The Every Boy

I picked up Dana Shapiro's "The Every Boy" because Tom Perrotta's review on the cover called the story "Salingeresque." Maybe this set my expectations to high, but I found "The Every Boy" to fall short of Salinger's raw insights into the human experience. Shapiro tries to make profound statements about humanity, but often tries too hard--some of his themes seem too forced, with Shapiro shoving metaphors down the reader's throat.

"'When did everything get so big...Remember eleven? Remember how little everything was?'" -Dana Adam Shapiro,  The Every Boy

This is not to say "The Every Boy" was not an enjoyable read. The characters were lively and their adventures interesting. The story begins with Mr. Every reading his son's, Henry's, journal at Henry's funeral. The rest of the story switches back and forth between the final years of Henry's life and his father's dealing with his son's death. During his life, Henry struggled with his parents' separation, wanting to belong, and young love. At it's core, "The Every Boy" is the tale of adolescence and all of its turmoil, and of making peace after death.

While Henry's adventures are interesting, some of the storylines seem cut oddly short. For example, Henry and his friend Jorden try and put the school bully in her place, but the bully dies in an unrelated incident before their plan can affect her. Shapiro could go into more detail into how the bully's death affected Henry and his classmates, but instead this storyline is dropped and hardly given a second thought.

One of the main issues I had with the story was its desperate quirkiness. The best example of this over-the-top whimsicality is Henry's short-lived romance with a one-handed girl who lives in her father's hotel in the "Monster Mash" themed room and often dresses up as Death. By trying so hard to be unique and whimsical, some of Shapiro's writing is more embarrassing than entertaining.

Shapiro has great promise as a writer. Though his storylines were undeveloped at times, they were engaging and creative. Once Shapiro sharpens his voice and adds more subtlety to his writing, he could birth a great book. I will look out for his work in the future.

Horns

Joe Hill's Horns was a helluva read. The story grips you from the start, when  Ig Perrish wakes up after a drunken night with horns inexplicably sprouting from his skull. The horns have a strange effect on those who see Ig--they cause people to tell Ig their sinful desires, as if they hope for his approval. In him, they see their own personal demons. Ig learns more than he wants to know about those closest to him, and also learns more about the unsolved murder of his girlfriend, Merrin. As Ig attempts to bring justice to the murderer of Merrin, he struggles between his newfound "devilhood" and his humanity.

“You think you know someone. But mostly you just know what you want to know.” -Joe Hill, Horns

Besides being an excellent crime novel with a surreal twist, Horns also has a theological side. It questions the devil's place; questions if he really is the bad guy he is often portrayed as. The demonified Ig certainly seems to be more superhero than villain as he tries to right wrongs. Ig muses at one point that both God and the devil punish sinners, so wouldn't make them on the same team? What he doesn't reflect on, however, is that the devil tempts people to sin. People that see the devilish Ig are urged to sin, and Ig himself gives into sinful impulses from time to time when he begins to lose his humanity. Yet Ig learns to control his devilish tendencies more strongly and proceeds to use his devilish powers for good, making him more of an anti-hero.

Horns was a skillfully told story with an interesting and vivd cast of characters. Hill's growth as a writer is apparent, as Horns is a more unique and wonderfully absurd read than his debut novel, Heart Shaped Box. While the theology in Horns may be a bit twisted, the story is still a captivating tale of murder, mystery, and the supernatural.

The Disaster Artist

I was in tears that first time I watched The Room. Not the tears of grief and shock that director, producer, and star Tommy Wiseau hoped for, perhaps, but tears nonetheless.

The humor of The Room comes from its poor production, bad acting, and unintentionally ridiculous lines. While watching the film, one has to wonder, "What was the thought process behind this?" Well, wonder no more. Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell's book, The Disaster Artist, pulls back the curtain and reveals the absurd backstory of The Room.

“That's the thing with Tommy: Even before he was famous, he acted like he was famous. Maybe that's what, in the end, best explains him. Maybe that's what explains the whole thing.”
-Greg Sestero, The Disaster Artist

Sestero tells all about his involvement with this wonderfully strange film, and his relationship with  the mysterious Tommy Wiseau. The chapters alternate between Sestero's budding relationship with Wiseau back when Sestero began his acting career, and the making of The Room. The Disaster Artist is an example of how truth can be stranger than fiction. At times Wiseau can be good natured and generous, his bright disposition inspiring Sestero to follow his dreams of becoming an actor. This is the man who provided Sestero with a place to live in Los Angeles and dreamed of being like James Dean. Then other times Wiseau is ill humored and stingy, acting irrationally and stubbornly. This is the man who demanded the entire The Room cast to show up to the studio everyday, even when unnecessary, while Wiseau himself would show up several hours late. When it came to the filming of The Room, it was Wiseau's way or the highway. And several crew members did indeed choose the highway, fed up with the antics of this strange and unreasonable man.

After reading The Disaster Artist, Tommy Wiseau remains as mysterious as ever, if not more so. How did he make his large fortune? Where did his accent come from? What exactly happened in his past? Is he possibly a crime lord, or even a vampire? Not even Sestero knows for sure. Yet the book delivers captivating insights into what it was like to work with and know Wiseau, a man truly unlike any other.

