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Monday, October 25, 2021

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins ★★★★☆

Emily Blunt looking harsh and drinking at the bar in a still from Girl on the Train
“I once read a book by a former alcoholic where she described giving oral sex to two different men, men she'd just met in a restaurant on a busy London high street. I read it and thought, I'm not that bad. This is where the bar is set." 
- Rachel

This book deserves its own category: women's horror. Stephen King's Jack and Danny Torrence from The Shining & Doctor Sleep showed the violence and shocking depths alcoholics find themselves in. Alcoholism in a woman, written by a woman, is worse. Rachel is worse. I cringed through this whole book and not just at Rachel's actions, Megan and Anna are no pearls. 

This book could have been Train Wreck: Women Making Poor Choices. I couldn't stop listening. I finished it in a day. Maybe it's because it reminded me of some of my own poor choices, but this had me burying my face in my hands and groaning in shame. As Rachel says, "the sense of shame I feel about an incident is proportionate not just to the gravity of the situation, but also to the number of people who witnessed it." 

Listening to this book was like seeing the worst moment of my life in a viral video. HORROR!!!

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