“For life’s not a paragraph and death I think is no parentheses.”

– E. E. CUMMINGS

The Girl on the Train is a psychological thriller novel written by British author Paula Hawkins, published in 2015. The book was a huge success among readers. In 2016, a movie was made with the same title based on the book.

Rachel is a 32-year old woman with a very messed up life. She is a lonely, alcoholic woman who has lost her everything; her husband, her job. She daily commutes on 8:04 am train. The journey takes her along the house where she lived, with her ex-husband, Tom. On the same street, she observes the house no. 23 where a couple lived, Megan and Scott. She imagined them to have a perfect life and it felt comforting to her. One morning she saw Megan kissing another man. She went to the street at night, completely drunk and she had a total blackout. Megan had disappeared the following day and Rachel believes something must have happened on the night she had the blackout.

The story is narrated in the first person told from point of view of three woman – Rachel, Megan and Anna. Rachel is a drunkard, Megan is a cheat and Anna is insecure about her husband’s relationship with his ex-wife, Rachel. Although the twist at the end is predictable, the build-up to the climax is well written and it forces the readers to be glued to the book. The three women in the story are not happy with their lives with Rachel living in self-pity and being obsessed with her ex-husband, Megan is suffering from boredom and restlessness with her married life. Anna is afraid of the constant interference of Rachel in their life and is worried about the safety of her daughter. This book is a classic case of unreliable narration. The story has good suspense, well carved-out characters and is a worthy read.

Happy Reading 🙂