The Silver Linings Playbook

The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick is an honest look at life. The narrator, Pat Peoples, views life as if it were a movie, and believes that if he makes the proper adjustments to his life, he will win his estranged wife back, earning a happily-ever-after. Unfortunately, Pat has many struggles to overcome once he is released from a psychiatric hospital to live with his parents. He has trouble remembering key parts of his past, and he must learn to adjust to the world changing around him. But Pat believes in silver linings, and is confident that everything will work out in the end.

“Life is random and fucked-up and arbitrary, until you find someone who can make sense of it all for you— if only temporarily.”
-Matthew Quick, The Silver Linings Playbook

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were vivid and personable. The first-person narrative from Pat is both humorous and optimistic, in what would otherwise be a rather depressing story. Pat's insights turn what could've be a downer of a story into an inspiring one. His character is very likable, as is that of Tiffany, the strange girl next door. Tiffany is very obstinate and hard-headed, but also very loving and sensitive behind her hard exterior. The characters are all very real; they have their good traits and bad. As Tiffany once says, "“There will always be a part of me that is dirty and sloppy, but I like that, just like all the other parts of myself.” No one is pure saint, and no one is pure sinner.

I also appreciated how the topic of mental illness is dealt with in this book. Recently released from a psychiatric hospital, Pat has weekly visits to a therapist, must take pills, and adopt coping mechanisms. Mental illness is not romanticized or demonized but simply shown for what it is--a disorder that some people must struggle with. Pat's illness becomes most apparent during his aggressive outbursts, which he always regrets afterwards. The book also brings attention to how some people are insensitive to mental illnesses, making jokes about them. These people don't even realize how deeply these "jokes" trouble Pat. After reading The Silver Linings Playbook, one may walk away with a deeper understanding of mental illnesses and how they can affect people.

This book does not have a Hollywood ending, but that's partly why I like it. There's no big finale where all the pieces fall in place, but the book ends with uncertainty, peace, and hope for a better tomorrow.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane reminded me of a reoccurring nightmare I had as a child, but in a wonderful way. Neil Gaiman's book is full of shadowy creatures, drudged up from fears we thought we left behind as adolescents, brought back to life in the pages. The whole story has the misty air of a lost memory around it; if someone told me parts of the book were based on my own childhood, I might believe them.

"I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled."
-Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

One reason that it may be so easy to insert yourself into the book is because the narrator remains unnamed. Honestly, I didn't even notice that the narrator was nameless until I sat down to write this review. This literary style can often come across as unnecessary and confusing, but for The Ocean at the End of the Lane, it works.

The story begins with the narrator traveling to his childhood home, where he recalls the magical events of his childhood. His neighbors, the three Hempstock women, are not what they seem to be, and the young narrator quickly became entangled in their world, which can be both dark and beautiful. The villainous Ursula Monkton is reminiscent of the Other Mother from Gaiman's YA novel, Coraline, and is just as terrifying with her manipulative and other-worldly nature. This timeless being shows us that the monsters from our childhood can be just as frightening in our adulthood; maybe we never really stopped being afraid, for "Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world." Our childhood selves still exist inside of us, along with their childhood wishes and fears.

The characters in this story are brilliant. The Hempstocks in particular. Amid the chilling nightmarish scenes, the Hempstock women stand as pillars of comfort and safety. The supernatural seems natural, as if it is just resting below the surface, with the Hempstocks. The glimpses we receive into the Hempstock's world is breathtaking as well, and convince us that anything is possible if we just try a little harder, reach a little farther.

Gaiman delivers a hauntingly beautiful tale with The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It will stick with you long after you turn the last page, in part because it has always been with you.

The Giver

Lois Lowry's classic young adult novel, The Giver, is coming to theaters as a motion picture next month. Though many of my friends recalled reading the book during their high school years, I never did, and decided that now would be a good time to do so.

"The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared."
-Lois Lowry, The Giver

While the book is aimed toward the young adult audience, the story can be enjoyed by adults as well. Though the writing style is simple, the concept is certainly interesting; a futuristic world of controlled conformity. Everyone's life is planned out for them from beginning to end. As a baby, the citizen is assigned to parents. At the age of twelve, the citizen is assigned a career. If they want a partner, then a marriage will be arranged. Citizens do not have the freedom of choosing, but they all seem happy with the lives assigned to them. The story focuses on a young boy named Jonas, who is selected for an unusual fate--to be the Receiver of Memory. As the he begins reliving memories from past civilizations where things like love and pain existed, Jonas begins questioning the methods of his community.

What I liked best about The Giver was the complexity of the futuristic civilization, described as “The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without colour, pain or past.”  From the start, the reader knows there is something strange about this society. The community is ruled by a Big Brother type figure, watching the citizens' every move. But at least Big Brother wants whats best for his people, right?  The society becomes more and more chillingly horrifying as the pages are turned.

The concepts of choices and freedom are explored in The Giver. Is it better to live in a hectic world where you make your own choices and may be hurt, or in a world where you will be content and safe with your life planned out for you? Would you rather never experience true pleasure if it meant you would also never experience pain?

The Giver shows the beauty and importance found in every life and memory.