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TLGabelman wrote:They deserve each other! He's just as bad as her in so many ways. Such a cliche, having an affair...thinking he's hidden it well. Oh no but he's really in love with this other girl, Amys just not the same as before. Blah, blah, blah....I just feel bad for the kin.

EXACTLY!!!
That's why I loved the ending! I think that's what people don't understand. They're both terrible people who shouldn't have children (okay, let's cry about that) who completely deserve each other and no one else should suffer with them.
He's a careless obnoxious idiot and she's a psycho cool girl who looks like Miss America to everyone else.
They're great for each other.

Ok @Himmelslicht, lets hypothesize about this child in the future. Do you see it turning out like a mixture of both parents pathologically speaking? Do you think its gender will play a role in whom it takes after more? i.e. if a girl more emotionally manipulative and if a boy 'situation-ally manipulative' (I think I just created a new term) meaning takes advantage of the situations presented before him and forces situations to their liking.

TLGabelman wrote:Ok @Himmelslicht, lets hypothesize about this child in the future. Do you see it turning out like a mixture of both parents pathologically speaking? Do you think its gender will play a role in whom it takes after more? i.e. if a girl more emotionally manipulative and if a boy 'situation-ally manipulative' (I think I just created a new term) meaning takes advantage of the situations presented before him and forces situations to their liking.

Great question. There are so many options: but mainly I think they could be either manipulative or manipulated.
Growing in a home where everything is dysfunctional we all know that the greatest chance is to have a broken child and since the manipulative one is the mother, they would become a ragdoll in her hands. Eventually through life they would learn how to lie like no one and basically they would become a refined version of Amy because Nick is an idiot that wouldn't top up her madness and manipulation.

Didn't like Nick but I did feel sympathetic. Don't think he was meant to be liked. I loved the book for the story but not for the characters because they were so hard to like. It's like an episode of Criminal Minds. He's a weak character and he just got into one problem after the next. It's because of his weak character that he couldn't find a way out at the end. There's always a way but he just gave in without even trying. It's an ending that was suited for his character. Sad but true.

Sweet_Lullaby wrote:Well, he isn't the best guy, but there is a side of him that could make up for it.

I really, really had to work to like Nick. I think Flynn really creates a character who portrays what it is like to want to be liked by everyone all of the time. It seems that he never wants to be the "bad guy". He does some truly stupid things, but he is not an evil person. He just really does not seem to think about the consequences.

Maybe I shouldn't be reading this before I've actually read the book or at least watched the movie but reading the way everyone is portraying Amy's character makes this story sound very intriguing. I love it when there is a twist in a story, something else, and having a feminine character with such control over her male counterpart makes me interested.

I'll have to put this book in my to-do list...

Hmmm. I'd say he was a normal man. Meaning he did love his wife, they started having trouble, he cheated but he didn't kill his wife. And like many men he fell for the wrong woman that ended up ruining his life by being stuck in a loveless marriage. But this story took all of that to the extreme. I also have to give him props for being one step ahead of everyone else; the cops, his sister, her parents, etc.

He could have picked up on things faster or sooner but definitely was dealt a tough hand. Amy was very difficult, that's for sure.

Nick is very naive and uses poor judgement regarding his relationship with his wife. At the end, I believe he stays with her for the wrong reasons. He is easily intimidated. Amy may act as if she wants a man in her life that she can manipulate, but what she really wishes for is a strong male figure.

I am not a big fan of Nick in Gone Girl. Even though Amy was definitely not all there, like others have said, I do not praise someone who cheats. And someone else mentioned about kind of liking Nick getting what he deserves more than making excuses, I agree with that comment. He shouldn't have cheated on Amy and there really isn't an excuse for that.

Well, anyone who cheats certainly won't be viewed as a likable character by the vast majority. For me, it wasn't so much the fact that he cheated that deterred me but his general attitude about life. When he is made to face what's he done, he doesn't seem to have the slightest clue about righting his wrongs. Staying with Amy wasn't at all necessary, not when he was cheating on her and not when she was pregnant with his baby. It's like on the one hand he wants to be happy (i.e. cheating with a younger girl), but on the other hand he allows and perpetuates his own misery.

Both characters were immoral. Him for cheating and her for not just talking to him and either straightening out their marriage or walking away. The games were ridiculous.

Of course compared to his life he seemed boring, but in reality he was the perfect "normal" man who didn't see anything wrong with getting annoyed and cheating on his wife with no guilt. The story seemed to be from her perspective so you didn't get the best view of him and why he did things but he played a part to seem like he didn't need an excuse or reason to cheat. He did step up and play a more clever role as the story progressed though that made his character come alive.

My biggest problems with the characters were their selfishness, arrogance, and willingness to manipulate others to get what they wanted or thought best. I felt bad for Nick's social issues and being misperceived by those that didn't know him, but other than that, I thought that, I thought I was kind of a jerk.

Honestly, I kind of view him to be a tool. Having an affair whilst under investigation certainly proves that. With that said I certainly do not feel he deserved what Amy put him though and I actually started to feel bad for him.