The Girl on the Train

I finished The Pillars of the Earth on the train from Philadelphia to NYC. Upon arriving in New York (visiting my father and step-mom) I saw their large stacks of books scattered around their Upper West Side loft/condo/apt (whatever NYC'ers call their living spaces). My step-mom recommended The Girl on the Train, which I had placed a hold for at my library and was the 2nd person waiting for the book. Fortunately, step-mom had a tangible copy, so for the first time in I can't remember how long, I read an actual book instead of my Kindle.

And I finished it in under 12 hours.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Genre: Fiction, suspense
Publication Date: January 2015
Setting: London suburbs, 2012 - present

This book was recommended to by Skimm, a fellow teacher, my step-mom, and the New York Times. Needless to say, I had high expectations. However, it fell short of those expectations and turned out to be a less maniacal English-version of Gone Girl. The story was interesting enough and the work was easy to read (that explains the completion time), but it lacked... richness. The girl on the train refers to Rachel, who is a divorced, unemployed, alcoholic and is just a big mess. I kept telling her to get her shit together, put down the damn drink and stop sending crazy messages to her ex. It was disappointing that the main character was so pathetic and I couldn't relate to her.

While this book was for feminists, it was a little too anti-men. Almost all the males the book were bad guys, in some way, while all the females were the silent sufferers of these males. I love girl-power, but not at the expense of tearing down the other gender and making them all misogynistic, apathetic liars.

Additionally, I have a strong distaste for affairs, and this book is full of them. Everyone eyeing someone else or being eyed by someone else and no one can stay faithful. That may be the reality of our world today, but I don't enjoy reading about it.

And apparently, according to Wikipedia, Dreamworks will be making a movie based on this book. I hope I didn't give away too many spoilers...

Finished reading: Saturday, June 6, 2015

DD's rating: C+
It was entertaining enough, it was light, it wasn't fun, but it's a good summer book to read on your vacation travels or while you're visiting family (like I was). This book will not move you, but it will keep you mostly engaged with the desperate behaviors of lonely women.