Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
American Heartless-LandThis isn't the Midwest, American-as-apple-pie place from American folklore. This is Gillian Flynn's Midwest, a place where the towns are falling to pieces—pawnshops, run-do...
Narrator Point of View
Dark Places gives us three different P.O.V. characters (okay, technically four—but more on that in a minute), each character with his or her own dark places to explore.The character who ties ever...
What's Up With the Title?
Libby Day's entire past is a dark place where the memories of her slaughtered mother and sisters reside. She tells us in chapter one, "I've labeled the memories as if they were a particularly dange...
What's Up With the Epigraph?
The Days were a clan that mighta lived longBut Ben Day's head got screwed on wrongThat boy craved dark Satan's powerSo he killed his family in one nasty hourLittle Michelle he strangled in the nigh...
What's Up With the Ending?
At the end of the novel, Libby solves the crime, Ben is exonerated, and Patty… well, Patty is still dead. This isn't a time-travel novel. But at least we learn exactly how she died, and that she...
Tough-o-Meter
We liken reading books to hiking mountains, and Dark Places isn't a physically demanding walk. It's like walking up a big hill: just strenuous enough to break a small sweat. Of course, this isn't a...