Review of The girl on the train by Paula Hawkins

Paula Hawkins is a romance novelist who has gained public recognition after publishing the novel The Girl on the Train . There is nothing new under the sun – or in the world of big-selling commercial fiction – since many of such books seem to be of little value, but Hawkins has come up with an extraordinary bias on the amnesia thriller. The novel deals with themes of domestic violence, alcohol, envy and jealousy, relationships between people, being in low spirits and depression. More than that, the literary work describes the decay of a woman’s personality and consequences which divorce or unfruitful marriage can entail [2, 183].

The central character seems to be Rachel who catches the same commuter train every day. As the train stops at the same signal each time, Rachel stares at a row of back gardens. Having once noticed a couple, living in one of the houses, she started observing them, imagining what their life was like. She thought them to be on cloud nine. Rachel wished she could be that happy. The author gives Rachel’s direct characterization and we see the plot through her eyes. Rachel and Tom married 7 years ago. Unfortunately, Rachel didn’t get pregnant and one round of IVF, which was all they could afford, turned out to be a failure. After splitting up with the husband and learning about his affair she felt isolated, lonely and she drank a bit. Her ex-husband Tom, now married to Anna, is fed up with her upsetting and off-putting calls when she is drunk.

The story turns to Megan. Who is to blame in Megan’s disappearance? She is married to Scott and becomes a childminder of Tom and Anna’s child just for fun although her husband Scott was over the moon when she suggested it, because he was longing for a child. Having lost her brother in a car crash, Megan feels a big hole in her life, in the middle of her soul and pours her heart to the therapist Dr Kamal Abdic with whom she started to cheat on her husband. Rachel is inter-

rogated because she was seen outside Megan’s house. To tell the truth, Rachel was prone to blackouts while being drunk. It clear that she had a blackout again and remembered only some glimpses of the previous night: blood, an underpass, a blue dress and a red-haired man . Although the police think Rachel is a rubbernecker, she makes up her mind to go to the police station to help Scott, Megan’s husband.

The narrative is skillfully split between couples. Rachel stands out of all the characters because of being weak-willed and self-pitying in contrast to upbeat Megan and charming Anna, who glories in the victory over her predecessor. The fastmoving plot with a great many flashbacks makes the novel a real page turner and grabs the reader’s attention from the very first line. In spite of having some negative features, Rachel is likely to be a character deserving our positive estimate because she is a full-blooded and many-sided, real woman with her troubles and miseries. It’s the real twist to get to know at the end who the real murderer is. We feel gradually increasing suspense while reading the novel. Paula Hawkins introduces the nursery rhyme – a tiding of magpies – one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told . You won’t be able to solve the mystery of missing Megan until you read this worthwhile novel up to the end.