The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train possesses all the qualities we expect from a good suspense novel: a sympathetic if seriously flawed protagonist, plenty of surprises and plot twists, a compelling mystery, and some good old-fashioned drama. Rachel Watson has hit bottom. Her drinking has ended her marriage to Tom and got her fired from her job, and she’s living in a rented room in her long-suffering friend Cathy’s house. She hasn’t told Cathy about losing her job, and so to keep up the pretense of working she dutifully boards a commuter train each morning and rides into Euston, where she spends the day in coffee shops and the public library and wandering around the town avoiding people she used to work with. As it happens, the train takes her show more past the house where she previously lived and where Tom is now living with his new wife Anna. A few houses down from Tom and Anna are a young couple that Rachel doesn’t know whom she names Jess and Jason. With little but guilt and regret to occupy her thoughts, Rachel watches this couple and allows her imagination to conjure up an ideal life for them, a life assembled from voyeuristic daydreams and the tiny snippets of real life she witnesses from the train each morning and evening. Then one day she sees something from her seat on the train that shatters the illusion she has built and compels her—ill-advisedly and impulsively—to insert herself into the lives of people who, despite her imaginings, are strangers to her. Rachel knows she is intruding where she doesn’t belong and where nothing that happens is any of her business, but her state of mind is so fragile that she convinces herself it’s the right thing to do. She blunders forward, telling one lie after another, humiliating herself in front of people who matter to her, falling off the wagon time and again, and getting tangled up in a tale of disappearance, murder and illicit love where no one and nothing can be trusted, least of all her own booze-addled memories. Paula Hawkins has written a remarkable story in which everyone behaves badly and none of the characters is particularly likeable. But the story she’s telling draws us in so completely and holds us in such a firm grip that once you start reading you have no choice but to continue to the end. The novel is well paced, written with attention to detail and with little in the way of padding. In the end, an unlikely alliance springs up and the fate of those left standing rests on the ability to come up with a good lie and tell it in convincing fashion. The Girl on the Train is not a story that will restore your faith in humanity, but for entertainment value it’s hard to beat. show less

This was a premise to which I couldn't say no. From the window of her train, troubled, alcoholic commuter Rachel Watson watches the world --including a couple who are frequently out on their terrace at the very point her train stops every day. She names them Jason and Jess and decides their lives are the perfect happy-ever-after that hers has never been. But then Jess, whose name is really Megan, goes missing; and Rachel's memory of the night Megan disappeared is a yawning black hole. Did she see something? Can she help these strangers who continually draw her into their lives? I expected a taut psychological exploration driven by the mystery, but Hitchcock this isn't. None of the characterizations ring true, and the plot is created by show more withholding information the characters would naturally be thinking about (other than Rachel, who can't think about the plot due to alcohol-induced blackouts).

I didn't find a single one of these characters to be genuine in their humanity. They're not merely unlikable; their un-likability is forced and exaggerated. Rachel's convenient blackouts happen so frequently as to become tedious. Even sober, she constantly makes atrocious decisions, all the while acknowledging to herself variations on "I'm stupid" and "I shouldn't be doing this." She has no common sense, no boundaries, no willpower, no emotional fortitude whatsoever until the climax, at which point she is suddenly inexplicably level-headed, all because she has discovered the villain was lying to her all this time. The other first-person narrators are no more believable: Anna, who is married to Rachel's ex-husband Tom and seems to be a mash-up of sociopath and nurturer (what?); and Megan, about whom I really can't say anything without spoiling the mystery.

The problem is, Megan's point of view conceals key things about herself as well, to the degree that the reader doesn't even know about the concealing until the climax (at which point there's no "aha," only frustration). In addition, the voices of these women are interchangeable and the climax includes the villain opining about his/her heartlessness using dialogue cliches to disparage the others while everyone sits around on sofas and drinks tea.

The characters of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN remind me of those I've met in novels by Gillian Flynn and Chevy Stevens. Fans of those authors will likely eat this book up, too. But neither Flynn nor Stevens are my thing, so it's no surprise Hawkins isn't either. Next time other readers make such a comparison, I'll trust them and avoid. show less

What do you get when you throw a bunch of horrible, self-destructive, self-centered, toxic people into a suburban street and introduce them? This book. There are a couple of times that the characters begin to seem a little sympathetic, but oooohhhhh nooooo ... gotta be paranoid, hopeless and idiotic about everything.

OTOH, I can't pretend that I didn't enjoy the book. I ripped through it. It's breezy reading because the author clears out the unreliable narration by presenting the events through an alternative POV. albiet, another completely unreliable narrator, but there you have it.

This might be a spoiler.

There are a couple of points that hit me hard - The gaslighting of alcoholics. It's too easy and cruel. I never thought I'd see it show more done in a book. I also never thought I'd see the feelings of a woman who'd been through infertility in a book like this one. Again, it's a fairly good representative of women who are longing to have a child, but can't.

