| Title | : | The Girl on the Train |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1594633665 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781594633669 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 |
| Publication | : | First published January 6, 2015 |
| Awards | : | ITW Thriller Award Best Hardcover Novel (2016), Audie Award Audiobook of the Year (2016), Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) International Book (2016), Goodreads Choice Award Mystery & Thriller (2015), Waterstones Book of the Year (2015), Woman & Home Reader's Choice Award Best Thriller Of The Year (2016) |
An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found
here.
The Girl on the Train Reviews
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I once read a book by a former alcoholic where she described giving oral sex to two different men, men she'd just met in a restaurant on a busy London high street. I read it and I thought, I'm not that bad. This is where the bar is set.
oh, yeah - this one is going to be a must-read for those people looking to find their next
Gone Girl experience. it's an incredibly fast-paced and engrossing psychological thriller, and i was on board as soon as i read the editor's bit of ARC-copy, even though i know that writing those things is part of the job and not at all unbiased. but it's hard not to be swayed when you read:
Within days of my introducing the manuscript in March, people from every department were regularly pulling me aside to testify to how much they loved the read, how they couldn't put it down. At a recent meeting, a colleague who was twelve pages from the end was secretly reading them under the table because she could not stop. Another had the manuscript propped up next to her phone so she could read between calls, and last week in the elevator, people around me suddenly started competing over who'd read it fastest, and who was more surprised by the ending. You know you have something special when it becomes watercooler talk for months on end.
it would take a very stubbornly cynical person to see that as anything other than genuine enthusiasm.
and the book definitely delivers. it is an absolute page-turner with a number of unreliable narrators ranging from the self-deluded to the spotty memory of the blackout drunk.
i am too busy reading on my daily commute to notice my fellow passengers unless they are smelly/behaving in an unstable manner (frequently), or exceptionally attractive (MUCH less frequently), but apparently this is a thing that commuters do - notice their fellow travelers, making up stories about their lives, speculating about what they do when they're not in the in-between moments of their day. and rachel does it more than most. rachel is blisteringly lonely, drowning the sorrows of her failed marriage with grim determination and canned gin and tonics and endless bottles of wine. she has lost her job because of her perpetual drunkenness, but rather than tell her flatmate, she keeps taking the train into london every day, pretending to go to work, but actually just getting drunk in various places, and happily fantasizing about the young couple she watches every day from her train window; a couple who live a few doors down from her old house, where her ex-husband tom still resides with his new wife and baby girl.
still reeling from tom's infidelity to her, she nonetheless would love to be back with him, and in this golden couple she observes and imagines, calling them "jess and jason," she sees the life she could have had with tom. one day, while commuting/gazing voyeuristically, she witnesses "jess" on her front lawn with another man, in what appears to be a romantic clinch. she is outraged at this display, as personally offended as if the infidelity were being committed against herself. shortly after this episode, she learns that "jess," actually named megan, has disappeared, and feeling connected to this couple she has never actually met, she insinuates herself into the investigation, meeting with both the police and megan's husband, actual name scott.
the story is told from three perspectives: rachel's, megan's, and tom's new wife anna, and covers all the traditional viewpoints of the typical domestic drama: the jilted lover, the other woman, the cheating wife. all three of these women are simultaneously sympathetic and repellent, which is tricky to pull off. and as for the mystery of megan's disappearance itself, well that path splits and splits again in a wonderful head-spinning journey where not a single character avoids suspicion (except MAYBE tom and anna's infant daughter); i think there are seven characters in total who appear to be the culprit at one point or another, and each seems as plausible as the next. it is a fantastic ride, and hawkins does a great job with both the mystery elements and the character development, with great attention to detail, and fully established backstories and motivations. even when you cringe at some of the choices, they completely make sense for the character. it is a lot of fun, and terribly addictive. much better than a meeting, i kid you not.
come to my blog! -
“Esssscuse me. Is this seat taken? Thanks. I like to sits bys the wimdow. Would you likes a little bit of wine? You know what they say, a little vino would be keen-o. No? Mores for me then. Oh, check it out. *BURP* WhatwasIsaying? Oh, sees that house over there going by? That used to be my house. True story. Me and my husbadand lived there. But the ole bastard cheated on me and lefts me and then he marriesss that stupid cow and then he knockeded her up and now they got a stupid cow kid and they lives in my house! Can you believes that? I means, it’s not my house now, but it usesed to be. Now he the rottens old bastard lives there with his stupids new wife and their stupid battery….Did I say battery? I meant baby. I’ve hads a few gin & tonics...And a little wine...*BURP*
Anyhows, letsus not talk about my stupid ole ex-husband. See that other house? The ones just a couple a few doors downs from my old one where you can totallys see their deck? A beausfiful couple lives there. They’re just the bestus. They’s just gorgeous and you can tells that they are for sure in loves 100%. You’d never catch *BURP* that guy cheatins on her, I can promise you that! I watch them every time I goes by on this here trainy-train with my glasses of wine as I ride, and I can just tell that their greatests most happiest couple who ever was…Lots better than the my stupid ole ex. Seeing them be such a absofantabulous couple rights by where I used to live is the one part of my stupid day I enjoy when I ride this train.
Wass that you say? She’s missing? Been in all the papers? Thattsus just terriblez… Geez, I can’t imagine how I *BURP* missed that news…. Since Saturday, you says? … I think I was down there last Saturday..Thass right. I remembers now. I had a couple of drinkies and went to sees my ole husband to tells him that I still love ‘em….Err.. I mean that I hate ‘em.. Thass right. I hate ‘em! But I had ones or twos too many, and I blacked out…. And I had a cut on my head the next day and a feeling that I’d seen something terribles…. Do ya think maybes I saw something? I better go *BURP* tell the cops about this….But first Imma gonna puke all over your shoes. Sorry about this……..”
*****
That’s what this book feels like, that you got stuck sitting next to a sloppy drunk who is telling you this story, and maybe you feel a little bad for her even as you’re trying to avoid her spilling her drink on you. After listening to her inebriated babblings for a very short while you immediately know more about her situation than she does, and you could easily tell her what she missed. But then you catch a whiff of her breath so you just try to sneak away when she’s not paying attention. Seriously, I might have liked this more if I hadn’t figured out who the culprit was about three minutes into the book. -
"Something bad happened."
Are you ready for a faster-paced, creepier
Gone Girl?
Woah. This is one unsettling little thriller and the best bit about it is that no one can be trusted, including the three female narrators who share the storytelling of this book. I literally read this entire novel in one sitting and I now need to find the words to convince you to go get your hands on it. RIGHT NOW.
Between an alcoholic, a liar and a cheat, who can you trust? These are the three women at the centre of this book: Rachel, Anna and Megan.
Have you ever sat on the train, glanced at the people around you or out of the window, and made up stories about them? Maybe you've even gone so far as to invent names for these people and imagine their perfect or not-so-perfect lives.
