The top-selling psychological thriller so far this year according to Amazon is none other than Paula Hawkins’ Girl on the Train. In a genre historically dominated by men Paula Hawkins among other notable females writers are moving in and they are not setting at the back of the train.
Personally, I love this book. The suspense is spell-binding, but it is the magnificently synthesized psychological dysfunction of the cast that is oddly addictive. I am not too embarrassed to admit that over the summer I listened to the complete audio version three times. And, for those of you still wondering; it is more thrilling than Gone Girl.
The story surrounds around the somewhat serendipitous entwined lives of five people, three of them are women. The
I would recommend this book to people who love realistic stories. Personally for me it is hard to find books that interest me and this one felt like if I was watching someone else's life while I read it. It has so many interesting points. When you think something might happen
During the train trip from Washington D.C. to Savannah, Georgia, it was difficult for Marian Anderson and her mother because they had to put up with racism, discrimination, and segregation while on that single train ride. Since they were segregated from the whites and the "white folk" had the more luxurious train car, the colored people were expected to ride inside the more dilapidated train car. The car that they were riding in was "dirty inside and out" and had "windows [that] were badly in need of washing, and the ventilation and lighting were poor." This means that the conditions that the colored people were expected to reside in were of extremely low quality. Not only that, but it can be inferred that people can get sick while on the train ride. The line, "...the air became stuffy and the windows were raised, smoke and soot from the engine directly ahead poured into the car." shows that people were unable to breathe properly while in the train car. The people riding the "lower class and colored car" would have to make a choice of either feeling cramped inside the "stuffy car" or feel less cramped but not be able to breathe properly.
“Riding the Bus with My Sister” by Rachel Simon is a touching, true life journey about Beth and her sister Rachel. Beth and Rachel are in there thirties at the time the book takes place. They were born eleven months apart and aside of their age difference and their personality, Beth is different from Rachel because she suffers from mental retardation. Beth has lived on her own in her subsidized apartment and enjoys riding the bus routes around Pennsylvania city. Beth asked Rachel to come stay a year with her in order to accompany her in her daily bus route routine and Rachel agreed. “Riding the Bus with My Sister” documents Rachel’s remarkable journey her and her sister spent together and her learnings from Beth. Simon presents views on how those with mental retardation should be treated and self-determination.
This tale is essentially how to win over a woman successfully. Multiple people love her, but she only chooses one person to love her. But in the end, all three lovers make some sort of mistakes. To summarize, the first lover of Alison, is John. He is actually married to her, but Alison being insensitive falls in love with Nicholas. Meanwhile this entire time Absolon is trying to get Alison to love him formally. Nicholas,
“I am learning to pretend, to smile and nod, to display empathy I do not feel. I am learning to pass, to look like everyone else, even though I feel broken inside” (Kline 112). Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline sheds light on how young orphans such as Vivian and Molly feel compelled to change elements of their identity in order to fit in. Vivian Daly immigrates to America as a young girl with a thick accent, and an Irish name that is difficult to spell and pronounce. Furthermore, she never feels truly at home or like she is part of a family, and does whatever she can to please her foster family. Molly Ayer grew up on the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation, and enters the foster care system after her father dies and her mother ends up in jail. Molly has trouble trusting others, and relies on her appearance to create a persona for herself. On the other hand, I try my hardest to stay true to myself and not succumb to peer pressure to fit in, but it has happened occasionally. Changing parts of one’s identity to fit in does make a person less genuine because they are not able to express themselves.
In Sharon Old’s, “On The Subway,” the speaker compares her life to a black boy. She compares their different lives and the different positive or negative connotations that may be associated with them. Olds does this with her use of metaphors, similes, and imagery.
I think my favorite thing about this novel was the realistic ending. Some books try to just give you a fairy tale but this book had an ending that mad you think in the end if I was in the same position would I do the same thing. I didn’t like the fact that the novel portrayed mental illness in a way to say that it needed to be hidden and protected. I thought this novel was very believable for the time period that it was set in. I think the ending to this novel was perfect it was an accurate ending to this
I heard quite a bit of conflicting thoughts about this one, some people didn’t like it, and some loved it. I think it’s one of those books that you just need to pick up and make the decision yourself. In saying all this, I truly did love The Girl from Everywhere and I am so excited to read more.
events and places and ends up in a gender balanced marriage where both the man and the woman
The movie is, most likely, done well enough to intrigue its intended audience. It captured the theme and story line of the book. It falls short, though, when compared to the beautiful, sensitive and contemplative prose of Natalie Babbitt. One could only hope that a viewing of the film will lead the watcher to try the book and be delighted all the more.
The time when this story took place was a time when men and women were
Through all of this happening, they all remain strong, and put up a good fight. At times the men might have put a sort of fear into these women heart’s but sometimes came back sharp-tongued. They stand out all for both good and bad purposes and some things could have been better or completely avoided. In all this confusion, nothing was completely resolved but all these women greatly affected someone’s life.
I found the book to be easy, exciting reading because the story line was very realistic and easily relatable. This book flowed for me to a point when, at times, it was difficult to put down. Several scenes pleasantly caught me off guard and some were extremely hilarious, namely, the visit to Martha Oldcrow. I found myself really fond of the char...
In all honesty, I chose to read The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O’Brien because it was the only text that I could get my hands on. After reading it though, I’m glad I had the luck of choosing it. I realized, while reading the trilogy, that throughout my course of study, I have not read very many female authors. I may have read a few short stories along the way, but most books that I have read for classes and for pleasure have been written by men. I saw the difference in writing styles as I read the first paragraph of the book and immediately liked the change of pace and detail-oriented style. I also found that I really connected with the main characters, Caithleen and Baba, whose real name is Bridget. I found it interesting that I invested such interest in two characters whose personalities are so different from my own. Caithleen was the narrator in the first two books, and I found that I connected with her most because of her details and innocence. The trilogy represents three phases of these women’s lives from their girlhood, to losing loves and the trials of marriage. Through it all, their interesting friendship changes according to the events in their lives until a sad and untimely end. I’m not sure that that I would want a friendship like Caithleen and Baba’s, but at least that had each other in the end, when the rest of the world seemed to have forgotten them. The excerpt in Colm Toibin’s anthology, The Penguin book of Irish Fiction, is from the first book in O’Brien’s trilogy called The Country Girls. For purposes of this paper, I will discuss the excerpt itself, and then the rest of the first book of O’Brien’s trilogy.
The book and the movie were both very good. The book took time to explain things like setting, people’s emotions, people’s traits, and important background information. There was no time for these explanations the movie. The book, however, had parts in the beginning where some readers could become flustered.