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velsbooknook's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
3.5
The story follows Rachel who is taking the train, watching the same houses pass by everyday. She loves to see one particular house, because it reminds her of her past life, before she got divorced. She calls the people living in it Jess and Jason. One day she sees Jess kissing another man. The next day she hears about the missing Megan Hipwell and Rachel knows from the address in the newspaper that Megan is Jess.
The story gets told from three POVs. Rachel, Megan and Anna. I liked to get those different looks onto the story. Rachel has an alcohol addiction which made her a very unreliable narrator. I enjoyed how the story unraveled and Rachel slowly regained her memory from the night Megan went missing. It is definitely a thriller with a slower pacing which I don't mind but I was missing some turns that made me rethink my theories. My reading experience was definitely better than what I heard about the book before. The Girl on the Train was a quick and easy read for me and I enjoyed my time reading it but it was nothing groundbreaking.
The story gets told from three POVs. Rachel, Megan and Anna. I liked to get those different looks onto the story. Rachel has an alcohol addiction which made her a very unreliable narrator. I enjoyed how the story unraveled and Rachel slowly regained her memory from the night Megan went missing. It is definitely a thriller with a slower pacing which I don't mind but I was missing some turns that made me rethink my theories. My reading experience was definitely better than what I heard about the book before. The Girl on the Train was a quick and easy read for me and I enjoyed my time reading it but it was nothing groundbreaking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Child death, Infidelity, Death, and Murder
carina_dreamer's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
🚅 Para ser honesta, estava com receio de ler o livro e ficar desiludida, porque as opiniões são muito polarizantes - ou se gosta ou se odeia.
Comigo, deu-se um misto...
🚅 O enredo fala-nos de Rachel, que viaja ida e volta todos os dias até Londres para trabalhar. Vai de comboio e este abranda quase sempre junto de umas casas germinadas que ela observa sem falta. Há uma casa que lhe dá calma e faz sonhar e há outra mais acima na rua que lhe traz boas e más memórias. E em cada uma dessas casas vai estar mais uma das nossas narradoras.
Temos entĂŁo: a Rachel, a Megan e a Anna; ou como as resumo: a testemunha bĂŞbada, a vĂtima e a amante.
🚅 Enquanto leitora, este foi um livro complicado de amar. Todas as personagens são complicadas, a maioria são mesmo más pessoas. A escolha da autora de escrever quase que em formato de diário não resultou para mim (acredito que tenha sido melhor para o filme).
As nossas narradoras são todas não fiáveis, especialmente a Rachel com as suas bebedeiras e fantasias, ambas intermináveis.
🚅 Enquanto alguém que gosta de escrever, eu leio a anoto os meus livros analisando um pouco os autores subconscientemente. Pelo que esta foi a parte de mim que gostou deste livro, porque a Paula Hawkins foi uma mestre para conseguir fazer sentido de toda a confusão desenrolada e de ter deixado pistas fantásticas para quando se deu a revelação.
🚅 Não recomendo para novatos no género de mistérios/thriller porque consegue ser muito messy de entender.
Comigo, deu-se um misto...
🚅 O enredo fala-nos de Rachel, que viaja ida e volta todos os dias até Londres para trabalhar. Vai de comboio e este abranda quase sempre junto de umas casas germinadas que ela observa sem falta. Há uma casa que lhe dá calma e faz sonhar e há outra mais acima na rua que lhe traz boas e más memórias. E em cada uma dessas casas vai estar mais uma das nossas narradoras.
Temos entĂŁo: a Rachel, a Megan e a Anna; ou como as resumo: a testemunha bĂŞbada, a vĂtima e a amante.
🚅 Enquanto leitora, este foi um livro complicado de amar. Todas as personagens são complicadas, a maioria são mesmo más pessoas. A escolha da autora de escrever quase que em formato de diário não resultou para mim (acredito que tenha sido melhor para o filme).
