Gone Girl reprise:
Interestingly a lot of my students have read this book (and seen the film). I'm a tad shocked by that.
I'm no prude, but if books came with a rating like films do, it would surely say 'Adult Themes'. The language and sexual content in the book contribute but it's the (bleak) analysis of a marriage that runs throughout the storyline that would merit that rating.
At the end of the book Gillian Flynn thanks her husband profusely for his help with the novel but, man, what must he have been thinking - his wife thought of all this stuff. Doesn't exist in a vacuum. I'd have wondered - that's all I'm saying!
Having insight of the unique male and female perspective inside a marriage is crucial to understanding the couple's relationship and therefore the plot; teenage girls have no direct experience of that.
So for them - this is a thriller (as such I thought it was pretty predictable).
One of my Year 11 students, that makes her about 15, told me the ending was really disappointing. From a thriller point of view, where we're now conditioned to have a supposedly lifeless body spring to life holding a weapon, I can understand her opinion. From a dramatic exploration of sexual politics, the ending made perfect sense to me.
Why are my students even reading Gone Girl?
When I was 15 I was more interested in teenage themed fiction like Shardik (Richard Adams) and The Chocolate War (Robert Cormier) than grown up books like Ragtime (E.L. Doctorow), Marathon Man (William Goldman) or Zen and The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M Pirsig). I read these later, and loved them, but not at 15.
Why is it kids want to grow up so fast now? Kids - take it easy! There is plenty of time to wallow in someone's twisted view of marriage.
Enjoy your youthful innocence. Read Watership Down or something!
Love and peace - Wozza
Had an awful experience recently.
Jade was staying with us on one of her breaks and SWMBO asked me to get a movie for us to watch that night. Pootling off in the Purdsmobile, I ended up at The Warehouse in Hastings.
My first choice was Guardians Of The Galaxy but they were sold out. It then became a toss up between Gone Girl (R16, Graphic violence, sex scenes and something else - I forget) and I Walk Among The Tombstones starring Liam Neeson (R16 Violence, sexual violence and language).
Thinking I was getting an actioner like Taken or Non Stop or The Grey I opted for Liam.
Bad mistake.
We started watching it and got a little way in before the uncomfortable feeling got too much. I said, "I hate stories like this" and everyone agreed and I stopped the movie.
Liam - what were you thinking??? To be fair your rather embarrassed looking phoned in performance actually does you credit.
It was yuck. Just yuck. I avoid serial killer story lines and this one with a sexual context was just plain yuck. I was not prepared to wait 2 hours for the pay off when the evil doers get their just desserts. Wozza's official rating: AVOID IT!
Shoulda chosen Gone Girl.
Coincidentally, a few days later I was conferencing with a student and the promo for GG was on her computer. I mentioned my recent experience and the student (Rowena) told me to read the book first - she was glowing in her praise.
So I bought it and so far so good (are three 'so's in a sentence allowed?). The psychological anatomy of a marriage plot line is interesting. So's the his and her alternating chapters (hers are in the form of a diary) as a narrative device.
After reading some stuff like this:
[other women] who believe that husbandly capitulation - yes, honey, okay, honey - is the same as concord.
I couldn't help wondering, though, what a 16/17 year old student like Rowena is actually getting from that. When I asked her she agreed and said it was the thriller story line she liked not the nuances of the relationship.
While I'm reading it, it's actually those nuances that interest me more.
I'm only a third of the way through and so far it's not much of a thriller but I'm sure it'll turn into one. Why am I so sure?
Cos the book cover tells me so - 'intricately twisted and deliciously sinister' according to Courier Mail (whatever that is).
Sounds cool - don't tell me how it ends (or what happened to Amazing Amy).
Love and peace - Wozza