Rachel is that girl on the train who takes her mind off her own life by imagining the lives of others. Specifically the lives of "Jess and Jason" who live at the house outside her train window when the train stops at the same red signal every morning. But then one morning, things are not as they are supposed to be and Rachel sees something that completely shatters the "Jess and Jason" image which exists in her head.
Now she is pulled into their lives. Unsure exactly what she knows but certain she cannot rest until she finds out.
This book is just full of secrets. Everyone has them. It's about all the little mysteries that exist just outside of what we see on the surface. What goes on behind closed doors? How much can you ever really know a person? What horrors exist in that black spot of your memory from Saturday night?
It was fascinating, gripping and oh so very creepy. Hawkins has been added to the small group of thriller authors on my "must buy" list.
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I read this book due to the fact that everyone else read it.
Yes, mom I would jump off the cliff right behind everyone else.
These are some fucked up characters. I think the new trend in books where every one of the characters is an asshole may be the way to go if you are writing a book that you want to take the world by storm with. The thing is...It gets frigging boring. I wanted a bus to hit them all. Repeatedly.
May go sorta spoilery:
You have Rachel. Rachel is a drunk, she gets on the 8:04 train every morning and then on again in the afternoon on her way home. Pretending to go to work. (She got fired for drinking and basically acting a damn fool)..so she goes on that same train every day.
Sometimes she can't wait to take a drink before she gets home.
She sees "Jess and Jason" everyday. Or that's what she calls them in her head. They live near her old home. Where she lived with her ex-husband (who cheated on her). Coincidence? I think not.
She sees Jess kissing a guy that isn't Jason. So her little mind starts to working. Then Jess aka Megan goes missing.
Rachel then decides to go to the police with what she knows. Then the police find out she is not the most reliable of witnesses and tell her to stay out of it. Of course, that's not happening.
Now for the twist. That one I saw coming and kept thinking "no way" it can't be that easy. This book wouldn't be so popular.
I need to stay away from super, duper popular books.
Because, I'm just calling Bullshit.
The writing is not bad in this book, so I'm not giving it the rating for that. I'm giving it the rating because I personally hated it.
#trollscankissmyfatass -
I just sent a 3 page, 3,000 word email about why I didn't like this book to a friend, and I still feel the urge to express myself. I suppose that tells you just how much I disliked it.
This thing is a hot mess, the writing is clumsy, there are things that don't make any sense, the characters are pathetic and the opposite of complex. The women in this book are either defined by the men they are dating/married to, or by how they feel about being a mother (and by that I mean, do they already have a child, do they want a child, or ?) Bleugh. The 'plot twist' is easy to guess not even halfway through the book, and the who-dun-it moment, where we find out who the bad guy is, while predictable, doesn't make any sense to me, considered how this book is written and what we know about the characters. Exposition, people. There isn't any. You might argue that it's because of the unreliable narrator, but I'm not buying it. Good writing works its way around it. Also, I didn't know 'thriller' translated to 'no character development'.
And have I mentioned the clumsy writing? Because I was getting secondhand embarrassment 85% of the time. This book was, above all things (that I honestly didn't care about), awkward. -
this. book. suuuuuuuucks.
i can't believe it was an international sensation. i can't believe it was adapted into a moviestarring actual queen emily blunt. i can't believe it SOLD A SINGLE COPY. (i didn't buy this one. my mom did. so there.)
this is just...a straight up bad book on every level. the characters are so insanely unlikable it's cartoonish. it'd be funny if it didn't make EVERY SECOND OF THIS BOOK, EVERY PAGE, EVERY WORD, A FRESH HELL TO FIGHT THROUGH IN ORDER TO GET TO THE NEXT ONE, WHICH IS, GUESS WHAT, ALSO HELL.
this would be maybe O.K. or at least survivable if this book was scary or thrilling or spooky or intriguing at all, but guess what, IT ISN'T. just some lady getting blasted on vodka and riding a train. looking out some windows. sometimes sneaking a peek at a house.
the entertainment potential is almost overwhelming.
honestly all i really want from a thriller = some thrills. that really does not seem like too much to ask for, considering IT'S THE F*CKING NAME OF THE WHOLE ENTIRE GENRE. and the reveal of this makes it even worse.
bottom line: straight up one of the worst books i've ever read. are there people who like this book? if so, HOW????
(this is part of a project i'm doing where i write mini-reviews of books i read a long time ago. this parenthetical insert is a constant snoozefest) -
4.5 stars Everyone in this book is absolutely terrible, and as a result, this book is a masterpiece in character study and development. It's also a well-written, precisely plotted psychological thriller, and deftly sketches one unreliable narrator after another. I guessed the culprit not too far into the book, but that didn't spoil my reading experience at all, particularly because the author drops so many diverting and convincing red herrings into the story.
I think it's also interesting that the central character, Rachel, challenges readers to think about how much we assume about--and pre-judge--other people based on our limited knowledge of them. To feel pity, disgust, frustration, compassion, and so much more for one character is a rare thing.
Recommended to fans of
Before I Go To Sleep, and for YA readers, fans of
Dangerous Girls and
Nova Ren Suma. -
Good read but the ending fell a little flat for me
-
What a huge disappointment.
The concept sounded amazing, and it got off to a promising...if slow...start. But it quickly turned into this messy, melodramatic story that was neither surprising, or original. Much like in Gone Girl, there was not a single likable character in the entire book. That wasn't the main problem for me, though. I could see the ending coming from a mile away. Actually more like I figured out who the main villan was within the first 20 pages. Never a ringing endorsement. -
(A-) 83% | Very Good
Notes: It's about escapism, lack, and how plausible suggestion autocorrects figments into memory and strangers into circles. -
this review and more on my blog ->
mereadingbooks
Caution. There might be some ranting ahead.
This has frequently been called the next Gone Girl. And yes, that is to some extend why I wanted to read this. I wanted something suspenseful; an unreliable narrator; and lots of “what the hell?!”- moments. Out of these three things I got one – an unreliable narrator. But one written so clumsily and shallow that I was annoyed, not intrigued, by her.
The plot’s mystery falls flat because it is done in such a heavy-handed way. The shift between narrative points of view and the two timelines seem like an artificial way of keeping the reader in the dark. The alcohol-induced blackouts of the main character just add to that feeling. I constantly thought “oh, how convenient that she does not remember that” and “oh, how convenient she can recall a tiny detail now”. It was simply clumsy and trite.
However, the worst thing about Rachel, the protagonist and main narrator, weren’t the clichés about alcoholism and divorced women. These aspects annoyed me to no end but the absolute worst thing about Rachel and the two other female narrators was how pathetic they were. Throughout the book I got the feeling that Paula Hawkins must hate women; hate them with a passion. Women in this novel are portrayed as unstable (going on batshit crazy), weak, dependent (on men), and insecure. Every single woman mentioned defines her personality in relation to a man. They doubt themselves, their capabilities and decisions. The men, in contrast, are all mysterious but strong and sure of themselves. They are there to give definition and meaning to their wives, girlfriends, mistresses, and sons. Even those women on the side-lines of the plot are only defined by their relationships to men.
