THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN- PAULA HAWKINS

                                         

                                                 "Now look. Look what you made me do."

                    ‘The Girl on The Train’ is a book with a tale as gripping as no other. Justifying why this book also has a movie adaptation. The book is written as though a diary that is narrated by various characters, making the plot a tad bit confusing, but overall, enthralling.

                 The book starts by Rachel narrating what her days look like. She’s just another commuter on a daily train. However, for Rachel, there was nothing worth keeping a sober head. It was difficult for her to keep her mind from wandering off to her gloomy past. A compulsive drinker as she turned herself into, Rachel would try to find things that would keep the thoughts in her head quiet. She was devastated, even years after her split from her husband Tom, who left her for another woman. The other woman, Anna, whom Rachel hated to the bits.

         

                                       

                 Being a good observer that she is, on her daily commutes on the train, Rachel watches two people, who seem like the ideal couple, living a life she could only wish for. But little does she know. She watched them as the train stops at the same signal, every day, but one day, in a second, things change. Rachel is no longer just ‘the girl on the train.’

         Suddenly, through the happenings of the life of people around her, Rachel spots a ray of hope. A purpose to look up to the days ahead, to her life having meaning, or at least what she thinks is left of it. But she is hooked and helpless to not have faith in what she knows. She knows not whether she can help or rather make things worse. And how her doing and not doing could bring dire consequences to the lives around her.

         In a tale that is filled with surprises, thrill and suspicion, Paula Hawkins manages to fill in incidents that keeps the plot absolutely unexpected and a reader on its toes, wanting to know what lies ahead. Written with great attention to detail that helps the reader understand every character. To understand the void Rachel felt in herself, Anna’s oblivion to what her life really was and how every character somehow was related with each other’s story.

          There are narrations by different protagonists, who help in keeping the spark of the story. The narrations are ordered in a way that may cause a reader to be confused, but that’s what keeps the story alive and happening. If you have watched the movie, or even if you intend to, let me tell you that the plot line of the book and the movie do have differences (like almost every other book-movie out there). An entertaining read for thrill and mystery seekers, “The Girl on The Train” by Paula Hawkins!

     “I should go” he says. I can imagine him putting down the phone, picking up his little girl, giving her a kiss, embracing his wife. The dagger in my heart twists, round and round and round.”