The Girl On The Train- Paula Hawkins

 

 

I finally got off the hold list for this book. I was trying to figure out why people were so crazy over this book. Everyone was pretty tight lipped and only that it was so good. Speaking of holds, there are currently almost 700, still. Yikes! Anyways, I took it on our vacation because we had a 10 hour road trip.

 

I got hooked quite early and kept reading because I just had to know what was happening. I'm a Psychology major so anything that has to do with the psyche is fascinating to me. The main character, Rachel really drove me nuts. She's in a horrible place. She lost her husband, her home, her job, her sanity. She still takes to train in everyday to keep up appearances that she's working. She's become an alcoholic and all she really does is constantly drink. She's miserable about her lost marriage and is having a hard time moving on. When she's on a bender, she likes to call her ex at all hours.

 

One day, she's on the train like normal, when she sees something horrible. To her anyways, it was just the appearance of what happened. She has made up these whole stories about people that she passes on the way to work. When she sees something that she doesn't agree with, it throws her completely off. She doesn't know the whole story, just that they are perfect in her head. She then becomes insanely intoxicated and events happen that she does not remember. It's a rough morning when she wakes up and there's a missing person. In fact, it's the person she idolizes. So she then makes it a mission to figure out what happened to her.

 

The whole time though, she's not sure if maybe she had something to do with it. She repeatedly drives me insane because she puts herself in horrible situations. She also makes things so much worse for her. Every time you think, "it will be this time!" It then it turns out that it will not be that time.. or the next. You start to get frustrated but then again you understand.

 

I loved that we get the three different points of view throughout this book. We get the story of three women, whose lives are entangled with each other in the present. We learn the past of Megan, who Rachel perceives as the perfect wife. We also get the story of Rache's ex-husbands new wife. I really didn't know what was going on until I got close to the end. I had no idea who was at fault. It's really amazing to see what people will do in their self-interest. I'm amazed by all the women and how selfishly they acted and irresponsibly. I was also shocked at the lengths someone would take.

 

A good thriller and it really is a fast read. You just fly through the book, mostly because you have to know what is happening. I don't know why it's blown up as much as it has. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, but not the greatest.