The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins Book Review

Judging a Book By Its Cover ;

I know you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover.. but I do. I like an aesthetically pleasing book cover, I love how it looks on my shelf, etc. So for The Girl on the Train I got this book cover ;

I like how simple and cute it is. I love the font, it suits this cover very well. I also like the train tracks going up the cover with part of a face showing, it comes off as a mystery type book just based on the cover and it is, so it works well. I know there are at least two other covers for this book and I think this one is my favorite.

First Impression from the Blurb + Movie Trailer ;

"EVERY DAY THE SAME
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

UNTIL TODAY
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?"

This sounded so intriguing to me. This is the first suspense thriller/mystery book I've actually read which is shocking to me because I love mysteries. I also saw the movie trailer way before getting the book and I really liked it so when I saw this book at Goodwill for $1 I immediately got it and I'm so glad I did.

                           Rating ;  

           Review ; For the first few pages this book was a slow read to me it didn't seem that interesting then around page 6-7 the book began to pick up a bit. I liked the style of writing, how it was from three different peoples perspective, like it's their journal/diary. But early on I felt like I already knew how the book would end but boy was  I wrong and I realized that just pages later when a plot twist ruined my prediction. After that I was hooked and I kept trying to guess how it would end and boy was I surprised. I didn't love the characters but they were realistic, I know people like this exist and everyone fights their own demons, I liked how Paula Hawkins gave some back story to the main characters that lets you in on why they are the way they are. I know a lot of people didn't like the "hot mess" characters but I  felt for them. I didn't like all of their mindsets and I didn't approve of most of their actions but I was still hoping things would work out for them in the end. What I took from this book is people are not always what they seem to be, looking into somebodies life from the outside you might think they are perfect or they have the perfect life but you never really know what goes on behind closed doors. Also you could know somebody for years and never really know them. All in all I really enjoyed this book, I loved the thriller aspect and how I didn't want to put the book down, I wanted to know what was happening with each character.

Character Review ;

Rachel ; At first I didn't like Rachel, she was so weak and felt she needed her ex, I didn't like the way she acted after 2 years of being separated from her ex she was obsessed with his life and other people. Also I didn't like that she was an alcoholic. She relied on alcohol daily but she knew she became a different person while she was drunk. I loved the writing because it was accurate on how some alcoholics black out and don't remember things, etc. I'm on the fence on how much I liked her in the end, I mean she had a gut feeling and she went with it but again she was obsessed with other people's life to find the truth out in the end. With all that being said I was rooting for Rachel to stop drinking and get her life together to move on and try to be happy which I like to believe happened after the book ended.

Anna ; I didn't really care for Anna, she was the other woman and was perfectly fine with it, in fact she liked it. I also didn't like how she hated the house she lived in and the way Rachel acted, Anna felt scared of Rachel and that she might hurt the baby but she didn't leave the house, she stayed, I feel like most mothers would automatically leave if they felt their child was in danger. In the end of the book Anna definitely shocked me.
Megan ; At first when you read about Megan through Rachel's thoughts you couldn't help but like the picture perfect "Jess" but later on you actually get to see that Jess is actually Megan and Megan's life isn't so perfect. I liked that Megan wanted to experience life, she needed that rush but I quickly changed my opinion on that when I realized how she wanted to get the rush. Also after learning her big secret I was disgusted, even knowing it was an accident and she was young I just couldn't get over it. But yet again I was rooting for Megan, she wanted to get her life together, she wanted to come clean.

"Life is not a paragraph, and death is no parenthesis"