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Paula Hawkins has penned a thrilling mystery that keeps the reader engaged until the last page. Rachel is commuting every day on the same line. Her life is crumbling. Her husband has left her for another woman, her drinking has affected her job, she is on the verge of being tossed out by her landlady. Reviled, divorced and an alcoholic, she daydreams on the train, creating fantasy lives for a couple she passes on her route. She can't let go of her ex and it destroying her life. One day, she observes something strange at the house of the golden couple, and she finds herself being sucked into a missing person's investigation. The problem is she can't recall her whereabouts or trust what is real or in her mind. This book was filled with unexpected twists and turns. Despite Rachel's lack of appeal, I found myself rooting for her to turn her life around. She is a loser, with nothing to endear or redeemable about her character, yet, Hawkins imbues her with such a pitiable humanity, that I hoped life would work out for her. The Girl on the Train starts with the sterility of our age, the assumption that if it looks like a pig, act's like a pig, we will accept that it is a pig. Hawkins takes her characters and scrapes away the patina covering them to reveal that every train is filled with passengers, and all of them have very interesting stories to tell.
Happy Reading,
Carole P. Roman
I know that I'm in the minority here. But I thought it was just okay. 5 dysfunctional characters, and I didn't really care about any of them. Based on the popularity of the book, it must just be me missing something that others saw.
ReplyDeleteI totally get your point of view. It was strange, I felt that way while I read the book, but found myself getting sucked into the story. Books are so subjective. I didn't like China Bride, The Light Between the Oceans,and The Light We don't See and felt in that same minority. What was I missing? While I understood they were all well written,I couldn't connect to the story or the characters and also felt that I missed something. I understand how you feel about the book, and found myself wondering why I liked it while I was reading it. I think Rachel's loneliness and disconnect with society really struck a cord with me. While the secondary characters were creepy and in some ways unbelievable, there was a sort of honesty to Rachel that compelled me to find out what happens to her, and for me, that was some good storytelling!
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