The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkes

This book was highly recommended to us by another all-female book group. Billed as a 'psychological thriller' this was a new genre for us as a group read and it got a unanimous, and enthusiastic, vote as our next read. 

So, did we enjoy it?  

It's clever (nothing is obvious and it twists and turns in unexpected directions) BUT it's drawn out and yes, we know she's an alcoholic and we didn't need constant reminding. 

The idea of the train and the view into the gardens is great. Most of us imagine we have been on the same train line and enjoyed the garden spotting opportunities it presents! And, the tiny bits of information that are just dropped in to make the reader 'wonder' are really clever. 

It's is a real page turner - even the slow readers among us found they read it in record time. 

We expected to get chilled by a thriller, to feel afraid of what would happen next, to be frightened when reading alone at night, and we didn't. That's the disappointing bit.

The characters - well they are all a bit far-fetched. 

The police are really badly portrayed. We would spoiler the book if we explained why but their behaviour is so questionable that we wondered if it would offend most self-respecting police. 

We loved Cathy - what a good friend. We wonder what happened to Cathy after. 

Megan's story is so sad. Tom, we were not surprised by. Scott is weak and questionable. Kamal is a genuinely nice bloke (we had to re-read the kiss, it caused great debate). Mac is unforgivable. 

But why are all the women portrayed as losers and victims? We are actually quite angry about that. It's so unnecessary to do that. 

We ended our discussion trying to work out why is this book so popular? Marketing, Richard & Judy, very readable, there's a film, the title is clever and one you can relate to.  It's hype. 

We won't recommend it (but you might want to give it a go anyway and see what you think!)

Our next read is a classic: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and we will meet to discuss that on Thursday 26th January 2017 at 8pm in The Hundred. 

Book Choices - November 2016

Our next meeting is at 8pm on Thursday 17th November at The Hundred of Ashendon. We will be discussing The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. 

Here are choices for our next read: 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the "roaring twenties", and a devastating expose of the "Jazz Age".

Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering world of the mansions which lined the Long Island shore in the 1920s, to encounter Nick's cousin Daisy, her brash but wealthy husband Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and the mystery that surrounds him.

Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans

Eccentric, hilarious, and devilishly witty, this Wartime tale of an evacuee during the Blitz is like no other. Noel Bostock is a ten-year-old orphan sent, for safety, to live with 36-year-old Vera Sedge, in St Albans. Vera is a livewire, with money problems and a scheming mind – Noel provides the intelligence to her hair-brained ideas and together they make a great team. 

These explosive characters will have you in fits of laughter, as you fall head over heels for this book. All of which is less of a surprise when you learn that the author was a Former producer of Father Ted and a director of Have I Got News For You.

The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

In 1939, as Poland falls under the shadow of the Nazis and the world goes to war, young Alma Belasco's parents send her overseas to live with an aunt and uncle in their opulent San Francisco mansion. There she meets Ichimei Fukuda, the son of the family's Japanese gardener, and between them a tender love blossoms, but following Pearl Harbor the two are cruelly pulled apart. Throughout their lifetimes, Alma and Ichimei reunite again and again, but theirs is a love they are forever forced to hide from the world.

Decades later, Alma is nearing the end of her long and eventful life. Irina Bazili, a care worker struggling to reconcile her own troubled past, meets the older woman and her grandson, Seth, at Lark House nursing home. As Irina and Seth forge a friendship, they become intrigued by a series of mysterious gifts and letters sent to Alma, and learn about Ichimei and this extraordinary secret passion that has endured for nearly seventy years.