The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is…different. Of course, you probably know that it has received rave reviews, so obviously there is something appealing about it. Its movie adaptation comes out in October. So what’s all the hype about? Let’s talk about that.
First, if you haven’t read the book I’ll give you the briefest of rundowns without spoilers. Rachel rides a train into London every day, and every day she passes a house that has caught her eye. She studies the couple that lives in the house every time the train stops at the signal. It just so happens that this house is a few doors down from a house where Rachel used to live with her ex-husband. Now her ex lives in her old house with his new wife and baby. Rachel could not be any more despondent about this. Her life is in ruins, so she finds solace in imagining the happy life of the couple that live in the house by the train tracks. Until one day the woman she has been admiring from afar goes missing. Eccentric and alcoholic Rachel injects herself in center of the investigation without knowing that she has a bigger role in it than she realizes.
The story is mainly told from Rachel’s perspective, but we get several glimpses from Megan’s perspective (the woman that goes missing) and Anna’s (the new wife of Rachel’s ex-husband.) The tense in this book changes frequently. The main storyline is in present tense, but we are often led up to a dramatic moment and then left hanging until several paragraphs or pages later when we get the info we wanted so badly, but in past tense. Sometimes it almost feels like we are reading journal entries, but then we are in present tense again. I found the format frustrating at times.
I thought that the story was interesting enough, though there were some slow parts where we were stuck in the narrator’s head too long. Paula Hawkins did a wonderful job keeping me guessing up until ¾ of the way through when I was finally certain where things were headed.
To me, none of the characters were relatable. In a way, it was similar to Gone Girl in that I didn’t like a single character and yet I still had to know what happened to them. Paula developed her characters well, especially Rachel and Megan, but it didn’t make you like them any more. Being in these characters’ heads was unpleasant at times (not so much in a dark and twisted way, but more in a frustrating don’t-be-stupid way), but it gave clarity to the plot which made me want to keep reading.
Overall, I was impressed with Paula Hawkin’s debut novel and pleased to see someone break the mold of traditional writing. This gives me hope for my novels! I downloaded this novel on my kindle and added the audible narration for times when I was doing dishes or laundry. I thought the narrators—Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey, and India Fisher—did a fantastic job of giving these characters voices, and I wouldn’t have gotten through this book nearly as fast without them. If you’re interested in reading—or listening to—this book, you can get it here.
