Review: Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Spoilers)

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cehedley
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Review: Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Spoilers)

Post by cehedley »

It took me a while to sort through my thoughts before I could begin reviewing Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Girl on the Train tells the story of three different women, each interconnected to one another and each with her own demons to face. Rachel, the character the book mainly follows, is an alcoholic who is looking for a purpose, cannot seem to let her ex-husband go, and leads a rather lonely and depressing life. Megan, the woman Rachel passes by and watches every day on the train, battles with her traumatic past, believes she can “win” any man, and enjoys having affairs, especially when she is bored. Anna, the woman who cheated with Rachel’s husband and is now married to him, fears Rachel who often calls or shows up at the house drunk.

I wanted to like this book so much. I loved the narration and I enjoyed reading about every character and seeing the world through their eyes. When the book focuses on Rachel, she discusses all the looks of disgust or disinterest she receives from people she passes by. Reading it, I felt as uncomfortable as Rachel as she believed she was being scrutinized from every angle. When the book focused on Megan, I felt the power Megan felt as no man could say no to her advances. When the book focused on Anna, I felt the fear she felt as her husband’s drunk ex wandered outside of the house. Unfortunately, though, this aspects were not enough for me to like the book. Let’s break this down character by character.

Rachel. I was interested in Rachel and empathetic toward her situation. After being told she could not have children she turned to drinking. After she became an alcoholic (or perhaps before) her husband started having an affair with Anna. Of course, Rachel was devastated when she found out and they divorced. Rachel had to give up the house she loved and Anna moved into it while she was pregnant. So yeah, her life sucked and I felt for her, but I do not understand why she began making crazy decisions. Suddenly she became stalkerish, continually going to her ex-husband’s house. Not only that, but after Megan was discovered missing, Rachel makes all kinds of terrible decisions that I could not swallow. I did not understand her need to continually visit Scott, Megan’s husband, and “help.” Every Time she came over it only seemed to make Scott more obsessed and more distressed about his missing wife which is understandable. She also goes to the therapist who she knows Megan was cheating on Scott with for reasons unknown. She visits a man who she is convinced has kidnapped or killed Megan without reason. I cannot wrap my head around this concept. As she visits him for the first time, Rachel discusses how frightened she is to be around him and that she isn’t certain what’s going to happen. Crazy crazy decision.

Anna. I’ll be honest, I hated this character. She had zero guilt about sleeping with a married man and seemed to hold the same belief as Megan that she could get any man she wanted. Her obsession with Rachel was more annoying than anything else. Although I understand that she was afraid of Rachel because Rachel broke into their house, picked up their child, and just walked outside with her, as you do. On top of that, Rachel does continually call and visit the house when she’s drunk which is nerve-wracking in and of itself. However, Anna is making Rachel out to be this horrendous, awful, blob who should just go away because she worked so hard to “get” the family she wanted. It was rather sickening to read Anna’s excerpts because her moral compass was entirely off. Unfortunately, she was not the only one like that in this book.

Megan. There’s not much to say about Megan. She existed, she cheated on her husband, her husband didn’t trust her (apparently for good reason), and she threw a fit when the men she was cheating with stopped the affair. Guess what? I didn’t like her either. She supposedly was so happy with Scott, but continued to fantasize running away with these men. She knew full well that she would continue to have affairs in her marriage and seemed to not care to change that. In addition, she fell asleep in the bath tub with her baby who, of course, drowned.

To summarize all these women, they all make stupid decisions, they are all obsessed with a child, lack of child, or loss of a child. Although this parallel might be a good thing, I found it to be irritating. Why do these women’s lives revolve around a baby? Rachel drinks because she can’t have a baby, Anna goes to great lengths to protect her baby, and Megan is traumatized from the death of her baby. These plights did not make the characters any more likable, just unrealistic. To add to the unrealistic theme, almost every male character in this book was either violent or aggressive. I question how the author sees the world if every woman in this book is traumatized and thus makes stupid decisions and every man in this book is violent.

