Review : The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Pages : 336
Genre : Psychological Thriller
Stand alone
My Rating : 3.5/5
About the Book :
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?
My Thoughts :
I think it’s impossible, right now, to be a blogger or reader and not having heard of The Girl on the Train. Claimed to be the next Gone Girl or Before I Go to Sleep, this thriller uses some of the same tricks that made the previous books successful : unreliable narrators, unlikable characters and a twisted plot come together to create a can’t-put-it-down thriller.
And it works. Told from three different point of views, the story is quick to captivate your interest and make you wonder, what happened? It’s not even a surprise that at least one of them is unreliable as a narrator, so you get to spend the whole book wondering whether she’s lying or not. On top of that, none of these three characters are really likable, and all of them are mostly miserable. It creates a very gloomy, very pessimistic atmosphere in which doubt and suspicions can only fester.
The Girl on the Train was a quick read for me, one that occupied my mind with its questions even when I wasn’t reading. I did wish the culprit had been a bit more unpredictable; I guessed very early on who it was, just not the how it happened, and how it all related together. Still, I loved how unapologetic the author was about her characters; she created them flawed and then used those flows to propel the story, rather than excuse them or try to put them on a dedemption path.
I also loved how Rachel, the main of the three narrators, constantly works on assumptions – and very often wrongly so. I think it’s true of life; it’s fun to people-watch and imagine their lives, and it’s easy to assume what is going on – but we rarely are right, for sure. It’s a super interesting approach, and I loved that it wasn’t used as a cheap device (you know, like when in romcoms the girl assumes the guy is cheating on her but NO it was only his sister!) but as a theme for the story.
All in all, The Girl on the Train was quite a fun thriller. While for me it didn’t rank as high as Gone Girl or Before I Go to Sleep, it was still a captivating read I would happily recommend to fans of a good suspense novel!
I read this book before all the hype and loved it. I’m glad you liked it so much.
I definitely need to pick this one up. I love everything Gillian Flynn has put together, so for this to be considered as the perfect book for GONE GIRL fans sounds right up my alley.
I just reviewed this today and I just wasn’t as fond of it as other people. I get so tired of unlikable characters and other traits similar in this kind of book, so it left a bad taste in my mouth by the end.