For instance, Rachel’s mother; she is only mentioned two or three times and the one time she actually gets a few lines is when she explains how she’s not able to help her daughter at the moment because she has a new “friend” and she doesn’t want to scare him off like that! Seriously? Also, Rachel’s roommate is supposed to be the one thinking clearly; she tries to keep Rachel sober and wants her to go to AA meetings, get a grip on life, and so on. Still, even the supposedly reasonable character is defined by her boyfriend. When she’s not home she is with him and when he is out of town for some reason she sits at home waiting for him. And these are only the minor female characters in this novel.
Rachel, Anna, and Megan are all pathetic in their very own way. They pine about the men that leave or reject them; they doubt their life decisions and still won’t change anything in order not to upset their men. And every single thought they have is about how their decisions or actions might affect their husbands, ex-husbands, boyfriends, or lovers.
I know I’m ranting a bit here, but this really really annoyed me. I also know what Hawkins was trying to do. She wanted to show the dark side of domestic life – just like Gone Girl did. But in my opinion she has utterly failed to do so. -
I read this one out of curiosity. Aware that it had been a huge market success, I wondered if it merited the sales. According to Riverhead, The Girl on the Train is, or was, the fastest-selling adult hardcover fiction debut ever. And that is a shame. With so many great books being published every year that do little or no business, for this one to have secured a first class ticket on the book-sales express can only be dispiriting to the good and great writers everywhere toiling away in third class on the oft-delayed local.
I do not mean to say that The Girl… is a bad book. Although I believe it to be seriously flawed, it is most definitely entertaining and will no doubt help hundreds of thousands of readers while away a few hours of their (our) lives, getting from this station to that. But if you want a psychological thriller that doesn’t disregard red signals you would do better to book a seat elsewhere.
Paula Hawkins
Rachel Watson has had a tough go of it. When her hopes of having a baby with hubby Tom did not work out, she landed in a trough of post-hope depression, and self-medicated with a steady flow of what seemed happier spirits. It did not work out. Now, divorced and unemployed as a result of her drinking, growing larger and pastier by the day, Rachel rides the commuter train to London on weekday mornings, pretending she is still working, pretending she still has a life. The ride takes her past her old neighborhood, offering a nice, mood dampening view of a stretch of railroad-edge homes. She used to live in one of those, before her ex bought out her interest. A few places away from her former home there is a couple she sees most days. She imagines lives for them, nursing this fantasy for quite some time, until she learns that the woman has vanished, and the game is afoot.
The notion for the story occurred to Hawkins on her regular train ride in London some years back. She calls it “Rear-Window-ish,” noting that it is hardly unusual for train riders to be curious about the lives being lived in the houses they pass, and just as likely for those on the ground to wonder about those passing by.I used to go to college on the District line,” she said. “It goes very, very slowly and you can look into people’s houses. I did idly wonder about what you would do if you saw an act of violence or something suspicious. It’s quite normal, everyone is curious about other people’s lives.” - from an article in the Standard
This irregular Watson will not make anyone forget the investigative Doctor, let alone his illustrious partner, but Rachel feels compelled to find out whatever she can, using the knowledge she has gleaned from her daily observations. We expect our investigators these days to be a bit down on their luck, and to throw back maybe more than their share of amber liquid. But Rachel Watson doesn’t have a drinking problem, she has a drinking catastrophe. How is she to figure out whither the missing lady has gone, or perhaps who made her go missing, how is she to judge whether the lady’s anger-management-challenged husband, the other man she saw at her place, or someone else might be somehow involved, if her drinking causes her to have more blackouts than London during the blitz.
The tale is told in staggered chronology, from three perspectives. Rachel’s, the missing person’s, and Anna’s, she being the woman with whom Rachel’s ex cheated while he was still with Rachel, and whom he subsequently married. Or she said, she said, and then she said. The timelines converge at the end. Most sections are divided into sub headings of morning, evening, afternoon, that sort. It makes for many short passages, good, appropriately, for reading on a train.
This is an example of the S stock used on the District line Hawkins once rode
The pace of the tale is quick, clickety-clacking along without exceeding posted limits, advancing nicely to the big climax. Truthfulness comes in for some attention, as it seems everyone has something to hide. If you are looking for likeable characters, you might try the Hogwarts Express. The folks here tote enough baggage to merit their own cars. I suppose Rachel is sympathetic, but seems almost as much an agent of her misery as a victim. Making her pathetic and annoying was, I expect, a way to make her real, make her sympathetic, and that works, to a point.
Will Rachel find out what happened with the missing woman? Will her ex take out an order of protection against her, as she keeps calling and showing up at his place? Is the missing person merely missing? or worse? Can Rachel stay sober long enough to figure anything out? You might very well care. Clearly, judging by sales, many do. But, while I did, a little, I felt pushed away by this book. I felt cheated, as an actual audience member, as if riding on a disoriented express. I do understand that the
unreliable narrator is simply a story-telling mechanism and that Rachel falls into the Madman classification within that, but when she changes her story about a significant piece of information the story went off the rails for me. So, while there is plenty to enjoy about The Girl on the Train, while there is plenty of tension-release-repeat, and while many readers are bound to be transported by the story, relating to or rooting for one or more characters at least some of the time, the one thing a reader demands from an author is honesty, and when trust is lost so is the benefit of the several hours we spend together. The locomotive was transformed, for me, into a hand-car trapped in a siding. It’s elementary.
Review first posted – 7/10/15
Publication date – 1/13/15
Movie opened - 10/7/16
=============================EXTRA STUFF
While this may be the first novel by Paula Hawkins, it is not the first novel that Paula Hawkins wrote, or published. She got work writing chick-lit under the name Amy Silver, an experience that she says was great training. Hawkins, born and raised in Zimbabwe, was 17 when her family moved to London. She had wanted to be a foreign correspondent like her father, but decided that war zones were just too scary. Check the Guardian piece if you are interested in getting more info on the author.
Links to the author’s
personal,
Twitter,
Twitter as Amy Silver, and
FB pages
Hawkins does a
GR Notes and Highlights for the book. It is informative.
Excellent intel in this piece in
The Guardian
Here is the article from the Standard cited in the review,
'My District line commute inspired bestselling thriller,' says London author Paula Hawkins ,
An interview with the author in Entertainment Weekly
The Girl on the Train author Paula Hawkins talks about her next thriller, by Clark Collis
August 11, 2021 - Hawkins did a
Q&A on GR, answering many questions you might have about the book. Definitely worth a look. I do not know when these notes and highlights were entered. I became aware of them on 8/11/21.
