This review is for the audiobook version of The Girl On The Train.
I’ve had mixed feelings about this book. I had to stop listening to it because the narrators were getting on my nerves, but then picked it back up to try again. They still bothered me, but the story got better, and the end was somehow both exciting and predictable simultaneously.
As others have noted, the narrators are all unreliable, as are the accounts we get from those they interact with. This novel bothered me in the same ways as Wuthering Heights; everyone is behaving irrationally and selfishly and making a mess of everyone else’s lives. The central mystery is wrapped in layers of bad behavior, to the point that I barely cared whose it was. Usually I like at least one character, but all of them seemed like people I would cut out of my life.
Another problem I had was the jumps in the timeline between narrators. This would probably be less of an issue in the print version, but I couldn’t keep the timeline straight while I was listening to it. The readers did a pretty good job, and I was glad they picked a different actor for each of the three narrators, but they each had a slightly different voice/accent for the male characters, which made it a little more confusing.
Overall my feelings are kind of meh. Despite the great cast, I probably won’t go see the movie. (and Emily Blunt is too thin and pretty to play “fat, ugly” Rachel!)
The time jumps were tricky for me also and I read it in print (well, Kindle). I kept have to flip back a few pages to remind myself where in the timeline I was. I also agree that they should have picked another actress to play Rachel, but I don’t think she’s as “fat and ugly” as Anna says.
I didn’t find the characters as loathsome as those in Wuthering Heights. For the most part, they seemed to have some reason for their bad behavior. (e.g. Rachel is an alcoholic). Thanks for the great review!
See every Jennifer Weiner book made into a movie ever. Hollywood ignores appearance cues like ‘fat’ and ‘ugly’