Thursday, October 27, 2016

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins


Generally I don't want to read a book that is surrounded by hype.  Remember, it took me YEARS to finally read Harry Potter because I was told that I should.  This month, our book club chose to read The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins which has been turned into a major motion picture.  Since book club chose it, I read it.  

The book was written from the perspective of the three female lead characters.  Each character represents some of the worst qualities or worst fears that I (and I imagine other women) feel.  Rachel Watson is an alcoholic who lost everything seemingly due to her alcoholism.  Her husband cheated and divorced her, she lost her job, she is living in her friend's spare room and even the friend is losing patience.  Rachel rides the train past her old house everyday on her commute and she has discovered another couple in a house nearby that she has imagined a whole life for in her boredom with her own life. Jess and Jason turn out to actually be Megan and Scott Hipwell, a couple with a very different life than Rachel had imagined.  Megan has disappeared and is feared dead and Rachel becomes entangled in the lives of so many involved.

Megan has a heartbreaking past that would make any mother cringe in fear of her own possible shortcomings.  Does this past have something to do with her disappearance or is there something else, something more present or sinister involved?

Anna Watson, Rachel's ex-husband's new wife, is disturbed by the fact that Rachel keeps popping up in their lives.  She can't seem to catch a break from the ex-wife and no matter how much her husband, Tom, assures her that he will take care of it, Rachel keeps showing up.  Anna was the other woman and the woman who could give Tom a child.  It's interesting how this plays into the story, too.

I was surprised by the ending of this story, I'm not really good at predicting this sort of thing, but I definitely didn't see this ending coming.  At one point, I was concerned that this story was going to take a Jodi Picoult Leaving Time or Sixth Sense kind of turn, but thankfully, I was wrong.  I liked this book as a book, but I can't imagine it'll be an amazing movie.  I think I'll either wait until the library gets a copy or maybe check it out in the Redbox, but I won't be in any hurry to get to the theater to watch it. 


Do you read the books with all the hype?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Tell me what you think: