I'm going to be perfectly frank and say that I had absolutely no interest in reading The Girl on the Train when it debuted. I'm not a huge fan of thrillers, and even though I was told that this was a really good one, it wasn't something I had to pick up.
And after reading it, I stand by my initial thoughts.
It isn't that The Girl on the Train isn't a fast read because it is. I flew through it in just a few hours when I was home sick last week. But had I not been sick and focused on finishing on a book for #15in31, I think this would have dragged for me. I also don't think the book is bad, it just isn't my usual cup of tea.
The biggest reason why I didn't feel so in love with it was the main character-Rachel. Very soon into the story we learn that Rachel's life isn't all that great. She's unemployed, but still pretends to go to work every day, she's recently divorced and insanely jealous of her ex-husband Tom's new family, and she's a pretty big alcoholic. And while there are reasons for all of those things and her very negative outlook on life, it's hard to like her. To feel any kind of sympathy when she does completely moronic things.
And all 3 of the main female characters have those flaws. I wouldn't classify any of them as strong females, and that was hard for me to jump on board with. Rachel was by far the worst, but Anna was also a weak female. As Tom's new wife, she just blindly goes along with everything and sees herself as better than Rachel (sorry, you helped a man cheat on his wife. That's something I am never okay with and I hate when that tries to be "justified"). And Megan, well...she had a lot of issues and was, like the other two females, weak.
I kind of wanted to give them all a good shake.
I digress.
The story does move quickly, and I am sure that fans of thrillers will soak this one right up. However, there weren't a ton of twists to the story and I figured out the ending long before it arrived-perhaps that's why I didn't enjoy it as much?
In any case, I am glad I read it to see what all the fuss was about, but I think I'll stick to my gut next time around and read what I think fits my style.
“I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head.”
*This was my second book read for the #15in31 challenge! Huzzah!
I think what I said in my review was that I didn't see the twist ahead of time, but it didn't surprise me. It could have been any of the characters, and none of them would have surprised me. And that kinda made it not worth my time in the end.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I was expecting this...I don't know...whirlwind of awesome. And I didn't get that.
DeleteI had a similar reading experience with this one. Was curious but really should have used my reading time for a different book. I found the characters shallow and just vehicles to move the plot. By the time we get to that scene in the car with her ex, I was ready to wash my hands of the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteYep, I felt the same way!
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