The Girl on the Train is a mystery story that is told from the
perspective of a few different characters.
Firstly, there is Rachel, who is the titular girl on the train, an alcoholic young woman, who rides a train
into London everyday for work. During
her daily trips to and fro, she begins to recognize some of the characters who
live along the railway. Not knowing them
in person, she begins to develop characters and back stories for them – in particular,
a couple whom she names Jason and Jess.
She sees increasingly odd behaviour between the two, and one day, notices
that Jess disappears. We also follow
Anna, the current wife of Rachel’s ex-husband, Tom. She is an insecure woman who reveals her
claws to protect those close to her.
Interestingly enough, Anna and Tom live along the rail and are never too
far from Rachel’s eyes. And finally, we
follow Megan, a young and mysterious woman who lives a few doors down from Anna
and Tom.
All these perspectives revolve around the disappearance of
the young woman, “Jess”. But with
inconsistent stories and shady motives, whose story can we really trust?
Ultimately, the story is enjoyable, although I don’t feel
like the third act stuck the landing. It’s
not a complete mystery with what happened regarding the missing woman and who
was involved, but it just felt like the motives were a bit tried and brought
nothing new to the table. You can really
see the story brought onto the silver screen (note that the filming rights were
purchased by Dreamworks!). It has that
broad general appeal that will make the film a success. However, I did have a problem with some of
the writing. For example, we learn early
on that Rachel is an alcoholic. From
then on, it seems that every other page during Rachel’s story, talks about how
she wants a drink. We get it. She’s an alcoholic. She likes to drink. The point doesn’t need to be brought up so
often. It’s at these moments where I
rolled my eyes.
This is author Paula Hawkin’s first major book release and
is a worldwide hit. She’s written a few
romantic novels in the past under a pseudonym, but the Girl on the Train is the first
penned under her real name. There is
much comparison out there with Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and it’s very easy to
see where the comparisons are coming from.
They both follow the beat of a thriller/suspense story with bouncing perspectives. The trust of the perspectives in both stories
is always in question, so there’s that same sense of dread, tension and forebodingness. And perhaps it’s this aspect that brings the
closest comparison. I should note that I
haven’t read Gone Girl, only read the book which I understand follows the book
quite closely. Overall, if I had to
compare the two, I enjoyed Gone Girl more only because the ending was a bit
more ambiguous and open ended. The Girl
on the Train follows a more conventional story arc and thus, ends how you would
expect things to end.
As a popular fiction novel, it’s an enjoyable read and it’s
never offensive. But if this isn’t your
usual thing, you’re not missing out on too much! Until next time, later geeks!
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