Book Review: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

If you haven't heard of The Girl on the Train I don't know what planet you've been living on! Not only in the book blogging/booktube world has this book been huge, but also is mainstream media. 

Marketed as being along the same line as the hit book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, I would say the twists in this book are not as crazy and over the top as the former. 

I listened to the audio book version of this book while I was at work as well as diving back and forth between school and home, and finished it during Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon. 

I thought this started out a little slow, but really picked up after the first few chapters. I loved that Rachel, the main character, was unreliable. It made the story really fun to read. At the same time made you feel bad for her and the struggles she was facing in all aspects of her life.

While the journey of this book is mainly back and forth on a train, I feel like the personal journey is what is really important. And on a side note, I loved Rachel's roommate for wanting to help her out. She was such a good person.

What I didn't like was Anna's narrator, I found her voice to be really annoying (that of course is only a problem with the audiobook). I also felt like most of the time the supporting characters didn't have much depth to them. 

I didn't love love love this book, but that being said I like the writing style of Hawkins more than that of Flynn's but I like the story of Gone Girl so much better. This fell flat for me at the end because I saw the ending coming for a long while, and I think it's because I was listening to the audiobook. 

SPOILERS BELOW

The reason I knew was because when we heard Megan speaking to her lover for the first time, he did not have an accent. When Megan was talking to her therapist whom Hawkins wants you to believe is the murderer, she always talks as him with an accent so I knew that it could not have been him. 

Overall, this was a good book and I understand why it was such a hit. It is a fast read that is exciting but not something I would ever re-read.