"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.
Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, coworkers, strangers – giddy over these awful pretender women, and I’d want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who’d like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them. I’d want to grab the poor guy by his lapels or messenger bag and say: The bitch doesn’t really love chili dogs that much – no one loves chili dogs that much! And the Cool Girls are even more pathetic: They’re not even pretending to be the woman they want to be, they’re pretending to be the woman a man wants them to be. Oh, and if you’re not a Cool Girl, I beg you not to believe that your man doesn’t want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version – maybe he’s a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe he’s a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain. (How do you know you’re not Cool Girl? Because he says things like: “I like strong women.” If he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else. Because “I like strong women” is code for “I hate strong women.”)"
A twisted and bleak analysis of a marriage, the novel is a psychological thriller at its finest with one of the most complex characters of all times, Amy Dunne, who changes once and for all the role of the victimized wives who desperately try to keep a marriage together.
PLOT
Nick Dunne gets ready to celebrate his third anniversary with his wife, Amy Dunne. She is nowhere to be seen at home, and he is concerned after she does not show up. Nick decides to report her as a missing person. The police is intrigued because Nick is not the distressed husband they would expect to encounter, just the opposite. Nick has reasons for his nonchalance, but the police target him as a person of interest.
Nick is worried about many of his secrets such as his lover or admitting that his marriage was falling apart prior to Amy going missing. These revelations could incriminate him and make matter worse with the investigation that is already against him.
As readers, we are led to believe that Nick is indeed a main suspect as the novel progresses. Everything is against him specially Amy's diary entries that showcase his many flaws and general failure as a husband.
The second part brings the most shocking part and revelation: Amy is indeed very much alive and has created this twisted scheme to take revenge of her husband who took her for granted for too long. Flashbacks reveal how she fell in love with him, how she showed her true self to him, how he took and took from her, and finally how he rejected her. She knows he has a lover and she also knows he was expecting her to ask him for divorce, so he would save face. Amy is decided to take revenge on Nick and is decided to kill herself in order to punish him.
Things get messy for Nick and Amy. Nick must find a lawyer to save him for a prison sentence, or worse, for death penalty. Amy is robbed, attacked and left with no funds. She must find a new way to accomplish her plans; although things take a very dark turn: she no longer wants to destroy her marriage, her husband or her own life. She is decided to keep her marriage alive, using somebody else's blood to be necessary.
STRUCTURE
The novel is narrated in first person by Amy and Nick, a chapter for each intertwined. The first part of the book narrates the present situation of Nick being investigated by the police while Amy's psyche is explored through diary entries. In the second and third part, the two timelines come to the present as the explanations about Amy's vanishing are finally clarified.
The novel is divided in three parts, the first one when Amy is missing, the second when finally all the reasons behind Amy disappeareance are finally clarified, and the third one where the novel comes to a shocking climax with a twisted finale.
THEMES
Marriage is the main topic of the novel, how a marriage is born, how it decays and how it can lead a person to despair.
Feminism is a very complex topic treated in the novel. For many, Amy Dunne is the ultimate feminist although at the same time to some, it's just the opposite. Her Cool Girl monologue will remain as one of my favorite narrations of all time.
CHARACTER: 10/10
PLOT DEVELOPMENT: 10/10
THEMES: 10/10
What are your thoughts on this book? Did you love or hate Amy?
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