The Girl on the Train: A Book Review

Source: https://www.whsmith.co.uk

Rachel is a regular in the 8:04 train to London. She’s been through this ride so many times that she has memorized the houses they pass by, observing the lives of those who live in them. She makes up the names of the people she sees and invents stories about them in her head. Then one day, she witnesses something gruesome. She went home with a bloodied head and flashes of an attack that may or may not have happened. A woman is reported to be missing, last seen at the exact time and place Rachel was before she blacked out. The problem is Rachel could not remember. She was drunk, as she always is, and she couldn’t tell reality from the imagined. The girl on the train is no longer just an observer. She’s now part of the story, unfortunately, as a suspect.

I was excited to read this book especially because the film adaptation stars Emily Blunt, one of my favorite actresses. I was warned that I was not going to like the protagonist because she is an alcoholic and is an unreliable narrator. This turned out to be true. Although Rachel was trying hard to stop drinking throughout the novel, she would always slip back to her habits when something unfortunate comes up. Sometimes, I felt like I wanted to just get into the novel, grab her bottle of wine, and smack her in the face with it just to get it over with. However, I do relate to her in a way. She is a divorced woman living with a roommate in a place she could no longer afford. She just lost her job, her husband, her house, and, little by little, her motivation to live. Basically, like most of us, she’s still trying to figure out what she’s supposed to do next, striving to discover the next step on a day-to-day basis. I specifically love how she describes what she feels because then I know how lost she is and how hard she’s trying to change. I did not expect to sympathize with this character at all especially because I don’t get why people drink alcohol in the first place. But Paula Hawkins did a great job because I ended up rooting for her despite her tendency to always make the wrong and dangerous move.

The novel is told not only from Rachel’s perspective, however. We get to hear from two more characters—the missing woman and Rachel’s ex-husband’s new wife. Throughout the book, we get to know more about each of these three characters and their secretive past. We know from the get-go that Rachel is messed up and every day seems to get worse for her. The other two, however, seem to lead perfectly normal lives until we delve deeper into their stories and discover their demons. If there is one thing I took away from this novel, it was that no matter how happy someone seems from afar, there’s always a regrettable past that looms in the background, just waiting to be exposed.

The first half of the novel slowly introduces us to the characters while also introducing the tension building up. We learn that all of the people in the story, although strangers at first, have some connection with one another at some point in their past. In terms of pace, the first parts were quite slow since we are still getting to know the real people behind the entries, but it was actually my favorite part. I loved learning about the women’s vulnerabilities and how they are trying to handle them.

My only issue with the plot is with the big reveal. The mystery was finally solved, but I think it was solved too early and too gradually that it did not take me by surprise. Rachel’s flashbacks, although not all real, gives the readers the idea about what truly happened, so a slower build-up towards the end gave it a dragging feeling. The best thing about thriller novels for me is the suddenness and unexpectedness of the revelation. This book, unfortunately, did not give me that. After the mystery was cleared up, I thought that there was no point in reading further, seeing that the next parts are obvious. And indeed, they were. There was nothing new with the story in general. When you want an action-packed and mind-blowing novel, this is not the one you’re looking for. However, it is a relatively engaging book, and I recommend it for those who are stuck in a rut and whose lives seem to fall into pieces. The characters will show you that you’re not alone and that you can start over again. Just avoid observing people from trains. It might prove fatal.