The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins

published by Riverhead Books

January 2015

I know most of you have heard of- or probably read- this book, so I decided to not write a whole review, but rather just share some thoughts and quotes.

-I love books with unreliable narrators- and this one has 3!!  All three female narrators are hiding something.

– I was taken back by the brutal description of Rachel’s repeated downward spirals into alcoholism.  To see someone that young and alone continue to destroy themselves was harsh.

– I found it hard to feel bad for Rachel, and it made me wonder about how we feel pity, or empathy for certain people but not for others.

– So many twists- but I felt like the hype surrounding the book sort of made it less thrilling than if I had just found it on the shelf in the library and decided to read it because it sounded cool.  Sometimes you enjoy the books you stumble upon the most.

 

Quotes

“There’s something comforting about the sight of strangers safe at home.”

“I have never understood how people can blithely disregard the damage they do by following their hearts.” 

“I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head.”

“I can’t do this, I can’t just be a wife. I don’t understand how anyone does it—there is literally nothing to do but wait. Wait for a man to come home and love you. Either that or look around for something to distract you.”

Summary

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

A compulsively readable, emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that draws comparisons to Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or Before I Go to Sleep, this is an electrifying debut embraced by readers across markets and categories.