Here's What You Might've Been Missing

Hey kids. It's been a while, I know. I've done a couple book reviews, but it's been a while since I posted those, too. Remember how I said I was starting a new blog somewhere else? Well, it wasn't a lie. Since the beginning of the year, I've been blogging pretty regularly at The Confusing Middle. I won't rehash everything I've done over there, but below you'll find a brief summary along with links to each of those new posts. I just don't want you, the above average Carp Dime reader to believe that I've forgotten about you. For more than 10 years, you've been there to experience my life on a probably uncomfortable level as you laugh and point at my most embarrassing moments. I can't deprive you of my most recent moments, whether or not they're embarrassing is up to you.

• Figuring It All Out - Basically an introduction to the new blog. Why did I title it The Confusing Middle? Find out here.
• My First Failed Challenge - My pastor challenged me to compare a classic cartoon to a modern sitcom. I wasn't able to do it.
• The Uncooperative Winter - At one point, I was frustrated because there had been a lack of snow this winter.
• Buy All the Things! - The true story of a trip to Target.
• Amazing Amazon - Have you ever read some of the user reviews on Amazon.com? Some of them are genius level hilarious.
• A Cesspool of Useless Knowledge - This is a title I wear proudly. Find out what it means.
• Life in Lifeless Things - Inanimate objects that come to life. Like Christine.
• A Lack of History - I kind of complain about how starting a new blog means I don't have 10 years worth of blog posts and history with readers like I had with you, my beloved Carp Dime subscribers.
• An Open Letter to Far Away Friends - Just some things I wanted to say to some people I miss.
• The Haunted Paper Curtain - The true story of a haunted classroom at my school.
• The Non-Delinquency of Minors - The true story of good students at my school.
• 100 Random Facts About Me - An update of this.
• Were They On a Break? - I jump into the Ross and Rachel debate that was probably over 17 years ago.
• If I Had $500 Million - What I'd have done if I won the big Powerball jackpot.
• I Think We Just Figured Out Why I'm Still Single - I feel like that's self explanatory.
• Question of the Week #1 - I brought back the Question of the Week that I used to do here.
• Don't Shop Hangry - When hunger brings on anger.
• Question of the Week #2
• An Unexpected Break - The true story of how I finally got some snow.
• 6 Reasons Why I Should Host the Academy Awards - I think I'd make a pretty decent host.
• It's Only a Game - I'm not saying I get competitive, but I get kind of competitive.
• Remembering Mamaw - My thoughts after the passing of my great-grandmother.
• The Fun in Funeral - The true story of how I want my funeral to go.
• Hello, Friend - The true story of how girls greet you when they're just not that into you.
• Should We Cancel? Should We Delay? - The true story of how school administrators decide to cancel school due to inclement weather.
• Show Your Work! - A rant against a sort of ridiculous rule that math teachers often impose on their students. But it's just my opinion.
• Question of the Week #3
• 5 Reasons Why I'd Make a Bad Colonial Person - I just don't think I'd have made it back then.
• An Excess of Wisdom - The first in a series of posts about my wisdom teeth.
• Inefficient Ghouls - Ghosts are a superstitious and cowardly lot.
• Question of the Week #4
• The Recovery Process - The second in a series of posts about my wisdom teeth.
• Did You Lose Your Glasses - The true story of the time I forgot to wear my glasses to school.
• This Is the Last One About My Wisdom Teeth. I Promise. - The final in a series of posts about my wisdom teeth. I promise.
• Question of the Week #5 - Which catches us up to today.

I know, that looks like an awful lot, but it's not every day like I once did here at the Carp Dime. Pick and choose which you'd like to read. Any and all of these posts are open for your approval. Stop by and say hello. I've missed you. Even if you're just pretending, it'd be nice to hear you miss me too. Bye for now...

Gone Girl

Title: Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
Published: 2012

Sometimes, books come along and I have no interest in reading them until I found out just how popular they are. Then the peer pressure gets to me and I have to pick them up. That's how it happened for me with the Harry Potter. Book four in that series was near its release before I first picked up Sorcerer's Stone. With Gone Girl, I had barely registered its existence until the movie was made. The trailers and Jimmy Fallon made me want to see it, but I always like to read the book before seeing a movie, so I can be properly disappointed.

As I write my thoughts on the novel, I can guarantee that there will be spoilers. For those who care to know my spoiler-free thoughts, know that I found Gone Girl to be a good read overall. It was wildly disturbing in a number of parts. Also, I was a little disappointed. To find out why I was disappointed, venture lower into the spoiler-filled review.

This is your last chance...

If you haven't read or seen Gone Girl, you're about to come across some pretty severe plot points...

Are you sure you don't want to go back and check out my review of a much happier book?

Okay... you were warned...

