20 May, 2016

REVIEW: GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins

Title: The Girl on the Train
Author: Paula Hawkins
Series: -
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Source: Audiobook
Pages: 336


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BLURB:
The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.

EVERY DAY THE SAME
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. 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.

UNTIL TODAY
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 goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

 
This book has received a lot of attention over last year. I have seen so many people reading it that I really felt left out. So when I thought about audiobooks I should put on my phone for the trips to University A Girl on the Train was one of the first that popped into my head.


 
THE WORLD: Simple and familiar. It is just like the one we are familiar with except that the story takes place in UK and well basically in suburbs of London. I am in particularly familiar with this world as I lived in London suburbs myself for a bit. Not exactly the town where Rachel lives but let's just say all the houses by the railway and tired people traveling from London...yeah sounds way too familiar.

CHARACTERS: Now, the characters are what drives this book. They are also the reason I absolutely disliked this book. But let's start from the beginning. So the main character is named Rachel. She is an alcoholic, unemployed woman that is obsessed with her ex husband. Pretty much sums it up. Basically, Rachel is a pathetic character which you are asked to pity but really I have seen too many people like her to feel any pity. I actually despised her completely. Next to Rachel there rather a few more characters and we get to read from their perspective too. Let's start with Megan as she is in a way a center of this book. Why? Because she goes missing and all hell gets lose. Yeah so Megan...just another pathetic character really. At first you kinda think her as a spoiled housewife that is trying to adjust to her position. But later with all the cheating and hate and really just her putting always as a victim and how terrible her life is...another character to hate. Next to Megan there is her husband Scott. A scary dude. Again, at first he seems sad and Rachel is absolutely idealizing him but then truth comes out and frankly if I came across him...run for your life.And that leaves us with Tom and Anna. Tom is the ex husband of Rachel (the one she is obsessed about) and Anna is the woman Tom cheater on Rachel with and now his wife. They also have a baby together. So yeah Tom. As a matter of fact he does not come as anything bad in the book which gave him pretty much away from page one. He is just Tom. Or so you think. Anna is probably my favorite however. She is surely pathetic and obsessed and what so not but from all bunch I hated her least. Go Anna I guess.

LOVE: Showed in a rather dirty and brutal way. Nothing that I found interesting or of liking.

PLUS: Right now cannot really point any.

MINUS: I realized I really hate reading about alcoholics. And in general pathetic people. No pleasure in reading this book at all. Plus I saw the twist really early.

OVERALL: Would not recommend this book to anybody really. Unless you want to have a depressing evening. I gave it 2 starts but really it is not worth even that. A waste of my time.


 


What did you think of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN?