The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins Riverhead Books, 2015 ISBN: 978-1594633669 336 p.p.

We all know that feeling, the feeling like you’re being watched. You look over your shoulder, but nothing is there so you continue about your day. We all do it, we watch each other and wonder if anyone is watching back. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins, explores this scenario. Rachel is divorced, alcoholic, unemployed, and depressed. Every day she takes the same train and every day she watches one house, a couple she calls Jess and Jason. In her mind, this couple has the perfect life, but when Megan (Jess) shows up on the news as a real missing person, Rachel may be the only person who can save her. The Girl on the Train is compelling in the character development, but the mystery leaves something to be desired.

The most compelling aspect of this novel is the way that Hawkins writes the two prominent female characters. Rachel is portrayed as a mess. The highlight of her day is picturing how other people live their lives.

There’s something comforting about the sight of strangers safe at home.

She lives her life through fantasies and then drinks to cover up the memories she has. Rachel does not try to disguise her downhill spiral either, as her friends tell her how many mistakes she makes, the more she drinks to shut them out. This character is boring and repetitive at first if it were not for Megan (Jess), Rachel’s opposite. Meanwhile, Megan looks perfect on the outside while she is breaking on the inside. The reader is first introduced to Megan through Rachel’s eyes. To Rachel, she sits in the sun every day and has her coffee hand delivered by her beautiful husband. Her life is free of worries. But, Megan feels like she is tied to a husband she does not love and a life she does not want.

I can’t do this, I can’t just be a wife. I don’t understand how anyone does it—there is literally nothing to do but wait. Wait for a man to come home and love you. Either that or look around for something to distract you.

Her former life was filled with spontaneity and now she has to live every day with routine. She finds it boring and stifling.

Megan tries to change, repeatedly, but she is never able to get over her challenges. Rachel, on the other hand, does and this in a truly remarkable journey. In the beginning of the novel, Rachel is nothing more than an idler on a train and by the end of the novel she is an active participant in her own story and in other’s stories. Rachel has very little control over her life because she has been controlled by others her whole life.

I want to drag knives over my skin, just to feel something other than shame, but I’m not even brave enough for that.

Although she is portrayed as this awful drunk who ruins every party with her debauchery, she is actually a victim and she is not able to wake up from her victimhood until she has to help someone else. For most of the novel I found Rachel’s narrative to drag on and was much more interested in Megan’s story. When Rachel does fight for herself and her friends, she fights hard. Hawkins writes this character so that her character change is slow, and you are bored by her, but by the end of the novel you are rooting for her. Even though I was interested by the end, Rachel’s narrative arc could have been much stronger in order to maintain the thrill of the novel throughout.

This thriller is great for summer reading. It is a quick read with a very interesting hook. Megan’s story drags on for too long and takes the reader away from the thrilling aspect of the other characters. I found myself bored, which should never happen when you are reading a thriller. What Hawkins writes best is Megan’s story. Megan is dark and her past is very intriguing. Every chapter that Megan narrated I could not tear myself away from. Megan is the character who kept me reading throughout the novel.

Hollowness: that I understand. I'm starting to believe that there isn't anything you can do to fix it. That's what I've taken from the therapy sessions: the holes in your life are permanent. You have to grow around them, like tree roots around concrete; you mold yourself through the gaps.

I just wish more of that darkness was present throughout the thriller. The mystery of the story also turned out strong in the end. It waned throughout the novel, but in the end Hawkins was able to pack a punch and throw in a surprise ending. I would recommend this novel for anyone interested in reading an enticing mystery.

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Paula Hawkins is a writer and former journalist who lives in London. The Girl on the Train is Hawkin’s first novel and it has been published all over the world. Before it was even released The Girl on the Train was optioned by Dreamworks. As of June 28th, 2015, The Girl on the Train is still #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List for Print and Ebook Fiction and #3 on the Amazon best seller list of 2015.