Once a book becomes popular, or when a book is made into a movie, it's hard to avoid hearing or reading about what people think of it, even if they give no specific spoilers. So going into Gone Girl, I knew there would be a huge twist. I was looking for it as I read. And then, about a quarter of the way in, before it was actually revealed, I figured it out.

Amy, the Gone Girl, had done it all herself.

The first part of the book alternates between Nick's narration and Amy's diary entries, which span the course of her relationship and marriage with Nick. But between these two forms of conveying the story, something doesn't quite add up. Amy's diary entries don't match up with the picture Nick's been painting of their relationship. And we quickly discover that Nick isn't being completely honest with the story he tells.

I had to assume that, despite the narrator's tendency to hid the whole truth, he was at least being honest about his innocence. He was made to look guilty by his seeming inability to show emotion. I can sort of relate to that. Not that I found myself feeling sorry for the guy. Nick, we find, doesn't have a lot of redeeming qualities.

That said, I also figured out, pretty quickly, that Amy's diary entries weren't entirely honest either. I have no doubt that two people in a relationship will have different perspectives about how events play out. But Amy's diary read like a work of fiction within the fiction of this story. So what do you do when you can't trust either of your narrators?

I picked the lesser of two evils. I went with Nick, assuming that he genuinely had no clue what happened to Amy. I hope that doesn't make me a misogynist, but it's where my gut went. At about the book's midpoint, I was proven right. Amazing Amy was alive and well, watching her husband's fall from grace as it played out on national television. I'd really love to say I figured this out through brilliant deductive reasoning, but I don't think I'm that smart. I was just prepared for a twist that a lot of people didn't see coming. I asked myself, how could this whodunit be different from all the other formulaic thrillers on the market? I guess that's why I was disappointed. I was just clever enough to figure out the truth before the truth was revealed. Personally, I'd really like to read a book that was just so unpredictable that I had no chance of predicting what would happen.

I was not, however prepared for just how serious a sociopath that Amy would turn out to be. She meticulously planned every move she made. While she couldn't plan for every single contingency, she was pretty spot on with most of it. And in the eyes of her fictional public, she got away with it. It's disturbing to think that there are real people in the world who can think the way she did. At times, I wonder what it says about the authors who create characters like this, planning out every scheme that takes place in the pages of their books.

Christine

Title: Christine
Author: Stephen King
Published: 1983

I've mentioned a number of times that one of my bucket list items is to read every novel written by Stephen King. I've been reading my way through his works based on the order of their publication. This has brought me to one I actually was not looking forward to reading.

I remember seeing the John Carpenter directed film version of Christine back when I was a kid. I was never impressed by the movie, no offense to Mr. Carpenter or the other folks behind the making of the picture. If I'm completely honest, I'm not a big fan of most of John Carpenter's work, except for the original Halloween.

Another reason, I think, that I wasn't in a hurry to read Christine was simply because I'm not a car guy. It's probably a disservice to myself that I don't know more about cars and what makes them run, but it's information I never learned. A lot of guys grow up working on cars with their dads, or maybe that's just a suburban stereotype. But that's just not something I shared with my old man. He wasn't a car guy either. And I think that's probably the first time I've ever referred to him as my old man.

I'd like to say that I loved the book, despite my hesitation in picking it up. As novels go, it wasn't horrible. But as Stephen King novels go, I thought it was kind of weak. Maybe it's because it was about a haunted car. Maybe it's because it didn't take place in Maine, the setting for most of King's work. But The Shining wasn't set in Maine and that book was spectacular. Whatever it was, I just remember wishing that it was already over as I made my way through it.

I have experienced some strange things in my own vehicle since finishing Christine. For more on those bizarre occurrences, check out what I wrote over at The Confusing Middle.

Starting Over

Hey gang. Here's the thing... I've started a new blog.

Now, don't look at me that way. Please, this is hard enough for me. I don't know if I can handle the guilt trip in your eyes. It's not you. It's me...

It really is me. This new blog can be found over at The Confusing Middle. As of this posting, there is only one post to the site. But if you'll stick with me and this slight change of address, you'll still get a great deal of the same sort of content you've come to expect from Carp Dime.

I know that there are 60 of you who are official followers of the blog. And there are 91 people who have taken the time to click the like button on the Carp Dime Facebook page. I don't want you to think that I don't appreciate your attention and comments and likes over the years. Because I do. That being said, Carp Dime won't be going away. At least, not entirely.

You won't find the same regular content that you've found in the past. If you want to keep up with my life and the hilarious anecdotes that I like to occasionally share, then please head over to The Confusing Middle and bookmark the new address. But you can keep coming back here if you want to know my thoughts about books and movies. And if you've enjoyed my attempts at fiction in the past, this is where I'll continue to spin those yarns. No telling how often that will happen, but that's the current plan.

So stick with me. The last 10 years have been fun. The next 10 should be too.