Book Review: The Girl on The Train

The Girl On the Train is a stellar novel written by Paul Hawkins. This modern psychological thriller keeps you on the edge of our seat with each page. This book is written in the perspective of 3 female characters who keep a journal. This novel follows the lives of Rachel, a passenger on a train who keeps up with the lives of a couple on the street she used to live in. But then she finds out horrific news and becomes a key witness. This novel follows the lives these 3 characters, Rachel, Megan, and Anna.

“ I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head ” – Paula Hawkins

The exquisite writing makes all the characters look guilty, causing you to speculate who it could be. This book made me realize that you don’t know someone as much as you thought you did. They are just putting on an act to mask their true self. This book kept me captivated throughout.

There are a variety of characters in this book. Including a chronic alcoholic, a cheater, conflicted wife, perceived murderer husband, jealous ex-wife, therapist and more.

Out of all the main characters, my favourite had to be Rachel. She played the role of an ex-wife who went through so much shit. From trying to get pregnant to ending up divorced from her unfaithful husband. The outcome of this lead to depression, alcoholism, and unemployment. Though she went through quite a few rough patches, she still managed to get through it at the end of the day. She’s also intrusive, but it leads to a great outcome in the end. Lastly, Rachel felt like a real person. I can totally see my self-becoming friends with her. Her flaws were what made her real. Unlike other books, the main character didn’t seem made up and fake. She was someone the reader may find themselves connecting and relating to.

Now, let us talk about the other 2 characters. As for Megan lets just say she’s conflicted in her marriage and life. Though at first, through Rachels perception, Megan is a perfect and model wife. One that Rachel wished she had been. But over time, as readers, we will start to see the perceived perfect character unravel to be the imperfect person we all are. Her marriage is falling apart and not for the reasons one would typically expect. She’s still in love with her husband but her problems are worse than it seems. She’s afraid of children because as a teenager she accidently killed her newborn baby. Dealing with abandonment issues as her first boyfriend fled and her brother died as a teenager in an accident. But let us not forgot about her tendency of having affairs. From sleeping with one man to kissing another. Hawkins did not do the character justice as we did not get to hear a lot about Megan’s perspective as there were not many journal entries written by her. in fact, Megan’s character did not develop instead the opposite happened. Everything went downhill after a couple journal entries.

Lastly, Anna. She was definitely the character I hated the most. She was the devil disguised as the husband stealing demon. As well as a drama queen, who can’t stand Rachel for the stupidest reasons. First off, Rachel did nothing wrong,.Anna was the one who stole Rachels man, lived in Rachels house, and dismisses another’s pain and sorrow. A distinct scene in this book is when Rachel is trying to reveal the person her ex-husband is to Anna, she does not listen. Though there is some slight character development as Anna comes to accept Rachel and wishes all the best for her. I hope that Evie does not turn out like her mother. Let her at least come out a decent human being, unlike her mother.

The story line of the book constantly made me guess who was guilty. Hawkins did an excellent job in making the reader second guess themselves as we learned more about the situation. The person you believe is guilty will change constantly. You won’t believe the number of times I found myself trying to connect the dots and predict who was guilty.

This book is one of the best books I have read this year. I finished this book with shock after the ending of the novel. The ending will leave you with your mouth wide open. Let’s just say TRUST NO ONE. The person you believe you can trust becomes a person you don’t know after shocking secrets are revealed.

If you have read Gone Girl, you will enjoy this book.  I 100% recommend yall to read this novel. This book was a major page turner. Your girl finished this book in 3 days. I would recommend this book to young adult readers or fans of psychological thrillers. This book can be easily compared to Gone Girl though there are some major differences.

Overall: 5/5

– XOXO chana

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