Orphan Train

First Reactions

In school we all had to read a novel written by Christina Baker Kline called Orphan Train. The novel was about the forgotten history of America's Orphan Trains and the children who rode them and their experiences. In this book the reader follows a young Irish orphan, Niamh, and her journey as an orphan train rider and how it weaves into the present day and life of a young teen in foster care. 

I thought the book was very interesting. I was skeptical at first because I assumed it would be a boring book and not that interesting as a whole but was pleasantly surprised by how interesting the characters were and how Niamh's life progressed as a result of her becoming an orphan in the late 1920's in America. Before this book I didn't know orphan trains existed and i'm glad I learned about this important and astonishing but forgotten piece of this country's history. I loved the character Niamh and didn't want to put the book down when reading her sections of the book, but the teen Molly from present day I was not a fan of, i thought she was annoying and her story insignificant to the plot of the book. Had she not been part of it at all the book would be just as good if not better. I felt she was insignificant, but do see why the writer used her character to try and create parallels between orphans in the past and present and draw a connection between the two to make Niamh "more identifiable and understanding to teens today". All I would change about this book is Molly's involvement in it and the killing off the character of Dutchy, I felt that was overkill with the tragedy and made the book hard to keep reading because of how sad it got from there. 

Genres

My Favorite Genre

My favorite reading genre would be the psychological thriller genre. I prefer this genre over others because it grabs my attention more than the others and usually when reading these books I find them hard to put down. I rather read a book that makes my hair stand on end and my heart race than one that puts me asleep. I like feeling a strong involvement in what I'm reading like wondering "What's going to happen next?" "Who did this?" and being excited for when I pick up the book again next. My favorite author from this genre would be Gillian Flynn. He just has a great way with plot twists and increasing suspense. Whenever I read her books I end up surprised and blown away by the ending. I enjoy how she isn't afraid to write very dark either, not shying away from making it truly psychologically thrilling. My favorite book so far of this genre that I've read is Dark Places which was by Gillian Flynn. It was an extremely dark book but so well written and stitched together. There wasn't a boring part in the book and i had a hard time putting it down and loved the ending. 

Gillian Flynn+ Dark Places

The genre I had to present in class was the crime genre which happens to be a sub genre of the psychological thriller genre. Instead what sets it apart in its own category is that it always involves a crime mystery, but is still suspenseful and usually dark and thrilling to the reader. The more modern true crime genre started out with Edgar Allen Poe's short stories and evolved since then into the crime genre we know today with a large following of people due to its ability to scare, captivate, and of course thrill the reader.