A few great train reads. Now don’t bug me about the brevity of this. I know there are only a gazillion. Do feel free, however to add your favorite train books in the comments. I will be happy to add those to this list if you like. I have not gotten around to installing links for all of these, but I expect you guys can manage
4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie’s
Murder on the Orient Express by AC
Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal, Edith Pargeter
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux, or several other train books by this author
M Train by Patti Smith - recommended by
Mona
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead - recommended for inclusion by Dianne
Not to be outdone, TRAIN TUNES
Can't You See - recommended by Murf the Surf
Casey Jones – this version by Allan Hirsch
Chatanooga Choo-Choo – Glenn Miller Orchestra - recommended by Clif
Folsom Prison Blues (I hear that train a’comin) – Johnny Cash
I’ve Been Working on the Railroad – Pete Seeger
Last Train to Clarkesville – The Monkees
Last Train to Lhasa - Banco de Gaia - recommended by Rand
Locomotive Breath – Jethro Tull – the vid is cadged together, but this is what it should sound like
Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight
MTA - The Kingston Trio
Take the A-Train – Duke Ellington
The Train Song – a bit of silliness from Armstrong and Miller
Goodbye World (Sad song when Dad jumps from the train) – from Korean Zombie flick Train to Busan - recommended by Jay G.
Under Your Thumb by Goodley and Creme - recommended by
Lesley -
I tried to enjoy it! I swear I did! The hype told me that I had to!
I wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. I never really cared about the story and ALL of the characters were unlikeable. Sometimes characters are unlikeable in a good way, but not this time.
At no point was I excited to be reading this.
Side note added 4/5/2017: Kinda silly how “Girl” is in so many titles lately. It has to be intentional to ride the coattails of other successful titles. I noticed on my library site that there is another popular checkout called
Girl on a Train - I wonder how many people thought they were getting the other one!
Update 4/14/2018 - Dropped from two to one star because renewed interesting in my review due to a suggested grammar correction reminded me how much I didn't like this book - so I couldn't stick with two stars. -
I am so disappointed in this one. It started out promising enough, but the writing and the drama got old fast. There was really only one person who could have done it, and because of that I kept thinking it must be someone else. But it wasn't someone else. It was THAT PERSON. By the time the big reveal happened, I was so ready for the whole thing to just be over already. I started out thinking I had a 4 star book in my hands. Halfway through I was looking for an excuse to give it 3 stars. Finally, with about 30 pages left, I knew that 2 stars was going to be a gift. Well I'm in a generous mood (or kind of disappointed in myself for buying into the hype) and 2 stars is what I'm giving it. My advice (which you probably shouldn't take because everyone else is loving it) is to skip this one entirely. A weak 2 stars.
-
4.45/5 ⭐
Full review on Blog:
The Dacian She-Wolf 🐺
"I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head."
I am quite amazed by the fact that this book has been sitting on my bookshelf for like two years already and I haven’t been able to read it until, like, a couple of weeks ago. But then, I remember that I have books older than my brother, sitting and rotting on my bookshelf that have lost all kind of hope in begging me to read them, I just feel better about this one.
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is, indeed, a very well-written thriller. At some point in my life, everyone around me talked about this book and now, after reading it, I understand why: it was actually brilliant.
I cannot say it impressed me at first on the verge of admiration. No. But it was so easy and fast to read that it’s actually made up for my super high expectations (because let’s be honest, you hear so many – SO MANY – things about a hyper hyped book like this and your expectation-o-meter just blows up faster than Chernobyl’s 4th reactor). But, boy. How were the last 100 pages? Oh, don’t ask. I’m still a mess about everything that happened.
Rachel, our alcoholic, drank much. Like too much and at inappropriate hours. She knows she has a problem. Her life is miserable, it just fell apart, she wants nothing more to do with it and, if you look at it with your eyes closed, it is quite understandable to drown your sorrows in this kind of evil liquids.
Rachel also has a tendency to distort the reality more than the alcohol in her veins does and keeps imagining all sort of stories for people around her that actually exist, but do not live exactly how she thinks they do. This is the case of her role-model couple, Jason and Jess, aka Scott and Megan (who, in reality, have NOTHING to do with the fake, imaginary couple). This tendency of Rachel’s is maybe another thing that gets her into high trouble because she interchanges her imaginary life with reality. And that can cost her dearly if caught lying. She knows everything, but how much is it true or real?
"I'm playing at real life instead of actually living it."
Further dissecting this novel, a pretty notable aspect is the hidden face of the characters. The three narrative voices of the book have the role of seeing both the exterior and the interior of the characters, which differ ‘from sky to earth’ as we like to say in Romanian (or, an even funnier expression that we use a lot: the exterior of the characters ‘nu se pupă’ with the interior – basically they don’t kiss. Cutie, eh? I know, we are a very lovely breed, us, Romanians, but moving on…).
Also, the book has the nice particularity of those old and good mystery novels that give you all the details you need to solve the puzzle yourself, but the details are so low-key you don’t even realise they are there (bonus points from me for that concept). Keep the mind open people and you’ll solve the puzzle as I did.
Before putting an end on this, I would like to discuss another thing that wrecked my nerves.
Okay, I understood the fact that because of some circumstances, Rachel got an ugly depression and started drinking. But the way she was treated by everyone in her life, including her bastard (ex-)husband is just so cruel and unfair. How is a normal person going to get through tough times when there is no one good by his or her side to push them towards what is right? (more on this topic in the blog post)
And what I want to further add is that I couldn’t help but notice that there is a certain similarity between Hawkins’ way of putting things in action and Stephen King’s. It is the same cruel manner of expression, with violent truths and obscene language. The same sinister way of presenting reality. The same endless social and moral problems revealed to everyone (for example, the cruel manner of abusing women; that’s just so obvious). It is absolutely fascinating. Oh and yet, another Tom that I absolutely hate from deep within (see: Stephen King’s Tom Rogan in
It)
Okay now, with all that being said, I’d like to conclude with the fact that even though this book did not live by the great expectations I’ve created around it, it was actually pretty close. Analysing all those things I encountered during the action, I realised that it is more under the words than above them. And this kind of thing is important because this gives a book the opportunity to live forever. -
”Yesterday---sensible, clearheaded, right-thinking---I decided I must accept that my part in this story was over. But my better angels lost again, defeated by drink, by the person I am when I drink. Drunk Rachel sees no consequences, she is either excessively expansive and optimistic or wrapped up in hate. She has no past, no future. She exists purely in the moment. Drunk Rachel...lies.”
There are certainly worse ways to spend your day than riding an S stock train into London.
Rachel rides the train into London every day to keep up the pretense that she has a job. The truth is she lost her job months ago when she showed up to work inebriated, not just buzzed or mildly intoxicated, but sloppy drunk. She can’t exactly put her finger on when she first started to drink too much. It was around the time when she was trying to get pregnant with her now ex-husband Tom.
He impregnated his mistress instead.
”The dagger in my heart twists, round and round and round.”
Anna, slender little Anna, is now living in her house with her husband with a child that should have been hers. Rachel used to be attractive, curvy, and pretty, but now the curves have lost their buoyancy, and her face has become puffy. She is melting down into someone unrecognizable. The pain that used to be internalized is now manifesting itself into a grotesque mask. She drinks to escape. ”When I drink, I hardly sleep at all. I pass out cold for an hour or two, then I wake, sick with fear, sick with myself. If I have a day when I don’t drink, that night I fall into the heaviest of slumbers, a deep unconsciousness, and in the morning I cannot wake properly, I cannot shake sleep, it stays with me for hours, sometimes for days.” Drinking doesn’t work, not drinking is worse.
