By Suzanne Harrison, Staff Writer
“The Girl on The Train” had me hooked from the very beginning to the end.
The novel follows Rachel Watson, a female who commutes on the train everyday to London. While riding, she creates lives for people inside of the homes she passes each day. She is obsessed with one couple in particular,and calls them Jess and Jason. Through those characters she creates the fantasy life she and her ex-husband, Tom could not have. It’s a way for Rachel to cope with real life as well as her struggle with alcohol. One day while riding the train, Rachel sees something. It happens in an instance and then it’s gone. Rachel finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and wonders if the truth can save her.
The author, Paula Hawkins does an amazing job of dividing the book up from each of the characters perspectives without confusing the reader. With a mix of romance, action, mystery, and violence it sounds as if it would be the perfect chick-flick novel. But guys don’t let that stop you from picking up the book- my dad finished it in two days.
I read the novel over the summer, and made the mistake of taking it to the beach one day. I couldn’t put it down! After what I thought had been thirty minutes , (It had been almost two hours) I found myself laying on a beach towel with a bright red back because I had forgotten to reapply sunscreen.
One part in the book and movie that left me wanting more is when Rachel’s memories from her marriage slowly come back to her. She has flashbacks, but they don’t go into much detail. Her husband always blamed everything on Rachel and her struggle with booze. The truth is, Tom is a liar and a psychopath who verbally abused Rachel for his own benefit. One scene that stands out is when Tom is digging a grave in the woods, he whines and complains about breaking a nail. You later realize who the grave was supposed to be for and yet Tom still saw himself as the victim.
The book was just made into a movie and was released in the theaters last month on October 7. The movie stays close to the book, but there are some questions that I left the theater with.While in the novel the setting is London, in the movie it’s New York. In the movie, new characters are created while others are altered and transformed.
Overall, the book and the movie were both thrilling and captured my full attention the whole time. Hawkins’ writing is so spectacular it makes it easy to transform it into a move script. The book is full of multiple jaw dropping moments, loads of lies and gas lighting. In this novel, characters will be missing for multiple chapters and then will be present for 100 pages. Key details are missing, and yet the book flows effortlessly. The book has no resolution and leaves you wanting more once you reach the last page. “The Girl on The Train” is hands down the best book I have read this year. I would recommends this book to anyone who loves mystery and plot twists.
Junior Suzanne Harrison can be reached at harrisonsu0716@daretolearn.org.
