The Girl on the Train Review

[Mary]

In my opinion, The Girl On the Train was an intriguing novel, with a twisted plot. I gave this story ⅗ stars because although the plot was compelling, their were many confusing relationships, characters, and perspectives that were hard to follow. For example, each chapter was a different character’s point of view. This writing style can be interesting because you can tell how people are thinking, but most of the time in this story, I thought it was unnecessary and did not help to improve the plot. However, it was hard to put the book down. There were so many twists and turns and events that were unpredictable, and I was desperate to see how the pieces of the puzzle all fit together in the end.

[Anushree]

Loved the book: Small review here:

The first question we ask ourselves while reviewing a mystery/thriller is - could we guess the perpetrator till the final disclosure or was it a complete revelation? In that I rate this one a 10/10. You keep guesstimating as you turn the page and you attempt to do a lot of permutations and amalgamations and you stumble upon something completely else.

The plot grips and then loosens and then again grips and loosens – so in that I found a little inconsistency in the narration, but it is adaptable and absolutely pardonable as the story unfolds. The multiple POV approach has worked out well and you get into diverse characters in a matter of seconds but for those of us who are not very comfortable with it, it might get slightly exasperating.

I read some reviews about the book on a couple of websites where people say that ALL characters in the book are a complete mess. But I ask who isn’t? The real us, and I mean it, all of us, are a psychological mess here and there, and hence the book didn’t surprise me in that at all. Two things that the book reiterated to me – 1) Drunk black outs are disastrous and 2) Many times what you see is just a figment of your imagination. It is what you WANT to believe that you believe and your mind negates everything else that doesn’t concur with your fancy.

Hawkins has come up with a plot that will take you through the basic human sentiment of the need to drive life in the direction one wants, the disappointment that we experience when it doesn’t happen that way, how multiple people deal with this frustration with their own conducts and the total dilapidation of rationalizations that can make a complete mess of the lives of many individuals. I would say if it is not on your TBR, put it. You won’t regret it.

[Anna]

Although the book uses a classic Technic of a diary- in other words dates, evening and morning, it seems that the author used it just to help herself, however not the structure. The structure of a diary, usually implies that some body is actually writing it- but basically in this book dates are logged just to emphasize the omniscience of the author. It makes all the characters mainly women lost in their illogical thoughts- something that i found incredibly demeaning and mesogenic, especially coming from a woman author- Gone Girl ,as a contrast portrays a much more smarter, calculated personality. I find this book very shallow and in parts predictable in its so called twists. Basically it gives us Anna, Megan and Rachel- all young woman that lost their heads over for love and discovered that men are very very bad - really ? all jumping to conclusions, stupid, forgetting things, alcoholics, neurotic and battle motherhood in the suburbs and so on. I think the author is living in the 19th century and she maybe more successful writing about that period than the present. Even a psychological thriller deserves a more worthy opponent than Rachel. It is a shame that a woman author portrays woman today like in the Victorian Gothic novel. And basically this book is a waste of paper and ink.

[Nageen]

Anna wrote: "Although the book uses a classic Technic of a diary- in other words dates, evening and morning, it seems that the author used it just to help herself, however not the structure. The structure of a ..."
Agreed. Terrible, shallow book with no good characters.

[April]

This debut novel is definitely worth the read. We follow the tale of a woman whose life fell apart because she was drawn to drinking. We ride the train with Rachael everyday where we meet two other woman (and their family) who are masterfully entwined in this tail. Following the lives of the three women we go on a roller coaster ride well worth the thrill. This novel grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go until the end. Rating 4/5