Sometimes she blacks out.
The problem with THAT is she loses so much control over what she does or what she remembers. When she blacks out she has to believe what others tell her. This is when she writes painfully embarrassing emails to her ex-husband. This is when she is capable of doing something that she would never consider doing sober.
The train takes Rachel by her old life every day. The subdivision with the beautiful house that she thought would be hers forever is part of her daily view. She can look right into the backyards of the homes, and there she starts to notice a couple, a perfect couple who seem to love each other. She projects a life onto them, even giving them names, and starts to look forward to any glimpse of them that will allow her to add to the fairy tale narrative that she has been assembling about them on her daily rides into work. Then one day she sees something that brings the whole house of cards tumbling down.
We can look at other people and think their lives are wonderful. They must be leading so much more successful and meaningful lives than we do. The problem of course is that we know everything about our lives. Every failure is duly noted on a spooling list. Our successes are tempered by our own feelings of inadequacies. Every debilitating slight to our self-esteem etches away at the foundation of our ability to see beyond the things that have went wrong. What we have to remind ourselves of is that, though people may seem to be leading perfect lives, everybody has problems. Don’t fool yourself, and don’t let them fool you either. We are all doomed to be disappointed, to falter, to make mistakes, and sometimes destroy ourselves. Scott and Megan, as it turns out, are no different. Her mythical couple have names as it turns out, not the ones she chose for them.
When Megan disappears Rachel realizes that she saw something.
The problem is she is an irresponsible drunk.
This book is certainly an ode to one of my favorite films Rear Window. (For those youngsters out there, you might be more familiar with the film Disturbia.) Jimmy Stewart is incapacitated with a broken leg, but Rachel may actually be more incapacitated by her drinking. Rachel is the definition of an unreliable narrator. I didn’t what to believe her, not necessarily because I felt she was lying, but because she was so wasted most of the time that even her version of sober might be my version of being buzzed. The characters in this book are not very endearing. As we learn more about them we find less and less to like about them. Be warned about these characters if you are a reader that must like the people you read about.
The plot certainly reminded me of an Agatha Christie. I often found myself munching down on a red herring served on a Ritz Cracker and washed down with a decent Merlot. I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I did the modern noir novels of Peter Swanson, but I don’t think I’m going to be forgetting this book any time soon. If that proves to be the case, I might even need to bump it one star.
There is talk of Emily Blunt starring in the upcoming movie which could lend the project some extra attention. This book, with this plot, should translate well to screen. Don’t feel guilty if you decide to wait for the movie. Paula Hawkins has laid out a script that shouldn’t need much tucking or trimming for the big screen.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit
http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:
https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten -
Half a "what the hell happened ?" star !!
2016 Worst Read of the Year
Original Review written October 3, 2016
Update : October 25, 2016 (mini review of the film !!)
A couple of days ago 4 single girls (well women in their forties and fifties), my bf (convinced him to join us and he agreed if I took him to Denny's afterwards) and myself went to see this film. This is the main reason I read the book as we had planned this outing for months and then I read the book just before the film came out.
As you prolly already know I abhored the book so I was grotesquely curious about the film.
First though I want to give the rating of my lovely galpals when I polled them afterwards over omelettes !!
Gal One : Book 4 stars Film 3.5 stars
Gal Two: Book 4 stars Film 3 stars
Gal Three: Book 3 stars Film 4 stars
Gal Four: Book 3 stars Film 3 stars
BF - refused to read the book Film 3 stars
Jaidee Book 0.5 star Film 1.5 stars (in comparison Gone Girl Book 2.5 stars Film 3 stars)
The film was seriously lacking, terrible dialogue, fairly poor acting (with a few exceptions), mostly very dull when it was not ridiculous.
What I liked - Emily Blunt gave a 3 star decent performance
There was some really cool art and some beautiful brief cinematography
Saving Grace: Officer Riley played by Allison Janney was awesome. She had the right amount of wit and chutzpah for the role. She shone in her brief moments. Plus I love the way she is aging...so beautiful in a natural and haggard way.
Am I glad I saw it ? Yes...time with my good friends and holding hands with my BF is always nice.
Am I glad I read the book? Hell No!!
Original review September 26, 2016:
This book makes Gone Girl look like a masterpiece !!!
At six percent I was very pleasantly surprised.
At eighty-seven percent I wanted to tear my hair out on the ludicrousness and ridiculousness of this book.
Recipe for this disaster
- you start with three of the most unlikable women (ever...i mean ever) and you stir slowly
( one is a pathetic alcoholic, the other is narcissistic and the third is troubled) until they are mixed so thoroughly that you can't tell them apart except that you hate them all
-you start with an excellent premise that goes nowhere and so you have all three women terribly dependent on the men in their lives except they all cheat on the men in their lives and they all hate each other which makes you hate them even more
-oh all the women are liars, cheats and oh so bored with their pampered lives....oh lets blame this on trauma, hardships , grief....ya we can be assholes becuz we hurt so bad.....now not only do you hate them...you want to bitch slap them too....but oh no you cant do that because they do it to each other and plan each other's physical and psychological demise .....
-just when you think it can't get any worse...yes you got it...let's blame it on a man....oh yes he is a sociopath and yes all three women love him...boo hoo hoo
-do we know what motivates these women (of course we don't) just suspend your disbelief so far that you think you might be on Pluto !!!
Sorry for the rant but this book is a bloody train wreck and how it won the awards and accolades it has is beyond me.
I apologize Ms. Flynn...you don't seem nearly so bad any more.
Not only should I not have not gotten on this stupid train but I should have ran away instead.
Addendum: Here is a funny little Youtube compilation where my review has a little cameo role :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO7l_...
Bloody Awful :( -
The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins
The Girl on the Train (2015) is a psychological thriller novel by British author Paula Hawkins.
The story is a first-person narrative told from the point of view of three women: Rachel, Anna, and Megan.
Rachel Watson is a 33-year-old alcoholic, reeling from the end of her marriage to Tom, who left her for another woman, Anna Boyd. Rachel's drinking has caused her to lose her job; she frequently binges and has blackouts. While drunk, she often harasses Tom, though she has little or no memory of these acts once she sobers up.
Tom is now married to Anna and has a daughter with her, Evie – a situation that fuels Rachel's self-destructive tendencies, as it was her inability to conceive a child that began her spiral into alcoholism.
Rachel follows her old routine of taking the train to London every day; her train slowly passes her old house, where Tom, Anna, and Evie now live. She also begins watching from the train an attractive couple who live a few houses away from Tom. She idealists their life (christening them "Jason" and "Jess"), though she has no idea that their life is far from perfect.
The wife of the couple, Megan Hipwell ("Jess"), has a troubled past. She finds her life boring, and escapes from her troubles by taking a series of lovers. Megan has sought help by seeing a therapist, Dr. Kamal Abdic. Eventually, she reveals to him a dark secret she has never confided to anyone before.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و چهارم ماه ژوئن سال 2015میلادی
عنوان: دختری در قطار؛ پائولا هاوکینز؛ مترجم: محبوبه موسوی؛ تهران، میلکان، 1393، در 385ص، شابک 9786007845008؛ چاپ دوازدهم سال1398؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده 20م
عنوان: دختری در قطار؛ پائولا هاوکینز؛ مترجم: علی قانع؛ تهران، آموت، 1394، در 352ص، شابک 9786003840140؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، کوله پشتی، 1395، در 343ص؛ شابک 9786008211051؛ چاپ پانزدهم 1399؛
عنوان: دختری در قطار؛ پائولا هاوکینز؛ مترجم: جواد رحمتی فرد؛ تهران، نگارش الکترونیک کتاب، 1394، در 400ص؛
عنوان: دختری در قطار؛ پائولا هاوکینز؛ مترجم: فرانک سالاری؛ تهران، البرز، 1394، در 384ص؛
عنوان: دختری در قطار؛ پائولا هاوکینز؛ مترجم: مهرآئین اخوت؛ تهران، هیرمند، 1394، در 412ص؛ شابک 9789644083891؛
و با ترجمه جواد شاهدی در قم، نوید ظهور، در 384ص؛
دختری در قطار؛ داستانی پلیسی، و تریلری روانشناسانه، است، داستان توسط راوی اول شخص و از زاویه ی دید سه زن: «ریچل»، «آنا» و «مگان» بازگو میشود؛ گویا کتاب موفق شده، رکورد پرفروشترینها همچون «هری پاتر» را نیز بشکند، و همچنان در صدر باقی بماند؛ برخی این رمان را، جلد دوم «دختر گمشده»، میدانند؛ ماجرای همیشگی عشق و شکست، اینبار با همراهی افکاری سرگردان، به داستانی معمایی، منجر شده، «دختری در قطار» با روایتی مدرن، سراغ موضوعی کلاسیک رفته است؛ «ریچل» که زنی دائم الخمر است، برای خودش ارزشی قائل نیست، از نظر او، زنان، تنها از دو وجه، قابل توجه اند «وضعیت ظاهری»، و «نقش مادری» ایشان؛ و ...؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 05/06/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 12/05/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی -
4.5
Here we are 3 years after the release of Gone Girl- and every twisty turny page turning novel is STILL being compared. THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is no exception...but that was not what caught my attention. What persuaded me??? Train...Witness to murder...Hitchcock...Rear Window. Those words will get me almost every time...
Rachel is depressed, angry, and bitter. Gin and tonic- is her drink of choice- Wine comes in at a close second. Every day she takes the slow train from Asbury to Euston...and everyday it slows to a stop and she sees "Jason and Jess". The "perfect couple". A couple who just by watching them every day- gives her hope that happiness exists...
Rachel is stuck clinging to the days she had with her ex-husband Tom- who left because of her drinking...who left her for a younger woman. A younger version of her- drama free...and a woman who now has Tom's baby. A baby that Rachel could never give him.
...The only relief from her dreary, pointless, life is "Jess and Jason"...(not their real names of course)...but very real for her all the same.
Then one day Rachel witnesses something that doesn't seem right...something that involves a woman named Megan- the woman who she thought of as "Jess". And now Jess/Megan is missing...
So far this is my favorite book from this year- YES, it has a lot of hype surrounding it- but don't let that get in the way of picking it up. :D -
This was a perfectly decent, well-crafted thriller, which I happened not to like very much, for reasons that have little to do with its craft or its quality. This sometimes happens, and it doesn't mean that others won't enjoy it. The plot is fast-moving and with some real surprises. The portrayal of alcoholism is great (although I would have liked it to go further into the more visceral details, rather than skimming the surface of the theme).
However (and yes, I know it's trivial, but) the title. I'm getting tired of these vaguely infantilizing titles that refer to mature women as "girls" (although, to be honest, none of the female characters seemed at all mature to me). The multiple-person narration was nicely-handled, except that all three narrators sounded the same, to the extent of noticing the same things and recording them in the exact same register and vocabulary. And although I have no problem enjoying books with unsympathetic characters, I found the women in this book not only unsympathetic, but really rather dull, relying on the "damaged woman" trope for interest, rather than investing the characters with anything more tangible. The publishers are pushing this book as a second GONE GIRL. I was hoping for something new. Not this time, I'm afraid. -
All aboard!!!
TRUST NO ONE
I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head.
What? “Trust No One”? Why is that sign on the railroad of this review? Is this a “The X-Files” story? Oh, no, but certainly the motto of that iconic TV series is a good advice to anyone who dares to aboard this train of thought in this very particular journey to the minds of three women that you may think that they are quite different, but...
...maybe not...
...or maybe they do...
...mmh...
...remember about trust no one?...
...we’ll even you should not trust me neither...
...bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!
No, I’m kidding! I’m your friendly reviewer, surely you can trust me...
...bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!
Okay, enough misleading malevolent mirth... for the moment...
BROKEN DOLLS
There’s nothing so painful, so corrosive as suspicion.
In this story you will have three voices in your head...
Rachel: An alcoholic woman who failed in marriage.
Megan: A pretentious woman who succeed in cheating.
Anna: A married woman who who succeed in pretention.
All of them are unlikely protagonists, hardly role models, sinners paying for their own faults, broken dolls in the middle of a railroad where fate is the train.
They did their mistakes, but your own mistake can be to trust them... or me...
...bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!
WHAT WORKED BEFORE, WILL WORK AGAIN
There’s something comforting about the sight of strangers safe at home.
You may heard that this story is the “new” Gone Girl, and you would have heard well then.
Actually, while it’s understandable that everybody knows about Gone Girl, there is another newer book that it could considered too into the formula in a sense...
Gone Girl meets Elizabeth is Missing
And also, there are two movies that came to my mind, no wonder, from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock (who I have no doubt that if he would be still alive, he would adapt into a film this novel)...
Rear Window meets The Lady Vanishes
That, yes, they were based on previously printed material too.
So, if you are fair familiarized with all those mentioned stories, you can quite well expect lots of trains, losses of memory, missing women, vouyerisms and misleadings...
Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!... wait! Why did I laughed this time? I believe that it’s one of the moments where you can trust me more... or isn’t?
EVERYTHING IS ACCORDING TO THE PLAN
Life is not a paragraph, and death is no parenthesis.
You may notice or not, while reading the different railroads, that the debutant, Paula Hawkins, the author, didn’t put anything random on the book, everything is according to the plan, even the dates, that honestly, they aren’t easy to keep on mind, but even those dates denote different kind of railway engines, while a side of the story can be told as a paused steam locomotive, another side is indeed a bullet train.
But in any case, life hardly can be told in an instant, even the fastest deposition needs time, life is rich, life is complex, and if there is a saying that “each man is a world”, well I can say that each woman is an universe, a wonderful universe full of surprises, and while maybe in a whole another kind of context but (death) is hardly an ending, but just other twist in life.
