Book Review - The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Anyone who knows me knows that I have strong opinions about Gone Girl. I call it the books I love to hate. I can't really decide whether my love-emotion or hate-emotion is stronger at this point, but they are both alive and well. For Gone Girl, I read the novel quickly and was enthralled in the story. The twists kept me on my toes and I could never guess what was about to happen. However, I hated pretty much everyone in the story. I didn't like that I could not trust the narrators because they flat out lied to the reader. Not cool. Anyway, I have read quite a few stories since Gone Girl. 

I think combining all of these facts is why I am struggling to review The Girl on the Train. Arguably, this is one of the most talked about novels of 2015, despite it only being February. The book has garnered so much attention and many of the bloggers I follow have already read and reviewed it. I have refused to read any reviews because I want to form my own opinion first. 

I read The Girl on the Train very quickly and found it intriguing. Rachel is our unreliable narrator, but I feel so much empathy and anxiety for her. She is a divorced alcoholic who rides the train into the city every day pretending to go to work so that her roommate will not know that she was fired. Many people have compared the unreliable aspect of Girl on the Train to Gone Girl, but I don't think that is a fair comparison. I think we are dealing with two different things. In Gone Girl, the narrators intentionally lie. In Girl on the Train, Rachel is so psychologically damaged she cannot remember important details about her life. Apples and oranges, in my opinion.

Rachel enjoys watching the street she used to live on by the train and becomes entranced by a young couple who live a few doors down from her ex-husband and his new wife, a woman he left Rachel for. She imagines the life of the young couple, and in her yes, they are perfect. One day, she sees something that makes her question this, and the following day, the young woman disappears. Rachel must decide if what she saw could be contributing to the woman's disappearance and what she should do next.

As an added bonus, we get to hear some of the story from the perspective of Rachel's ex-husbands new wife, and another character. These three perspectives provide clues to the outcome. Here is where I got a bit disinterested in the story. Through the alternative perspectives, I pieced together what I thought was happening. Turns out, I was right! So, when the "major twist" comes toward the end, I was not surprised...:( In life, I don't like being surprised. In my books, I crave it. 

All in all, I thought this was a great read! I was engaged and the story kept me feeling anxious and off-kilter. However, I disagree that the unreliable narrators can be compared to Gone Girl and I was not surprised by the ending. I would highly recommend this to a friend!