Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Sorry for the delay in getting this review up, life has gotten very busy at the moment :-)

We liked this book, the twists and turns kept us interested but there were flaws, big flaws.  The first half of the book was rather boring, until the first twist, we thought Amy was dull but then we were supposed to think that so maybe it's not a flaw?  The characters were unbelievable, they all seemed an extreme version of themselves, but then we weren't supposed to like them, so again, maybe not a flaw?  We found it hard to read a book where there was no hero, no likeable character, but then that was what was challenging about this book.  As you can tell, I'm torn between thinking this book was half-hearted or maybe it was written like that and it's supposed to make us think.  Why do we have to like the characters, do we have to agree with the ending for it to be satisfactory?  Difficult ...

Concept: 9/10
Plot: 7.5/10
Ending: 4/10
Cover: 5/10
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to slap?  All of them!
Where's the cheese?  The treasure hunt

And our new category.... Would we recommend this? 8/10

Overall: 7/10

We chose our next book from the following:

• Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham
• The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland
• The Black Echo by Michael Connelly
• The Hive by Gill Hornby
• Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter

We chose 'Trouble with Lichen' by John Wyndham.

Our next meeting will be at Susie's house on Wed 10th July, 8pm.

HHhH by Laurent Binet

Back at the Copa on a very rainy night we convened to discuss HHhH an unusual non-fictional account of the assassination of Nazi Reinhard Heydrich.  Unusual because the author discusses how he found his evidence, how he struggled with what to include and exclude and also because of his extremely short chapters.  In one sense his narrative technique drew the reader into the story, it wasn't just dry historical facts or fictitious conversations, it was funny and intriguing but did we really need it?  We all found the history interesting, none of us were really aware of what happened in Prague during the Nazi occupation and the characters were well written and dramatic.  Some found the short chapters irritating but I found they made me feel as if I was flying through the book (I was in a hurry to finish).

Concept: 6/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 8/10
Cover: 5/10
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to Slap: Curda who betrayed them and also the boss who handed in the letter which lead to the massacre at Lidice
Where's the Cheese: The last chapter/page, the author went totally nuts

Overall: 6.5/10

We chose our next book from the following:

• After the Party by Lisa Jewell
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

 We randomly chose 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn which we will be reading for our June meeting.

Next meeting is at Lisa's house on Wed 8th May, 8pm.