The Geek Ramblings

Blog by Aravind Pedapudi

Feb 27th, 2016

Book Review: The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I generally don't review books, I rate them only for my later reference. For this though, I make an exception. Here goes my first review.

I was reading a really bad book and I had to put it down because it made no sense. Then I started reading this book and I'm ashamed to say I kept reading it even though it was obvious from the get go that the other book (Poor Economics) made much more sense. I continued reading just because I felt it couldn't get worse, it can only get better. I was wrong. It showed me new levels of the word "worse".

Somebody told me Khaled Hosseini forces sadness upon you. That "A Thousand Splendid Suns" was immensely sorrowful and needlessly so. To them, I tell, here's a book that makes Thousand Splendid Suns a thousand times sunnier. This is a sad story of a sad alcoholic. So sad, you stop feeling sad for her. You hate the character. You hope she gets hurt. But sadly the author isn't so benevolent. That at least would have made me write a line in this review in her praise. You don't notice a plotline till your Kindle shows that you're 60% through the book. And the plot is so "complex" it takes you only a second to notice that the suspect is the person who is the least suspected in the investigation. There are lots of unnecessary characters who contribute to nothing (to which purpose the main characters do no better job).

I have lost so many hours of my life. I only write this review so that you wont lose yours. Go outside, take a walk in a polluted city, read about Trump in news, watch How I Met Your Mother another time. It'll do you more good. I won't ever suggest this book unless you are high on life and want to experience suicidal thoughts.