From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

The Girl on the Train

Paula Hawkins

Start date: May 10, 2015

Finish date: June 5, 2015

Discussion: 2015 Challenge Prompts

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2015 Challenge Prompts

Prompt 25: A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't
By Ann · 67 posts · 992 views

last updated Jan 17, 2023 03:51PM

Prompt 39: A book with magic
By Ann · 48 posts · 446 views

last updated Jan 02, 2019 05:46AM

What Members Thought

Jan 24, 2017 Graceann rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, suspense

This hit close to home for me, for one simple reason. I've been known to do what Rachel does from the train each morning, though not with one specific person. I make up stories to fit the people I see when I'm traveling. There's one woman I remember, years later now, for whom I had an entire backstory by the time I'd come to the end of our very long journey. She was beautiful, seemed sad, and was lost in her own thoughts - for all I know, she was putting together a backstory for me.

Rachel takes ...more

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Feb 01, 2016 Joanna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-read, audiobooks, kindle, rws-2016-summer, bookclub-bo

I previously tried to read the kindle version of this book and gave up after about 10% of the text.

This time around, it was selected by a book club, so I picked up the audio version. The audio is definitely the best way to experience this book. Jarring transitions that felt clunky and confusing in print were handled quite skillfully by the narrator and with important pauses that made them easier to go with. Also, hearing the description of the shifting emotional state of the narrator as she desc ...more

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Jan 02, 2017 Kristin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I usually get to 'hyped' books late in the game but this one was on my 'To Read' list when I started hearing about it all the time, so I figured I'd read it while it was still pretty popular. It was a pretty good book, but not among the best I've ever read nor one I think I need to read again to understand everything, as Hawkins tells the story in meticulous detail. Generally, I stay away from books set overseas simply because I have a hard time geographically imagining the scenes. If an author I usually get to 'hyped' books late in the game but this one was on my 'To Read' list when I started hearing about it all the time, so I figured I'd read it while it was still pretty popular. It was a pretty good book, but not among the best I've ever read nor one I think I need to read again to understand everything, as Hawkins tells the story in meticulous detail. Generally, I stay away from books set overseas simply because I have a hard time geographically imagining the scenes. If an author writes about taking a Philadelphia to New York bus, I know it's about an hour long bus ride, but if a bus is going from London to Cardiff, Wales, I have no idea if it's a short commuter trip, an overnight journey, or something in between, nor what either city looks like or the cultural markers the characters may encounter. However, 'The Girl on The Train' had a very American feel, so I didn't feel so lost. In fact, the author referred early in the book to a distance measured in feet, then another measurement in meters in the next sentence, which did strike me as odd, as I can't say I ever use the metric system outside of work, where it's easier to work with volumes in mL and L than cups/quarts/gallons etc., so the casual flipping between the two systems in the book surprised me (unless editors changed measurements to make the book more appealing to Americans).
The plot itself was intriguing, as Rachel, the title 'Girl', rides a commuter train back and forth every day and passes the neighborhood where she used to live with her ex-husband, Tom. Tom still lives in the house with his new wife, Anna, and their baby, but it's another house in the neighborhood, occupied by 'Jess' and 'Jason' that intrigues Rachel. Although she has never met this couple and thus doesn't know their real names, the few seconds of their lives Rachel observes every day convince her they are the happily married, successful couple living the life she always dreamed she would have with Tom, before he left her for Anna. She still longs for Tom and despises Anna, but her attempts to contact him and convince him to reconcile never turn out well.
One day on her way to the train station, she sees in the paper that something has happened over the weekend that makes her question whether Jason and Jess were living the perfect life at all. Rachel also realizes she was in the neighborhood, on one of her attempts to reconcile with Tom, that Saturday night. However, she is also an alcoholic and is fully aware she experienced a blackout, but feels that if she keeps returning to the neighborhood, much to the displeasure of Tom and Anna, that something will jog her memory and she may be able to help the police.
I wouldn't call this a romance, but romance plays a big part. It is a mystery, though the suspect pool is rather small, and I was convinced the book would turn out completely different than it did, though I can't figure out how 'my' ending would have been justified. The majority of the book is narrated by Rachel, but Hawkins also gives us the perspectives of Jess (aka Megan) and the year of her life leading up to that fateful Saturday, and Anna as she deals with the constant presence of her husband's crazy drunk ex at certain pivotal plot moments.
Overall, an enjoyable, fairly quick read. I would probably read another book by Hawkins if the plot sounded interesting, but I won't add her to my 'must read' authors list.
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Aug 07, 2015 Alexandra rated it liked it · review of another edition

Stop comparing this to Gone Girl! Great read with enjoyable pacing and engaging format. But it is thankfully not a Gillian Flynn-style book. Swift read with a unique reveal. Go for it!

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