And what could be life without those wonderful unexpected twists? -
This book was INTOXICATING. I loved every single second of it. While I had gone into this story thinking it was going to be packed with suspenseful scenes, the mystery was really in the storytelling. It was unexpected but executed SOOOO well. A+ use of an unreliable narrator that propelled the story way beyond what I had originally anticipated. Not only was it extremely thrilling and kept me intrigued the entire time, but I seriously appreciated how accurate the representation of alcoholism was. While the events of the story were not necessarily the most "realistic", the many of the characters felt real; like people who could actually exist, who had authentic thoughts and feelings I could see reflected in actual people. It was a fantastic novel and I would highly highly recommend it.
-
الصوت الرتيب لسير القطار الروتيني علي قضبانه
هل تحب الجلوس بجوار الشباك؟ هل تخيلت يوما حال سكان هذا البيت الجميل المطل علي قضبان السكة الحديد الذي تمر عليه يوميا؟
قد تنسج قصصهم في خيالك، إن كنت واسع الخيال
ربما تخيلتهم سعداء..لتعوض ما تعانيه من وحدة، فراغ، إرهاق لأدمانك للشراب
كتلك الفتاة..فتاة القطار
تعال معنا في "رحلة الصباح والمساء"..في القطار..حيث يقل ريتشل من وإلي لندن يوميا، قطار الساعة الثامنة صباحا والسادسة مساءا
تعال إن كنت لا تمانع سماع "حديث الصباح والمساء" من ثلاث شخصيات مختلفة
ثلاث نساء مختلفة ، لكن بمعاناة متشابهة
يعانوا الفراغ - الملل - الأهمال - القلق المستمر - يبحثن عن حب، عن شغف -يعانوا إخفاقات مختلفة
تعال إن كنت لا تمانع حديث مصاب بالملل مثل من يحكيه ... مصاب بالتشتت كدماغ شابة مدمنة كحوليات
مصاب بانه واسع الخيال
بالضبط كبطلتناريــتشــل Rachel
الأحـــداث
----
الاحداث سريعة ، لكن اسلوب سردها بطئ
اسلوب السرد المعتمد علي شكل "المذكرات"، المذكرات النسائية
كل من الشخصيات التي نقرأ لها بالأخص ريتشل يشعرن بالأنزعاج..بالقلق.. بشئ من التوتر وعدم الفهم بل والخوف
لذا يمكنك أن تتدرك أن الأسلوب سيكون متخبطا بعض الشئ
لكنه قادر علي ان يتسلسل لعقلك ببطء ويتملك قلبك
حيث انني بالرغم من اني امضيت وقتا اطول مما توقعت بصفحات الرواية الثلاثمائة، وجدتني اعتدها
اعتدت الرتابة
تلك الشبيهة بصوت عجلات القطار علي القضبان
"راتتاتت - راتتاتت - راتتاتت"
"صوت القطار الرتيب"
تبدأ الرواية هادئة كأي قطار يقلع..تقع في الرتابة.. تسرع احيانا لكنه ليس "القطار السريع، اكسبرس" .. هو قطار عادي
سائقته مدمنة كحوليات
ذات خيال واسع
تعاني الفراغ
ولنر بالمختصر حكاية ريتشل
البطلة الرئيسية"راتتاتت - راتتاتت - راتتاتت"
"Rattattattt Rattattattt Rattattattt"
The story is like getting into this 'routine' Train, not express, just normal.
Looking into the window, if you're having free time, free imagination you'll see too much.
Rachel , Anna , Megan "aka: Jess"
and Tom , Scott "aka; Jason"
All have their Obsession, weakness, feeling empty...empty life..
Feeling unsuccessful, missing something.. worried about something..
All have their share of fear..
And most of All, Rachel.
Drunk, messy, ranty and obsessed Rachel.
with her poor empty life full of failure.
Nosy Rachel, with her wild imagination that makes her get into what's not her business.
And she's the narrating for 75% of the story, so you can see how it must be, a 200 pages expanded into 316 by drinking too much.
But then, at a point the Train start getting speed, and a disappearance makes life harder to everyone..
Everyone become a Suspect.
Most of all, again , Rachel.
Drunk Rachel who doesn't remember a thing...
just fear..
I really loved though it was a bit slow, too much pages where nothing big happens but"Rattattattt Rattattattt Rattattattt"
I felt sleepy sometimes...as the tune of Train just going and going and going..
AND yet sometimes it jolt..sometimes it's really tense ... very thrilling.
And most of all, I can't just ignore that I LOVED the characters..
It has a way getting into your mind.
Specially , again, Rachel.
And you can see a resemble of Rachel in every character.
and it's very realistic.
Anna, Megan , Scott did sneak into their partners' emails and messages. Just like Rachel did.
Megan, Anna did feel the empty of their life, though they got everything.. Just like Rachel..who didn't got but a really nice friend 'Cathy' -God she's really an Angel-
Megan, Anna even Tom has mistakes, and they worried it'll haunt them again..just like Rachel.
and in the crime that happened , everyone is a suspect."Rattattattt Rattattattt Rattattattt"
Finally; why 3.5 "raised to 4" Rating?
It's not the ending, it's Shocking YES but you can guess it by the final third of the novel.
and the slowness or "monotonous" dairy of Rachel that felt sometimes as the sound of the train on tracks.
The very crafty drawing of the characters Specially Rachel , is the most that made me feel sorry for her, even connected to her. that's what made me change the rate at last..
So judging by the way I felt toward the characters.. I feel the writing was really good despite any flows I felt.
الشخصيات
------
ربما هذا ما حافظ علي تقييمي ل3.5 "او رفعه ل4 بالتقييم النهائي" .. لا الرتابة في صوت تحرك القطار الروتيني علي القضبان
الصفحات الطويلة القليلة الاحداث
المفاجأة التي من السهل التبوء بها بمجرد بدء الثلث الاخير من الأحداث
أنها فقط ريتشل
ورسم الشخصيات .. الكل له عيوبه..له مخاوفه
له الخوف من شخص ما.. له هوسه بشئ ما
يشعر بالفراغ في حياته
يتجسس علي شريكه
الكل مشتبه به
لذا ، رغم عيوب بطء الاحداث .. او النهاية التي شعرت بها كنهاية الافلام الاجنبية البوليسية العادية التي ذكرتني كثيرا بأفلام العصرية علي القناة الثانية في التسعينات
الا انني استمتعت بالعيش مع الشخصيات جدا برغم كل القسوة...والتصقا ببالي جدا طوال فترة القراءة
ويتهادي القطار اخيرا ويبطئ علي القضبان
وستستمر الحياة
واعجبني هدوء النهاية
واستقرارها اخيرا
كالقطار في محطته
محمد العربي
في القطار من 30 سبتمبر 2016
الي 4 أكتوبر 2016 -
This is the perfect weekend read. I settled into the story and spent most of Sunday (a dark and stormy afternoon) reading away.
