Since its release, it's been hailed as the new Gone Girl. And unless you've been living under a rock for the past year, you'll definitely have heard of Paula Hawkins' thriller/mystery novel, or you're one of the thousands who have read it already!
The book is split between the diary-like narratives of three characters, Rachel, Megan and Anna, Rachel becoming the protagonist of the novel. The plot, very basically, details the hum-drum life of an undeniably troubled commuter in the form of Rachel, who becomes enamoured with a couple, whom she names 'Jess and Jason', that she observes on a daily basis in their home, from her seat on the train to London. Sounds kinda creepy right? Well it only gets more so, when Rachel finds that 'Jess' has gone missing. Unable to distance herself from the couple who are of course complete strangers, Rachel intertwines herself within their relationship and the mystery of Jess' disappearance in order to both help, and satiate her own need for a little bit of purpose in her otherwise turbulent life.
Written in an easy-to-read prose but with a twisting, turning narrative structure, I definitely think that The Girl on the Train successfully walks the fine line between enjoyable leisure reading, and novels that require a little more deeper thinking. After three years of University studying books I was told to and had to read, this was my first book of choice post-academic life. And to be honest, I think it was a perfect choice. It was fun and pretty easy to read, but also kept me consistently wanting to turn the page (or slide to the left on the Kindle) to figure out what on earth was going on. Getting the story from three different perspectives made sure that details which may ordinarily have been left out or simply narrated to the reader through the protagonist were relayed in an exciting and 'omg it all makes sense now!' kind of way, which I much prefer and think makes the process all the more fun.
If you're looking for a book where you don't have to work too hard, or one where you almost resent having to carry on normal life when you could be reading, this would definitely be the book for. Get reading quickly, because the film rights were acquired by Dreamworks back in 2014, meaning a GOTT film could be heading our way very soon. And we all know that the book is always way better than the film, right?
The book is split between the diary-like narratives of three characters, Rachel, Megan and Anna, Rachel becoming the protagonist of the novel. The plot, very basically, details the hum-drum life of an undeniably troubled commuter in the form of Rachel, who becomes enamoured with a couple, whom she names 'Jess and Jason', that she observes on a daily basis in their home, from her seat on the train to London. Sounds kinda creepy right? Well it only gets more so, when Rachel finds that 'Jess' has gone missing. Unable to distance herself from the couple who are of course complete strangers, Rachel intertwines herself within their relationship and the mystery of Jess' disappearance in order to both help, and satiate her own need for a little bit of purpose in her otherwise turbulent life.
Written in an easy-to-read prose but with a twisting, turning narrative structure, I definitely think that The Girl on the Train successfully walks the fine line between enjoyable leisure reading, and novels that require a little more deeper thinking. After three years of University studying books I was told to and had to read, this was my first book of choice post-academic life. And to be honest, I think it was a perfect choice. It was fun and pretty easy to read, but also kept me consistently wanting to turn the page (or slide to the left on the Kindle) to figure out what on earth was going on. Getting the story from three different perspectives made sure that details which may ordinarily have been left out or simply narrated to the reader through the protagonist were relayed in an exciting and 'omg it all makes sense now!' kind of way, which I much prefer and think makes the process all the more fun.
If you're looking for a book where you don't have to work too hard, or one where you almost resent having to carry on normal life when you could be reading, this would definitely be the book for. Get reading quickly, because the film rights were acquired by Dreamworks back in 2014, meaning a GOTT film could be heading our way very soon. And we all know that the book is always way better than the film, right?
0 comments:
Post a Comment