Well, this was....interesting.
Not sure if I liked it or disliked it......it's one of those disturbingly ok novels that are fast paced but I found myself getting bored and thinking the author could have settled the mystery with about 100 or so less pages of words.
I'm also not sure why it's been on the NY Times bestseller list for as many weeks as it has. and to think the movie is coming out next autumn......
STORY SUMMARY
Rachel takes the train into London every day from the suburbs. She works in London. As the train whizzes past suburban homes, she looks into the windows or gardens. There is one couple that she sees often. They sit on their deck having breakfast. It is summer. She has named them "Jason and Jesse". She sees them as the "perfect couple with the perfect marriage".
Their real names are Megan and Scott. And they definitely do NOT have the perfect marriage. Megan deals with issues from her past and Scott is just inept as a husband. They live a few doors down from where Rachel used to live with Tom.....before he divorced her and had a baby with Anna.
One day she (Rachel) sees something so shocking, that it changes everything. She ends up at the police station, trying to explain what it was she saw. But they say she is unreliable. Is she really?? She becomes entangled in the lives of the couple, the neighbors, her ex-husband and his wife. What really happened?? Has she done more harm than good in revealing what she knows??
MY THOUGHTS
This book was odd. I know it has been on the best seller list for quite some time...many weeks in fact. I'm really not sure why.
The book was about this woman who is struggling with an alcohol addiction, is recently divorced, has recently lost her job, and lives with another single woman who really doesn't want her around and feels sorry for her. Rachel is a mess. She is still obsessed with her ex husband Tom. He is married to Anna and has a baby named Evie. They are all quite dysfunctional, really. The characters annoyed me and I found my self becoming impatient with every single one of them. We are then introduced to Megan...the woman who disappears. Megan is married to Scott but has a sexual addiction. It is at this discovery that I questioned my self as to why I was even reading this...but so many people had told me how good the book was.
It deals with addictions, loneliness, adultery, betrayal, and obsession.
I definitely didn't care for those themes yet was drawn in because the author's style of writing was interesting. She had each chapter be a different voice (Anna, Megan or Rachel). But I found it cumbersome because not only did it go from present to past, but even in the same section of the chapter it would jump from past to present. It was annoying to me. However, I DID like the way she wove in the train setting, especially in the end of the book. I don't want to spoil anything for you so I won't go into details.
There is a movie based on this book coming out in October. I probably won't spend money to see it.
I wish Hollywood would do a movie on books like The Nightingale instead...which in my opinion is a far superior story.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 21 and older, mainly due to theme/content.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this an 8.
2 comments:
This was not a favourite with me either and in all honesty I was sorry I had actually bought a copy instead of just getting it from the library.
Hmmm, interesting. I hate when I can't figure out if I liked a book or not!!
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