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

alright so... this book has a lot of hype, the copy I read from the library literally has a sticker saying it was the book of the year in 2015.... and I thought it was very meh...

the writing and the plot were not bad but the characters.... I couldn't stand most of them. I do know that they were meant to be very explicitly flawd but holy shit... there were two characters in specific that I absolutely DESPISED with all my guts which were Anna and Tom. istg I never wanted to punch someone through a book so much in my life. I think I Anna made me more angry than Tom throughout most of the book because I could read her pov and seeing what she was thinking made my blood boil.

i kind of saw the plot twist coming but at the same time I didn't?... idk how to explain.

one thing I liked tho, was reading most of this on the train everyday. you could say I was a girl on the train reading The Girl on the Train 😌 and I honestly am one of those people who looks at people on the train and on the bus and asks themselves "where are they heading?" and I start picturing things like "oh, that person might be going to work, that person might be going to college, that person might be going shopping, that person might be going to the hospital, that person might be going to see their parents or friends" idk why I do that but i do and I could relate to Rachel on that part (but obviously not on the rest).

Content Warnings

vaguely_pink's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.0

Content Warnings

sophiemartin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

mtthplc's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

2.75

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devinaaaa's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

flickingthroughpages's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Hooked from the start!!
Read so quickly
Highly recommend
Great psychological thriller

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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