Questions I would like to ask the author:
What was the point of the red-haired man?
Anna calls the police when Rachel is at Scott’s house because it scares her that Rachel is near by, but when Rachel saunters into her backyard near the end of the book Anna just finds it funny. How does this make sense?
Why are all the men so violent?
Why did Rachel go to the therapist who she thought kidnapped or killed Megan?

My rating (on a 5 point scale): 2
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Post by gali »

I skimmed your review due to spoilers, since I plan on reading it. I have heard raving reviews on this book and it is good you balanced the picture. I will give the book a try and will quit if I find it that bad. Thank you for the review.
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Post by cehedley »

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of the book :)
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Post by Fran »

@cehedley
I just read through your review. My initial reaction is so totally at variance with your reaction that I am almost inclined to think we read different books. :shock:

I can't understand how you omit what, for me at least, was the most significant aspect of the book - Rachel travelling twice daily on the same train journey, and following a traumatic divorce is left alone, bereft, homeless and inevitably turning to alcohol for solace. Living, as she is, with the loss of her dreams and the life she believed she would live, she invents this imaginary life story as she projects her own desires and regrets onto what she views as this perfect couple as she views briefly their balcony from the train window. I think all of us who are regular commuters are prone to this kind of projecting into the lives of those we view briefly but regularly from a bus or train window.

IMO the author did a very good job detailing how this daydream builds momentum and becomes an obsession when the "perfect" woman on the balcony is reported missing and Rachel finds herself enmeshed in a very dark and threathening story. None of the three female characters are without flaws but IMO all the more realistic for that but I don't think I approached them with the level of perhaps moral judgement you did. I don't think it is at all unusual for women (and men) to be obsessed with having a child, protecting a child or losing a child - very much the core of the human condition I would suggest.

Personally I though this wasn't a bad book although there are some elements, such as the behaviour of the police and Rachel's flatmate which I found somewhat unrealistic. I agree with you that all the male characters are depicted as somewhat threathening, controlling and indeed, as you say, violent which it could be argued was overdone but it is a fact that most murders of women are carried out by husbands or partners.

Finally, I have to admit the book held my attention, kept me reading and definitely had me wanting to know what happened and that is usually a fairly good sign of a book. The ending certainly was not what I expected.

@gali
The ending was definitely not what I was expecting!
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Post by gali »

Fran wrote:@cehedley
I just read through your review. My initial reaction is so totally at variance with your reaction that I am almost inclined to think we read different books. :shock:

I can't understand how you omit what, for me at least, was the most significant aspect of the book - Rachel travelling twice daily on the same train journey, and following a traumatic divorce is left alone, bereft, homeless and inevitably turning to alcohol for solace. Living, as she is, with the loss of her dreams and the life she believed she would live, she invents this imaginary life story as she projects her own desires and regrets onto what she views as this perfect couple as she views briefly their balcony from the train window. I think all of us who are regular commuters are prone to this kind of projecting into the lives of those we view briefly but regularly from a bus or train window.

IMO the author did a very good job detailing how this daydream builds momentum and becomes an obsession when the "perfect" woman on the balcony is reported missing and Rachel finds herself enmeshed in a very dark and threathening story. None of the three female characters are without flaws but IMO all the more realistic for that but I don't think I approached them with the level of perhaps moral judgement you did. I don't think it is at all unusual for women (and men) to be obsessed with having a child, protecting a child or losing a child - very much the core of the human condition I would suggest.

Personally I though this wasn't a bad book although there are some elements, such as the behaviour of the police and Rachel's flatmate which I found somewhat unrealistic. I agree with you that all the male characters are depicted as somewhat threathening, controlling and indeed, as you say, violent which it could be argued was overdone but it is a fact that most murders of women are carried out by husbands or partners.

Finally, I have to admit the book held my attention, kept me reading and definitely had me wanting to know what happened and that is usually a fairly good sign of a book. The ending certainly was not what I expected.

