Review: Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Spoilers)
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- C73OakleyH
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Re: Review: Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Spoilers)
In response to: What was the point of the red-haired man?
I believe the red-haired man helps us understand just how screwed-up, for lack of better words, Rachel really is. She has this warped perspective of how to behave in a relationship with another man, her hesitancy and actions with the red-haired man show us this in a more comprehensive view. Her timid ways and lack of trust in a male stranger are due largely in part to the destruction of her trust in her marriage with Tom. We, as readers, don't know it yet, but she's also so timid around the red-haired man because anytime she was drunk, her actions were completely embarassing, not only this, but Tom made sure to use her drunken rampages to his advantage. His controlling and abusive behavior leads Rachel to automatically create this barrier that she does with the red-haired man. This leads me to my next point, Scott. Rachel doesn't necessarily trust Scott in the healthy way that we would hope most women to trust a married man, but in an obsessive and fictitious way. She has the lucid fantasy where she knows Scott and Megan, and she has categorized him as a loving husband, hard working man, all leading her to feel as though they have had a connection. When she comes to terms with Scott, the desperately violent and grieving husband (of a woman who she categorized incorrectly, for the most part), I think she gets a glimpse of her problem as it is, unhealthy relationships with men.
In response to your question: Why did Rachel go to the therapist who she thought kidnapped or killed Megan?
I think she does this because, in a lot of ways, she knows that she needs outside help. All the bottles of wine in the world can't make her problems go away. I think she uses the excuse of her obsession with Megan and Scott's case as a way to get said help. She doesn't want to be acutely aware of all her issues yet, I don't think she was ready, and I think that she wants it to be "surface" help if you will --- just brushing the surface of her problems because of the weak and vulnerable state that she's in.
Also, in an attempt to answer your question about why all the men are so violent, I'd like to think this goes with why all the women are so very similar. All of the women are so profoundly tied to emotions with or about children in some way, and I think this shows us a real-life glimpse into Paula Hawkins' and the struggles she may have witnessed or struggled through. Just as with the violent men, I think this is her way of weaving in her real-life elements and also trying to ease some of the tension from the women characters -- you yourself said it, most of those women are not like-able, and I think a lot of readers relate to that. But, once you throw the dynamic of treacherous and uncontrollable men into the plot, it's easier to give those women excuses and understand why they behave in the ways that they do. (Sidenote: I don't believe Scott was violent, I think he was not a trusting husband [valid] and became violent in his state of grieving)
- Camartinsky
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- Jenny_G
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I thought this was a great read, that kept you guessing, and changing your mind on who you thought was the murderer. A lot of books in this genre, I can guess early on, but this book kept my guessing right to the end.
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- Lissy_1992
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First of all, I loved the idea of the book. It was something I haven't encountered before- a thriller from a different perspective- not from the thick of it (at least not at first). Most thrillers are from characters in the centre of the crime/problem, but I loved the idea of this character Rachel glimpsing something when passing by on the train. As a rather nosy train-traveller, it had me hooked from the start as it seemed pretty realistic.
I also loved that Rachel is an extremely unreliable narrator, due to alcoholism and overall being slightly unhinged. It left me on the edge of my seat as I could never be too sure of what was truth and what was her distorted perceptions.I quite liked not being able to take the information for granted. This continued with the other narrators- all characters are not as they seem, defying stereotypes and keeping your attention.
It took me a while to digest that the narrator alternated between each character (in first-person) every chapter. It was quite hard to keep going back and piecing it together with the dates each character thought/did something, but once I got in the swing of it it was extremely clever and effective. Does anyone have any thoughts on this, as a reader? Did you follow it, or was it just a bit confusing for you?
Overall, I would very much recommend the book- it was a rollercoaster ride and unpredictable in a lot of ways
- Lolly4532
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I think maybe the characters aren't relate-able, or it's just so apparent that they're all making terrible decisions that it can't be overlooked. I know we've all encountered other characters in other books that have made us say "Okay, you really shouldn't do that" or just yell "WHY!?" into the universe, but every single thing these characters did was just the opposite of what any sane person should do. And there wasn't anything redeeming about any of them. I sympathized with Rachel for about a minute, and then I started to agree with her roommate. I just couldn't help but feel like "yes, bad things are happening to you, but at the same time, you make the worst decisions ever and if you'd just stop drinking..."
I got so annoyed seeing all the previews for the movie because I just wanted to forget this horrible thing ever existed. But I'm with cehedley in that I really wanted to like this book because it was something different and it had a lot of promise. Instead it just ended up being a colossal waste of time.
- Suzie56
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Not really a book I would recommend.
I give it a 2