I finally read Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train during my vacation last week in Mexico. I read this laying on a beach (jealous?), which is why it made my list focusing on beach reads (go figure!) here.
Let me preface this by saying I do not typically pick up this kind of book, but it was on sale and everybody else was reading it, so I caved to literary peer pressure and read it too.
And I am glad I did.
If you are picking up a book like this, you are probably interested in a thriller. Perhaps you are looking for something akin to Gone Girl, or some other mystery.
The premise is straightforward. Every day, Rachel takes the exact same train, and she sees a couple who she imagines as having the perfect life. But then, one day, she sees something unexpected, and that, along with her less-than-stellar decision-making abilities, embroils her in a crazy plot, where no one and nothing is trustworthy, especially her own perceptions.
All of this you can figure out from the synopsis, so I knew what I was getting into in terms of basic plot.
I figured out the ending fairly immediately, by the way. That did not affect my overall feelings about the book. There were, however, twists and turns along the way to that ending, some of which I did not actually expect at all.
It was a quick read. I read it all in one setting; this was perfect for a vacation book. But it was indeed a page-turner.
Here is where this book delivers far more than I was expecting: The characters.
Namely, Rachel herself.
I had no idea how very flawed she would be. Now, I love me a good unreliable narrator, and all three women who take turns narrating the plot - Rachel herself, as well as Anna, her ex-husband's new wife, and Megan, the woman-half of the couple she watches - are examples of some of the most imperfect narrators about which I have read in a long time.
These women piece together the story about what happened the night that Megan goes missing, and what Rachel really saw. Bit by bit, the story is told, until the overly-dramatic conclusion.
Rachel. I wanted to hate her. At times, I really did. But she also was just so gosh-darned human that I couldn't help but find her somehow sympathetic. She was so, so flawed, but also so heartbreakingly aware of those flaws, that I could not help but feel for her.
I have such sympathy for Rachel, in fact, because she realizes that she is such a screw-up, and one of the things that she wants most is to become a reliable witness, and by extension, narrator.
To avoid the risk of spoilers, I am going to attempt to be quite vague here.
Her heartbreak stems from one of the most raw, honest, accurate descriptions I have read. Perhaps, in this over-the-top plot, that is what sticks out the most. That part is so believable.
“Hollowness: that I understand. I'm starting to believe that there isn't anything you can do to fix it. That's what I've taken from the therapy sessions: the holes in your life are permanent. You have to grow around them, like tree roots around concrete; you mold yourself through the gaps.”
If The Fault in Our Stars was impacted by a single scene, so was this book, only positively so. One single description completely coloured how I saw Rachel, and therefore, the whole book. If you do not think her sympathetic, you likely will not share my opinion.
So it was not those incredible twists-and-turns and exaggerated plot developments that made me like this book, but rather the simple humanness of the characters. The root of why they are so flawed.
I get that.
Please do not confuse me: I did not absolutely love this book. I did enjoy it. I will recommend it, as I found it better than I was expecting. This is not my new favourite book, but I was pleasantly surprised by it, and that counts for a lot. It delivered on the exact type of book I was expecting - the thriller part - but offered more depth to the characters.
And that hidden depth is why I enjoyed it.
This is quite the popular book now. What did you think? Were you surprised by the ending? What did you think of the characters?
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