Book Stop Corner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.”





Paula Hawkins, the British international best-selling author, has penned a mind-blowing unputdownable debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, which has shook up the whole world with its intensity of thrill, mystery and unpredictable and shocking turn of events. The climax simply nails the whole story. The story revolves around a mid-aged, divorced, loner, alcoholic, jobless woman who is a regular commuter on the morning train and just like every other day she overlooks her window and enjoys the normal human life on the other side of the tracks. Until one day, she sees something that changes her life forever.


Synopsis:

EVERYDAY THE SAME

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

UNTIL TODAY

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train.

Rachel, the protagonist, is the regular traveler on the morning train and on her way to the city, she spies and make up fictional stories about the lives on the other side of the tracks. Among them, she has a personal favorite house and is very keen about the lives of that family, she makes up stories and has given name to the people who reside in that house. Jess and Jason, are the happily married couple whom Rachel loves to spy on. Jess is like her alter ego. Jess has everything that Rachel can never have or has forever lost it. Once upon a time Rachel used to live in the same street and had a life like Jess, with a husband named, Tom. But one day, she sees her "Jess" with a different man and that is when Rachel decides to take things into her own hand and little did she knew that her life would become so threatening and challenging from that point. And who can blame her black-outs when she is point drunk!

Before penning out my review, I would like to give a standing ovation to the author, Paula Hawkins, who as per me is a genius who knows how to play with her readers' mind. Her imagination knows no boundary or creativity or darkness that can engulf the readers with its intensity.


The writing is A-class, eloquent, articulate and exceptional. The narrative felt like a drug, as the story spills out from Rachel's POV, which is, in short, sad to read about, due to her equally sad and pathetic lonely life, it felt like right from the beginning, Rachel pulled me into this story and kept me arrested to it till the very last page. Her tone is stimulating with gaps and holes due to her uncountable black outs, that kept me guessing and pulling out my hair till the major climax. There are also two other main characters, Megan and Anna, and the chapters shift from Rachel's POV to Anna's to Megan's, and the three women has an equal psychological grip on my mind with their life stories, problems and drama.

The setting of Northwestern Home Counties in London is impeccable done as the author vividly captures the landscape, the lifestyle, the houses, the trees of suburban London. While reading, I felt like I was easily transported to such a landscape in my mind's eyes. The author even captures the condition inside a jam-packed train compartment and how the people adjust to stand under the steamy and sweaty conditions, and the demeanor of the people those travelling everyday to their work place on a train strikingly.

The characters are excellent and thoroughly well-developed. The main three characters are depicted with end number of flaws and how their shortcomings become their own enemy. The characters are psychologically challenged and their life is not an ideal one. But the author has impressively captured the realism in their demeanor. All the three women are self-centered and selfish, whereas their boldness knows no limit. All the three characters are so evocative, interesting and sad that it eventually made my heart grow fonder for them.

I'm not a feminist but still I loved reading this women centric book that depicts the women as the hero of the book, while trying to project a negative image on the male-dominated society.

PS: Never read this book while travelling on a train , it might come to haunt you!

The story is so psychologically twisted and so brilliant, that Dreamworks production has own film rights on this book, which is directed by Tate Taylor, featuring Emily Blunt as Rachel, Rebecca Ferguson as Anna, Haley Bennett as Megan, Justin Theroux as Tom, Luke Evans as Scott, Lisa Kudrow and many more. And the film is slated for an autumn release this year.


Verdict: Am I the last on e to read this book?! Anyhow, do not be the last one to read this epic book.

Courtesy: I love my job!
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Author Info:
Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before turning her hand to fiction.
Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, Paula moved to London in 1989 and has lived there ever since. The Girl on the Train is her first thriller.
Visit her here


Book Purchase Links:

• Amazon US
• Amazon India