Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Girl on the Train

I was excited to read this because it’s what inspired many of the more recent thrillers like “The Woman in the Window” and “The Woman in Cabin 10” and the hundreds of other thrillers that have “woman” in the title. Unfortunately, this was one of the least thrilling and one of the least suspenseful books I’ve ever read.

I should’ve known I wouldn’t like this because one of my least favorite tropes in thrillers is the alcoholic unreliable narrator. I quickly get tired and annoyed with the amount of times that drinking is mentioned and the main character constantly being confusing about the details of what might’ve or might’ve not happened.

I was also really confused by the timeline. We follow 2 or 3 timelines that are leading up to each other but at the same time, they constantly switch to a random time and I just couldn’t keep track of it.

Also, there’s the matter of the racist stereotypes and the wrong portrayal of Muslim characters.

Part of me finds it hard to believe that this is the book that a lot of people were raving about years ago when it first came out. Same with the movie (which I won’t be watching now). It felt so mundane and predictable and not unique. If I hadn’t written my thoughts on the book as I was reading it, I wouldn’t have been able to write a review because I honestly remember nothing.

Content Warnings

nehaslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book took me on a journey! It was fascinating the whole way through. I love how effortless it felt to read and understand, how the events unfolded and were narrated by the three females' whose perspectives we view them from. I love how it shows how different things seem to others. I also find it amazing how they meshes together, and how the true events are revealed piece by piece.

I do wish, however, that we found out what happened to Scott and Kamal at the end, as the only thing that we are told is that the houses are left empty and we never hear of Kamal after his and Megan's last meeting, where she told him that she was going to tell Tom about the baby. I think it was okay to leave it out, but it would've provided a bit of closure and stopped the reader from wondering what happened to them, as well as Anna, Evie, and other characters, however, I think this is just a personal preference of mine.

Content Warnings

s__'s review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

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

1.75

The way people talk about this book, you'd think it was the epitome of a crime-thriller.

The only salvageable thing about this book is the explanation given for Rachel's
memory loss
. That was brilliant, but it wasn't enough to make up for the rest of the book being boring.
The characters in this were extremely unlikable, which is saying something, since I typically don't care about the "likability" of characters. How can you write a book in which your main character is that unlikable?! No, I didn't find her unlikable because of her
alcohol addiction
. She was unlikable because she was
a stalker who kept groveling to her cheating ex
(Yes, I would have said the same thing if she weren't a woman). How can you make your main character stupid, pathetic, obsessive, and lack self-respect????? I kept waiting for a character arc and it didn't come until the very last page of the book (if you even want to call it that!). The only true character arc was given to Megan/Jess.
The book is written in a convoluted irritating way. I don't have a problem with the different POV's, but why do the chapters have to be divided based on the time of day as well?! You are not doing a good job telling a story if you have to rely on telling the reader what time of day it is even after giving them other details.
The book was littered with details that weren't important (No, they didn't help build the atmosphere). Most of the book just felt repetitive and as if the author is just trying to increase their word count.
You'll easily figure out the culprit before the halfway mark if you frequently read mysteries. The book lacks all the "thrill" of a thriller (which is especially important if your culprit is predictable), and there's no real shocking, big twist that makes it worth reading through all those pages.
I didn't appreciate the negative attitude the book had towards stay-at-home wives and moms.
I'm bored of thrillers having the most overdone motive and culprit, or at least do it in a clever and creative way. If you're looking for a thematically similar book, I'd suggest The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. It might not be a 5-star read (at least for me), but it's much more clever in the way it reveals the culprit.

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