I enjoyed reading this one. What a trainwreck it was.

show less

The short review: Fangirling. Just totally could not get enough of this story. Stayed up late reading and then got up early to read. ON A SUNDAY, PEOPLE. Sleeping until 9:00 has been my idea of church for years now. NOT TODAY. Read this while I was brushing my teeth and washing my face. Wanted to take it with me on my jog. Resented "having" to go to a concert I was lucky enough to get free tickets to – yes, the music was exquisite, but why did it have to be playing today when I HADN'T FINISHED THIS BOOK YET? Holy carp, what a rollercoaster.

The more coherent review: The writing reminds me a lot of Shirley Jackson, which is the highest compliment I can give. The structure is innovative, and Paula Hawkins knows how to give out just show more enough information to keep you running after more, but doesn't tease so mercilessly that you want to throw the book across the room.

It wasn't just the plotline that kept me glued to this book. (I'm barely exaggerating about that glue. I took it with me in my purse to that concert so I could read during the intermission, and actually tried to prop it up in such a way that I could read while I was making the bed. That's a cry for help, folks.) It was the way Hawkins forced me to rethink and reexamine all my assumptions about the various characters. This story goes way beyond anything as simple as an unreliable narrator. THE WORLD is unreliable. Until it isn't. Until the right people have the courage to look squarely at what's in front of them, instead of being distracted by what they want to believe.

I am out of my mind over this book, and I'm afraid that'll ruin it for some readers because come on – how could it live up to this kind of hype? (I tried to read while shaving my legs. In the tub, with shaving cream and a new blade in my razor. I'm almost sad that didn't kill me, because it would have made one hell of an obituary.)

So don't read The Girl on the Train just because I raved about it. Check out a few pages and see if it grabs you.

I'm just saying, every once in a while a book goes bestseller because it's really, really good.

P.S. Don't forget to reread the first couple of pages immediately after you finish this novel. Paula Hawkins pulls a bit of The Sound and the Fury action at the beginning of GOTT – not enough to drive a reader nuts, just enough to keep you wondering. show less

Poor Rachel's life has fallen apart since her divorce (well, really before that). She has taken to drink, lost her job but continues to take the train every morning to keep up the pretense for her roommate. The train goes by Rachel's old neighborhood where she observes people living the life she wishes she still had. Then one day she sees something that changes what she fantasizes to be true. The drinking and erratic behavior make her a less than ideal witness and the police discount her statements , but maybe they should pay a bit more attention.

I read this book faster than I have read a book for awhile. The setup and unreliable narrator keep you guessing and I didn't really have it figured out until the last eighth of the book. show more Rachel makes a lot of poor choices which don't make her entirely likable, but she is probably the most sympathetic character in the book. For those readers who enjoyed Gone Girl and who appreciate an author who can make you keep reading even though the characters are despicable. show less

I absolutely loved this one! It was like being invited to witness first-hand how the facades people display publicly can mask – but never completely hide – the reality just below the surface, fighting to get out. I love how the story is a shared narration from the point of view of the three women – Rachel, Megan and Anna – and flows back and forth through time, giving the reader only snippets of information as the story pieces together. If you prefer linear storylines, this might not appeal to you. It also might not appeal to you if you struggle when the “good guy” is a flawed human being, in need of a few more redeeming qualities. Hawkins has provided the perfect unreliable narrator in Rachel, a lonely, divorced alcoholic show more prone to drunken outbursts and memory blackouts. Of course, the fact that she tends to lie – to her ex-husband, her roommate, even the cops – does not help her situation and there are more than a few “WTF” moments when Rachel tries to befriend the missing woman’s husband, inserting herself in the middle of a situation for the most unusual of reasons.

I found myself shifting my opinion of the various characters as the story played out. While some are more “likeable” than others, the fact that every character has a dark side – or a secret they are hiding – adds to the complexity of the story. Some readers may find Rachel’s first person voice highly annoying – seriously, where does she come off thinking these things? – but for me, this is exactly what gives Rachel her credibility as a character. Anna, and even Meghan, have their own “flinch-worthy” reveals, but I didn’t go into this story expecting to connect with the characters. I am more of a fascinated observer of the human condition and Hawkins provides a lot for this reader to observe and ponder. Hawkins also does a fabulous job with ratcheting up the tension and drama with each new subtle revelation. Sadly, the ending struck me as a tad odd – kind of out of step with the story – and the only reason I am not giving this one a full 5 out of 5 for this solid debut novel.

Overall, a wonderful psychologically-driven suspense read. show less

This is one of those books that I found it hard to like any of the characters, but, pardon the pun, like a train wreck, it was hard to look away, and I felt compelled to learn what would happen. I was also compelled to find out why, oh, why these women were such a “hot mess”.

Between an alcoholic, a liar and a cheat, who can you trust while they are telling their story? That was a clever approach to a book. The unrelenting bleakness of Rachel’s situation was difficult to bear. The characters were consistently (counting my blessings) difficult to relate to, dealing with a multitude of serious dysfunction from addiction, infidelity, murder, abuse, obsession, mental illness and life-altering guilt. But I read it to the end to find out show more what happened…very clever of the author, if you ask me. show less