Murder.
Public Drunkenness.
Infidelity.
Unreliable Narrators.
Treat Yo Self. -
Why is this book tagged with such a low average score? I'm exhausted (in a good way) after reading The Girl on the Train. I can imagine the latter being a sensation upon publishing.
Rachel is the girl on the train. She is the key to everything that happens in the book, but she's an unreliable witness. Or is she? This book blew my mind. I just finished reading it.
Looked at from a distance, it has a slightly ridiculous tinge to it. It's larger than life. But it's good storytelling. Damn good. I wish I had read it sooner.
The way I judge books is different from the way I judge songs. If a song sounds like I could have invented it, I don't listen to it again. That doesn't happen with books. 99.9 % of all books I've read are beyond my ability to write them.
Back to The Girl on the Train, read it if you haven't yet. It's not life, it's fiction at its best. -
Sometimes people aren't bad, sometimes they just simply make an infinity of bad decisions.
In this novel we learn the story of Rachel Watson, a young englishwoman, divorced and part time alcoholic. Everyday she travels by train, enjoying its harmonic pace, its unhurried sounds and the everyday regular people that she already feels she knows, but, above everything, she loves to watch the house number fifteen on Blenheim street, where lives her imaginary perfect couple, Jess and Jason.
Until one day her dreamy beautiful couple, for reasons we are not going to spoil, ceases to be. Something happens and nothing will ever be the same. Something happens and her already problematic life will change forever; her future, and the past she once thought she knew.
Starts somewhat slow but in short time becomes very gripping, and as the story progresses, it becomes even grippier still, maintaining that spectacular atmosphere from beginning to end. A certified good thriller. Hardly difficult to disappoint.
**** The movie is a faithful adaptation of the book. Emily Blunt delivers a remarkable performance, really worthy of recognition. However, due to several shortcomings, the movie is quite far to being as gripping or captivating as the book. A bad guy you can see coming from the very beginning, and several important omissions. Still, interestingly enough to complement the reading.
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PERSONAL NOTE:
[2015] [336p] [Thriller] [Recommendable]
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A veces la gente no es mala, a veces sólo simplemente toma una infinidad de malas decisiones.
En esta novela conocemos la historia de Rachel Watson, una joven inglesa, divorciada y alcohólica part time. Todos los días viaja en tren, disfrutando de su armónico andar, su parsimonioso sonido y la gente habitué que de tanto ver ya cree conocer; pero, por sobre todas las cosas, ama ver la casa número quince de la calle Blenheim, donde habita su imaginada pareja perfecta, Jess y Jason.
Hasta que un día su soñada maravillosa pareja, por razones que no queremos spoilear, deja de serlo. Algo sucede y nada volverá a ser igual. Algo sucede y su ya problemática vida cambiará para siempre, tanto su futuro, como el pasado que una vez creía conocer.
Empieza algo lento pero en poco tiempo se vuelve muy atrapante, y mientras más avanza más cautivante aún, manteniendo ese espectacular clima desde el principio hasta el final. Un buen thriller asegurado. Recomendable. Dificilmente capaz de decepcionar.
**** La película es una adaptación fiel a la obra. Emily Blunt hace un papel destacado, realmente digno de reconocimiento. Sin embargo, por algunas falencias la película está bastante lejos de ser tan atrapante y cautivante como el libro. Un malo que se ve llegar desde el principio y ciertas omisiones importantes. Aunque igualmente lo suficientemente interesante como para complementar la lectura.
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NOTA PERSONAL:
[2015] [336p] [Thriller] [Recomendable]
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Here are some things you can expect to find in this book, which is solidly in the Mean Mommy Thriller Genre (a subcategory of the Lululemon Murder Ladies genre, which sometimes features Mean Mommies but not always):
•trains
•alcoholic beverages of all kinds, big ones, small ones, glass bottles, plastic
•blunt trauma
•sexy real estate agents
•sexy nannies
•sexy independently employed freelancer IT professionals*
•sexy therapists
•sexy therapy
•babies (both tots and angels)**
•unreliable narrators
•unreliable therapists
•reliable trains
•puke
*I'm not entirely clear how this works but I assume it is a Gross Pointe Blank but with laptops situation
**according the John Mulaney Child Classification System
A perfectly solid entry in the category and a good way to occupy oneself during a cross country plane ride. -
“I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head.”
The Girl on the Train captivated me from the first to the last page. Everybody was so messed up: the alcoholic main character, the promiscous victim, the desperate houswive. And don't even get me started on their husbands.
The unreliable narrator made this book so spectacularly intruiging. Everybody could've done it. Everybody had a motive. None of them an alibi. I figured it out at some point, but kept telling myself that the author was just leading me on a false trail. But for once I was right.
I think there was potential to make more of the story.
I can't wait for the movie now. The
trailer looks like they've put more emphasis on sex and violence. It seems to be even darker and colder than the novel. Let's see how it goes!
Find more of my books on Instagram -
Am I 'with' it now? I've read the *IT* book!
When my own favorite Bay Area Sunday Newspaper prints "The Girl on The Train" as the number 1 Best Seller...
I said to myself...."GEEEEEEEEEEEEE, NOT YOU TOO?" So--I started reading! It was time already!
Having read 'no' reviews --I went into this novel with a blank canvas in front of me. Having been aware that half my friends on Goodreads have already read this --I managed to 'not' read their reviews (I promise to now). I didn't want to be influenced one way or another.
I like to try to figure these type of stories out--Often it just comes to me. (I'm a witch)
With GONE GIRL (I read very early 'before' the hype) -- I knew the ending within 10 pages, (yet still enjoyed the ride). It was THAT clear for me!
With "Girl on the Train"... My mind was twisting in circles for the first half the this story --It was complex keeping track of who-what-where-how-when-and-and why? I thought this just might be the book where I just can't figure out 'anything'. I even told my husband -- I can't even try to figure this book out --so--- on with reading -- 'enjoy-the-ride'.... (sometimes a little nails-on-the chalkboard -enough-already-feeling-but I was hooked).....
Then...
All of a sudden --with ONE SENTENCE --- I KNEW who the BAD PERSON was --and how the entire rest of the novel would play out. (that was approx. a 100 pages before this story ended)...soon after I had just told my husband --I can't figure this book out.
So...I ROCK! lol
I liked this book....(glad I still had my touch though).... I understand why this book getting HYPE! Its well-written....Its creepy -- Its different -- I liked the European -feeling also.
My 4 stars --rather than 5 --has NOTHING to do with me figuring out the end plot -- I think there 'is' a place in the middle where the reader gets a 'little' annoyed with the pacing. As readers --we 'do' want to be on the edge --but to be 'teased' too long isn't sweet either. ....
But mostly ---I agree with the majority... As Mystery Suspense books go --we were in good hands with Paula Hawkins.
Train ride, anyone? -
Good thriller, but no Gone Girl. Everyone wants to be the next Gillian Flynn, but Gillian Flynn isn't finished being Gillian Flynn.
