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The following is a question from the publisher.

Discuss Amy’s false diary, both as a narrative strategy by the author and as a device used by the character. How does the author use it to best effect? How does Amy use it?

The reveal about the diary caught me off guard. I love it as a narrative strategy. I think it really helps demonstrate Amy's twisted but so intelligent methods. What do you think?

The reveal about the diary also caught me off guard. I believed the diary at first because who would write a false diary, right?? It was a great device, and it added tension and conflict to the rest of the story.

I was completely blown away by the reveal. I recommended this book to so many people for the reveal alone (not to mention the whole book was good!). However, I saw the movie two years after reading the book and thought the reveal in the movie wasn't done well - it didn't carry the same weight.

-- 27 Dec 2015, 13:41 --

The use of Amy's diary as a narrative strategy was great. It was a neat way of getting the reader to take Amy's version of Nick and the marriage at face value. As a plot device including the reveal, it was top-notch!

I think the diary really brought the whole thing together, it showed perfectly how guilty he was, then at the same time how insane and thorough she was. It showed how long she had been planning on ruining his life. It amazes me that authors can think up details like that to bring the whole story to the next level.

L-herron wrote:I think the diary really brought the whole thing together, it showed perfectly how guilty he was, then at the same time how insane and thorough she was. It showed how long she had been planning on ruining his life. It amazes me that authors can think up details like that to bring the whole story to the next level.

I agree completely. The level of thought that went into it, the time involved, all of it was just crazy.

The diary reveal was jaw dropping. The twist makes the book so great and unpredictable. It shows how persistent, committed, and patient Amy is (not to mention completely insane!).

The diary was the real meat of the story. The writer did a wonderful job of bringing the whole story together. The movie did not do a great job at all. I loved the book.

I think the diary was the heart of the story. It added to the depth of her character and the lengths she would go through to prove his guilt. I loved the book so much that I refused to see the movie because I didn't want to see it ruined. The author did a wonderful job of drawing readers in to the story.

Yes the diary was a very novel idea.Initially i also believed the diary and all my sympathy went to Amy.However when her character was revealed it was a jolt to the readers that she merely used it to misguide everyone.

It's been some time since I read the book, but if I remember correctly it was around the Christmas time that something started to feel off to me. In the diary Amy talks about a huge fight they had, but then when we get to Nick's perspective he doesn't really say anything about the day at all. That was the first time that I started to feel there was something fishy about the whole thing. I think by the time you get to it there are plenty of clues dropped that somebody isn't truthful.

I think it was a great way to build up suspense, throw in twists and turns, and also introduce the beginning of their relationship. Obviously, later on, it gets even more untrue, but I think how they came together still works. I think it was brilliantly used as a plot device, something else that would screw over Nick and we got to know every word in it which was really cool.

The diary is my favorite part of this story. It was used as a great strategy especially in "playing the victim". Amy is such an intelligent woman by using this as her main trick.

Felt that the false diary helped to sell Amy. At first it sold the character of victim. Then once you found out what was really going on it sold the character of pathological. Loved the use of the false diary. Really showed how much effort she put into her plan.

I thought the fake diary was a great plot device. It perfectly contrasted each part of the story where it was the husbands perspective. I never thought that Amy would have devised such a rouse by using different pens and staging events in her own twisted narrative. Amy was a psychopath and she could be anyone and make anyone believe what she wanted them to. I was completely fooled and in awe with this book.

I was so shocked when it was revealed that the diary was a fake. It definitely was a good ploy to put you on Amy's side, and it showed that just clever she was. The author's use of it was a well-placed plot twist.