BOOK REVIEW: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Her.ie book club is back and this month’s pick is The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Rachel gets the same train every morning. It’s the only constant thing she seems to have in her life right now. That and the couple she sees when she’s travelling. But soon Rachel finds that ideal crumbling before her very eyes and before long, she’s caught up in the lives of those she has only watched from afar. A few members of the Her.ie team give their thoughts on the book…

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Mary says: It took me a while to get into this book but when I did, I couldn’t put it down. From the outset, I found the protagonist Rachel really annoying. Sure she’s interesting and a touch mysterious but, despite my best efforts to empathise with her, she’s not likeable as a character. Regardless of your feelings for the main protagonist though, the plot is gripping and I mean that in an edge-of-your-seat kind of way. It’s been a long time since a book has managed to twist and turn, its possible ending out of my grasp, but The Girl on The Train definitely succeeded in doing that. It drives you through a dark, desperate world – one that you want to turn away from yet feel compelled to carry on. However, the reward is that the journey is worth every step in this book and best of all, the ending surprises you. A must read? Yes. But be sure to open it on a day you have nothing else planned as the likelihood is that you won’t leave it down until the very last page. Rebecca says: I’m not going to lie, I had very high expectations for this novel due to the hype surrounding it and the constant comparisons to Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Thankfully those expectations were met and exceeded, although I must admit it did take me a few chapters to get into the story and familiarise myself with the narrative style (which is a number of different subjective narrators). But once I was hooked, I was properly hooked. I couldn’t wait to read the next entry, find another piece of the puzzle. Rachel is an intriguing, albeit not entirely likeable, protagonist. She is infuriating and sympathetic all at once. Her life is in tatters as is her memory of the night of the incident around which the book revolves. It’s gripping and tense but builds gradually and dramatically to a climax that I found both surprising and satisfying. The Girl on the Train is one heck of a journey, one that I would recommend everyone to go on.

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