As nossas narradoras são todas não fiáveis, especialmente a Rachel com as suas bebedeiras e fantasias, ambas intermináveis.
🚅 Enquanto alguém que gosta de escrever, eu leio a anoto os meus livros analisando um pouco os autores subconscientemente. Pelo que esta foi a parte de mim que gostou deste livro, porque a Paula Hawkins foi uma mestre para conseguir fazer sentido de toda a confusão desenrolada e de ter deixado pistas fantásticas para quando se deu a revelação.
🚅 Não recomendo para novatos no género de mistérios/thriller porque consegue ser muito messy de entender.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Violence, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Death, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Child death, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Injury/Injury detail
sjlarson's review against another edition
I did not care for any of the characters
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity
eoviattb's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child death
danahardy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.25
Great book! Definitely a page turner. If you get confused by different narrators then I’d definitely recommend the audiobook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Infertility
Minor: Abortion
graceev's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, Violence, Addiction, Blood, Child death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship
geneav21's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It was a good book, and a good plot, with morally grey characters, but still, it’s reading pace it’s really slow, and Rachel and Anna (the main characters) are really dislikeable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Infertility, Miscarriage, Child death, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, and Murder
cjadlp's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Spoiler-Free Summary
Rachel’s life has spiraled out of control since her divorce. She routinely drinks on the train while dreaming up stories about a seemingly perfect couple in a seemingly perfect house along the route, and then goes home, keeps drinking, and wakes the next morning to find that she’s called her ex-husband… again. But when Rachel wakes one morning with mysterious injuries and learns Seemingly Perfect Wife disappeared the night before, she feels she has no choice but to insert herself into the investigation.
What Worked (for me)
- Although Rachel is the protagonist, there are three narrators — all women, all unreliable. Hawkins handles our unreliable narrators and flashbacks masterfully, so you feel obligated to question anything presented as fact.
- I empathized with Rachel and her personal demons, even when some of her choices made me cringe with contact embarrassment. This is a broken woman trying to glue herself back together with booze and mystery.
- While the mystery wasn’t especially difficult to unravel, there is a specific component of the finale that sets this apart from other thrillers I’ve read.
What Didn’t Work (for me)
- I recognize that this is nitpicky, but it still bothers me five years later and ultimately cost this book 1.5 stars (it lost the other 0.5 on its own). Behind the spoiler tag is some science about drinking, but it is technically a major spoiler for the plot.
Blood alcohol levels affect your hippocampus, the part of your brain that records and stores memories. A “blackout” happens when your hippocampus stops recording, or stops storing those records correctly (like when you remember bits and pieces). The memories you have the morning after a bender are the only memories that exist. Any “recovered” memories after the fact - especially much later in time - are fabrications.
- With the exception of that one thing in the finale, the actual story structure is so textbook that I wasn’t surprised when Jessica Brody used it as the “whydunit” archetype in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel.
- While I empathized with Rachel, I absolutely slammed the book on her once or twice when she insisted on doing embarrassing things.
Final Thoughts
This is the book that rekindled my love for reading in 2018. We had just moved to a new city and joined the library; this was on the best seller shelf and I thought, “Why not?”
It was a fun, easy read, and a solid introduction to thrillers for someone who was - at the time - unfamiliar with the genre. That said, it feels a little too formulaic now and I’m still annoyed about the drinking thing.
It was a fun, easy read, and a solid introduction to thrillers for someone who was - at the time - unfamiliar with the genre. That said, it feels a little too formulaic now and I’m still annoyed about the drinking thing.
Recommendation
I would recommend this to someone who is new to the genre, or who genuinely enjoyed The Couple Next Door and/or In a Dark, Dark Wood.
I would also recommend this to writers looking to study unreliable narrators and plot structure.
I would also recommend this to writers looking to study unreliable narrators and plot structure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Murder
Minor: Physical abuse
alexmall029's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Crazy plot twist and addictive
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Mental illness, and Murder
alisonfaith426's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Murder, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, and Infidelity
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content