December 18, 2015

"The Girl on the Train" Review


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Book: The Girl on the Train

Author: Paula Hawkins

Publisher: Riverhead Books

My Rating: ★★★1/2

Synopsis: A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people’s lives.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Compulsively readable, The Girl on the Train is an emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller and an electrifying debut.

      So this was my university's book club's book of the month for December, although I wasn't actually able to attend the book club meeting because my exams finished early so I booked it (see what I did there???) home as soon as I could the day before the meeting. Nevertheless, I still read the book because there was so much hype surrounding it in the booktube and blogging worlds that it was only about time that I picked it up.

      Honestly, I am disappointed. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be, which was good in some aspects, but not so great in other aspects. I literally guessed who the cheater/murderer was from the very beginning. There was one second where I thought I was wrong, but that quickly went away. I'm starting to notice that more and more often nothing surprises me anymore. I don't know if that means I just have great instincts on me or if I have read way to many books resulting in nothing really impressing or surprising me anymore.

      One thing did surprise me however, and that was the multiple POVs; I didn't realize that was going to be in this book. If I'm being frank, I didn't really like any of the characters. Rachel was a wuss who needed to get her act together and was being unreasonable for no damn reason. Maybe I'm a heartless bitch, but not being able to get pregnant and having your husband leave you shouldn't be the end of the world. You should not let it compromise how you live your life. Maybe I'm just stronger than she is, but she was pathetic until the end, which is the only time when I really started to like her because she was getting her shit together. Anna... Anna was a crazy mother and wife. There is nothing more to say about her. She obviously has some extreme self-esteem issues with the way she behaved. And also, there was one moment where I really hated her because she said she loved being a mistress and missed it. It makes me sick that there are people like this in the world. Why do they feel the need to screw up other peoples' lives? There are PLENTY of other fish in the sea. As for Megan... she clearly had a lot of issues and made the worse possible life choices.

      When it came to the actual writing, nothing about it was really special or captivating. It didn't draw me in and make me want to continue reading. Honestly, this book took me forever to read not just because of school but it was a type of book where when I set it down, I didn't feel guilty for not reading it. Also, although it was set in London, it didn't really feel like it. I felt like this could have taken place anywhere.

      Overall, the book was okay. I liked it. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, just liked it. And that seems t be my issue with a lot of books lately; I'm just liking them. Maybe I need to spread my wings and read some new stuff. I don't know. I think you guys should give it a shot because I feel like you maybe won't be as critical as me and guessing the killer will be a little harder than it was for me.

Join the conversation!

  1. I've heard good and bad things from this book. Personally, I think I would find this very intriguing, although I'm sorry it didn't turn out that well for you.

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  2. I don't think I could read this. I personally don't find psychological thrillers to be interesting. I have gone girl and want to read it, but once I started to read it I lost a lot of interest.

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    1. Yeah, I think psychological thrillers in general aren't as intriguing as they are marketed to be. Haha yeah, I'm staying far away from Gone Girl. It doesn't seem like a book that would interest me.

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