Gone Girl Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Missing and our BookBrowse Review of Gone Girl.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

For additional features, visit www.gillian-flynn.com.
 
In order to provide reading groups with the most informed and thought-provoking questions possible, it is necessary to reveal important aspects of the plot of this novel. If you have not finished reading Gone Girl, we respectfully suggest that you wait before reviewing this guide.
 
Introduction
Deceit, infidelity, suspicion... and that's only the beginning.

When Nick and Amy fall in love, they are the confident, handsome man and the beautiful, privileged young woman embracing in front of their Brooklyn Heights brownstone and sharing a laugh at the expense of less blissful couples. Eventually, their picture-perfect union falters: Amy grows weary of the "cool girl" image she's portrayed; Nick gives rein to old impulses and easy lies. As with many marriages, friction works its way into everyday exchanges, and the glow of the honeymoon fades. But with Amy and Nick, that fracture takes a much darker turn.
 
In a story full of surprising twists, Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl tracks the course of a marriage gone spectacularly wrong. For the protagonists, it's a psychological battle with everything at stake; for the reader, an excavation of human failings and incredible depths of betrayal... and a mystery whose resolution is every bit as troubling as its beginning.
 
Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. Do you like Nick or Amy? Did you find yourself picking a side? Do you think the author intends for us to like them? Why or why not?
   


2. Does the author intend for us to think of Nick or Amy as the stronger writer? Do you perceive one or the other as a stronger writer, based on their narration/journal entries? Why?
   


3. Do you think Amy and Nick both believe in their marriage at the outset?
   

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Broadway Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.