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The Girl on the Train

Paula Hawkins

Start date: March 12, 2015

Finish date: April 30, 2015

Discussion: Group Book Discussion

Why we're reading this: Winner of the March/April Bookmarks Selection poll.
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What Members Thought

Jan 27, 2015 Kathy rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, england, trains

I approach reading a book such as The Girl on the Train with all the hype surrounding it in a state of both excitement and trepidation. With promises that it’s going to be one of the year's best books, I read the book with this expectation hovering over me. I really wanted to love it, to be able to proclaim my agreement with the horn tooters and prophets. It was interesting to see if I would fall in with those who proclaim its genius or those who failed to be smitten.

This one had me lingering i I approach reading a book such as The Girl on the Train with all the hype surrounding it in a state of both excitement and trepidation. With promises that it’s going to be one of the year's best books, I read the book with this expectation hovering over me. I really wanted to love it, to be able to proclaim my agreement with the horn tooters and prophets. It was interesting to see if I would fall in with those who proclaim its genius or those who failed to be smitten.

This one had me lingering in the land of suspended opinion for pretty much the first half of the book. I genuinely disliked all the characters and found the three major women narrators either weak or bitchy. However, there is one measure of a novel’s effectiveness that cannot be denied. Did I need to keep reading to see what happens? Did I stay up late reading to fulfill that need as quickly as possible? The answers to both questions are “yes,” so I have to conclude that the story is a compelling one, and the deeply flawed characters are paramount to the success of the plot. The whole crazy setup works, and the characters do evolve. Of course, the fact that I have a fascination with trains and a long standing curiosity about what is going on in houses that I pass either on a train or car enhanced the method in which the story unfolds. My voyeurism was born watching Rear Window, where watching the daily routines of neighbors proved chillingly exciting and deadly. Not surprisingly, Hawkins’ book has been described as having Hitchcockian flair.

Rachel Watson is about as sad a sack as can be, and the only real interest she has in life is watching the lives of others out of the train window as she travels from a small suburb of London into the city itself. Alcoholism and obsession are the constants of her life, and moving on from a devastating divorce seems an elusive step for her. As a distraction from her pain and decline, Rachel has become fixated on one couple in particular during her daily commute and has named them Jason and Jess, the perfect couple. The train’s signal stop enables Rachel to witness Jason and Jess having coffee on their back terrace in the mornings, and she becomes emotionally invested in the scene playing out before her. And, then Rachel's image of her perfect couple gets slammed by reality, as interactions Rachael witnesses in her train watching spill over into a drama of a missing woman. The often incoherent state of black out in which Rachel finds herself proves to land her right in the middle of this suburban drama as she strives to remember vital information. The police consider her an unreliable witness when she reports on what she’s seen from her couple watching. As Rachel desperately searches for answers, the lines between lies and truth blur, and the tension of the story winds tighter and tighter.

Paula Hawkins uses three alternating narrators, three women at the heart of the story, with Rachel's voice being the prominent one. This approach allows the reader to understand how very little is as it seems. It works toward the climax of the different perspectives coming together in a chilling reveal. I started out stating that I didn't like the characters, meaning I wouldn't pick them as people to be in my life, but it doesn't mean that the characters didn't do their job well. While it won't be my favorite book of the year and isn't an "it" book for me, it was a good read that hit on my "Rear Window" sense of thrill.
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Jan 27, 2015 Karen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: very-best-of-2015

A real page turner! I was on the edge of my seat. Paula Hawkins kept me guessing until the very end. If you are looking for a quick and suspenseful weekend read, curled up in front of the fire while the snow piles up outside this is the book for you. If you read this book in the Summer this would make a great beach read too! I look forward to reading more from this author.

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Jul 03, 2015 Laurie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Whoa, first, I don't typically read books focused on affairs, alcoholism, or murder. This one, though, grabbed me at 9:00 this morning and held me captive until I finished the novel tonight!

"Twice a day, I am offered a view into other lives, just for a moment. There’s something comforting about the sight of strangers safe at home."

"Life is not a paragraph, and death is no parenthesis."

"have never understood how people can blithely disregard the damage they do by following their hearts. Who was i ...more

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Feb 12, 2015 Catherine rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-liked

I would rate this book 4.5 stars. Most of the book was the kind of thriller that I didn't want to put down so I finished it quickly and found it an engrossing read. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars was that there was some inconsistency in terms of the main character's (Rachel) relationship with her ex husband (Tom) and the ending of the book. (view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 11, 2015 Mimi rated it really liked it

Shelves: personal-library

Not my usual choice of genre. I find these psychological thrillers too stressful for me. With that stated, I thought the book was well written and I read it for book club.
Rachel rides the train every morning and fantasizes about the lives of the people she views from the window. Megan wishes her life was different. She struggles with being faithful. Anna doesn't care that she ruined a marriage because she has a great life now if only the ex wife would leave them alone. All three voices take the ...more

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