Carissa Green Reads
I read widely from many genres. Perhaps this blog will feature fewer ratings and reviews, but I certainly intend to write about my reading life - it's the subject I most find myself wanting to talk about.
Currently reading
Not one likable character . . .
When "Girl On the Train" was released, it was touted as the "New 'Gone Girl.'" I suppose there are a minimum number of similarities, and marketers need to market. But strangely enough, my reaction to "Girl On the Train" was the reaction many of my friends had to "Gone Girl": I didn't like it because there were absolutely no likable characters.
Now, this may be true for "Gone Girl." In fact, in both Gillian Flynn novels I've read, the people certainly aren't nice. But the story was so interesting, the motivations and twists so -- well, twisted -- that I did enjoy the books.
"Girl On the Train," on the other hand, is populated by a bunch of unlikable (in basically uninteresting ways) people who do a bunch of stereotypically shitty things to one another. Without the complex psychology and psycho plot twists, it was just another woman-in-peril story for me. Like the network TV hour-long "dramas," if you know what I mean.
So there you go, if you didn't like "Gone Girl" because there were no "likable" characters, make sure you skip "Girl On the Train." It's the lesser book.
-cg
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