@gali
The ending was definitely not what I was expecting!
Now I am curios. I will try to get to it soon. :)

-- May 22nd, 2015, 2:09 pm --
cehedley wrote:Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of the book :)
Sure :)
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Post by Fran »

@gali

I knew I'd get you curious :wink:
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Post by gali »

Fran wrote:@gali

I knew I'd get you curious :wink:
:)
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Post by bookowlie »

@cehedley
I also didn't like any of the women in this book. Beyond the first few chapters, I didn't like the story too much. I guess I am in the minority because this book has become wildly popular.
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Post by Ealasaid »

I too skimmed your review due to the spoilers, but I am surprised about the low rating because - like gali mentioned - I have heard wonderful things about this book. This book has been on my too-read list since it was published (and my too-read list is about 5 miles long), but I am thinking it should be bumped up closer to the top. I am very curious to read it now and share my own thoughts.

Thank you for the review, even though I only skimmed it!
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Post by cehedley »

Thanks everyone for responding!

Although I personally didn't like the book I still urge anyone to read it and let me know your thoughts! I love a good discussion!

-- 22 May 2015, 14:19 --

@Fran

Hello Fran! Thanks for responding! Indeed, I should have been a little more thorough in my review. I did really appreciate Rachel's train journeys and her obsession with this imaginary couple she admired. I found this to be fascinating, but then forgot her train journeys as the book became more about the mystery behind the disappearance. To be honest, I loved this book until about maybe halfway through. I've never actually experienced reading a book that I loved at the beginning and then completely did not like by the end so it was new for me.
I agree with you that that it is not unusual for women or men to be obsessed with wanting a child, protecting a child, and losing a child. However, it was difficult for me to swallow that all three of the main women were dealing with these issues. It felt to me like the author was making unnecessary connections between the women when there already was a great connection to begin with (Rachel admires Jess [Megan], Anna cheats with Tom, Rachel's husband, and Megan and Anna are neighbors). It seemed like too much of a coincidence to me.
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Post by AudaciousTori »

I definitely agree with this review, while I do think I liked it a bit more then you. I also wonder why the red haired men existed if he wasnt just a ploy to get us off track of figuring out the plot
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Post by Rizbi »

I like this book a lot and I was one of those who did not see the twist coming. Maybe because I was really focused on Rachel’s pain and erratic thoughts, which were lucidly described by the author. A lot of people say this book is very much like Gone Girl – and I disagree with that. The only similarity is that both have female leads, but Rachel is flawed because she is an alcoholic (depression & blackouts did not help either), unlike Amy who is just plain sick in the head. I do agree, however, that both books sort of started the ‘grip-lit’ genre (to quote Marian Keyes).
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Post by BookishB84 »

I'm normally not into murder mysteries much but from the moment I started this book, I couldn't put it down. I read it in a matter of hours.
As things progressed I got a little upset feeling like I was being lied to by the main character. She was always drinking and getting drunk and passing out and it made me have a hard time trusting her. Only because she was inconsistent. But in the end, it definitely made my jaw drop. Who I kept suspecting did it was never who actually did it. I actually loved the book by time it was over because I liked the way it tricked the mind. I have recommended it to several friends who in turn said the same thing: they couldn't put it down.

-- 02 Aug 2015, 18:06 --

OMG yes! The red-haired man! I had pegged him for doing it too at one point!
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Post by ashley_claire »

I didn't have a strong reaction to this book one way or the other. Did I like it? Yes. Did it live up to all the hype I've heard about it? Not really.

@cehedley I think you make a good point about the babies/lack of babies being an unnecessary link with the women.
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Post by FrannyD28 »

It's not very often I am unable to finish a book but this was one of those occasions. I just found it very boring and slow especially due to all the hype surrounding it. I forced myself through to half way then gave up. The characters were unlikable, unrealistic and the plot was just a bit boring. The train journeys were repeatative and dull. I couldn't warm to the characters which made it a difficult read.
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