Reviews

The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert

tami227's review against another edition

5.0

I sat down to read a "few chapters" of this book last night. I don't think I got up again until I finished it several hours later. I was enthralled with Jakob and Gretl's stories! What a beautiful story of hope and human strength. I fell in love with Gretl from the first page and wanted to just scoop her up and take care of her. What a beautiful heart she has. To have been through so much and yet still continue to have the capacity to care for others and retain the ability to hope, is just so beautiful! Jakob is also resilient. He is genuine and good and trying to figure out how to be those things in a difficult world. The "love conquers all" theme is lovely as it unfolds! It is interesting to note that the author is from South Africa and is this is her first book published in English. I was nervous about that at first, but the story remains powerfully written. The very end drags on a bit, but that is my only complaint. I've read a lot of WW II fiction, but this one put a very unique and interesting spin on it and definitely was among my favorites.

"Just remember, when you suffer and feel the heat of the flames, that's when God is there. He watches carefully, until He can see His own image in you. He'll never leave you in the flames too long." The Girl From the Train by Irma Joubert

FTC Disclaimer: TNZ Fiction Guild kindly provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions above are entirely my own.

jennifercord's review against another edition

5.0

Amazing book

Absolutely one of the best I've read in a while. It held my interest the entire time. With a great mix of history and a side of WWII that I didn't really know about

sarahdc1's review against another edition

5.0

Een beetje voorspelbaar, maar al bij al een zeer leuk boek, leest als een trein! (pun intended)

katmarieholt's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book right up to the end. To me it just wasn't believable that they ended up together and I felt like it took away from the story. I would have even preferred a "sad" ending where they build their own lives, maybe meeting again, maybe not. But otherwise a wonderful book that kept me engaged throughout.

earlybirdie94's review against another edition

3.0

More like 3.5. I liked it, but I didn't care too much for Gretl (I do wish the author picked a better name, every time I think of that name I think of a big, burly, woman. No offense to anyone with the name I'm sure there's beautiful Gretls out there) and Jakobs relationship. Not because of the age difference or anything, but it just seemed weird to me about how he went from a father figure to husband. I guess though if you haven't seen someone in a decade, things might change.

Overall I enjoyed it, I learned some new things and now I want to read about South Africa.

riseclare's review against another edition

5.0

Loved. Stayed up all night reading. Gretl is precious and you love her from the start. 4 stars only bc would have liked more info during her growing up years and more character development on Jakob. Beautiful novel though, highly recommend.

dissociativephoenix's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

papa6's review

Just too boring. I appreciate it was a translation, which made for simplistic writing, but I gave it 159 pages before admitting that I just didn’t care all that much about Gretl or Jakob. Maybe, I’ll return to it sometime, but it’s DNF for now.

309804490's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

kaya217's review

5.0

Well written (that's why I gave 5 stars) but I don't know how I feel about the characters "getting together" at the end. Feels creepy.