When I say spoiler alert, I mean it, as I'm pretty much just going to talk about the end of the novel. So if you haven't read it yet, and you hate having the ending given away, then stop reading.
So I finished reading Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl last weekend, and it's taken me a few days to wrap my head around it. I wasn't really surprised at how she went missing, but I was a little thrown by what happened after she came back.
I could somewhat understand why Nick stayed in the end. First, it was revenge. Then it was for the kid. And you had to think he'd be a little scared about what would happen if he left. If it were me, and I was with someone who was so thorough in their emotional blackmail, I'd be concerned about leaving. But there was more than that going on. I think there was another reason why he stayed, and it's similar to the reason Amy came back to save him.
What is intimacy, exactly? You could make a case that it's being seen. Being seen for exactly who you are and having that other person choose to stick around and love you anyway. And that's what's at the essence of this new relationship they've found. Nick finally saw Amy for all of her complicated, vengeful, superior, intelligent self. And he saw how thoroughly his wife knew him. She had seen all of him. She'd used it all against him, but she knew him better than he knew himself.
In the end, part of the reason they stayed is for that intimacy. They could never have found that depth with anyone else. So is that how I wanted it to end? Nah, not so much. I did think it fit the story. It made sense for the characters. And it made sense for me to read something very different next.