The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

A blackout of pages--262 to 295.  Such a dilemma.  Do I stop reading and go in search of the missing pages or press on?  Let me tell you the last sentence I read before faced with this question and I bet you can guess what I did. 

"I was in the underpass and he was coming towards me, one slap across the mouth and then his fist raised, keys in his hand, searing pain as the serrated metal smashed down against my skull."

Yes, yes, that is the passage that they left me hanging on.  Do you think the printer did this on purpose?  Maybe there is a vicious troll living in the machines that print out the pages and bind the books together and even now he is laughing his wicked and disconcerting laugh. 

So, I pressed on.  It was a little painful and goes against all I believe in when reading a book (skipping, skimming--if I am committed to reading I am the sort of reader who reads every last a, the, and, and but.  I had to know and I couldn't bear to wait until the weekend.  Besides, the book (defective or not) has to go back to the library on Saturday.  So I read to the end and will fill in the blank of missing pages as soon as I can get my hands on a complete copy of Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train.

Who.  Who is he?  I know all about that underpass and what happened there.  It's a memory that has been relived and rehashed over and over.  Or sort of.  I know that Rachel, the main protagonist, was there but she doesn't remember what happened exactly.  But she came away a little bloodied and with the haziest of memories.  Of a memory of a red-haired man on the train who smiled at her.  Or was it more a knowing look, a critical and knowing look?  Surely she just missed a step and fell and knocked her head on the concrete.  You see Rachel had been drinking.  She has a tendency to drink rather a lot and sometimes she can't remember things.  She can't remember great swathes of her life sometimes.  Too many G&Ts have a way of doing that to you. 

Is 'he' the man on the train?  Or is he her ex-husband, Tom?  Or maybe Megan's husband, Scott?  You know, Scott, whose wife is missing?  Or maybe it is Megan's lover, Kamal?  Well, I know now (and I'm not telling).  I think I missed that 'aha' moment that was coming in those missing thirty or so pages, but I got that last section of the climactic chase and struggle to stay alive.

The Girl on the Train is a nod in the direction of that great classic (and one of my all time favorite movies) Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.  Rachel takes the train on her daily commute.  The same train.  The 8:04 from Ashbury to London.  It stops every day at a faulty signal along the line.  If she sits in carriage D she gets a direct view into one of the Victorian semis that line the track.  Often she sees a woman and a man, a married couple, a seemingly happily married couple in their garden.  She sometimes catches intimate moments when they are drinking coffee or the husband seems to be talking to his wife from the French doors opening onto the patio.  They seem perfectly matched and blissfully happy.  Well, Rachel imagines their life together being blissfully happy.  She has even taken to calling them Jason and Jess.  It's a little voyeuristic, but she looks forward to seeing them every day.

The thing is, Rachel is a mess.  Her life is a mess, and it is filled with lies--to her roommate, the police and even to herself.  As narrators go, she is not the best one I have come across.  She has a story to tell but she fills in the blanks a lot.  There are some fantasies and lots of suppositions and maybe a few, tiny white lies.  And you know how it goes when you lie.  They just take root and grow bigger and bigger and you have to feed them and then they start taking over your life.

Rachel watches "Jason" and "Jess" from the train.  And then Jess disappears and Rachel begins trying to fit things together--what she saw and what she thinks happened to Jess.  She begins insinuating herself into the lives of these people in ways she shouldn't and that are going to get herself into trouble (see quote above).

I'm not sure where I first read about the Girl on the Train--well before it was published or had even gotten much press.  It was early enough that I was at the front of the line for a copy.  I like suspenseful novels, and I liked the premise--the idea that a woman witnesses a crime from a moving train and then somehow gets involved.  What I wasn't expecting was to dislike not just Rachel but every other character in the book, to have so little faith in anything she had to say or to have almost a complete lack of sympathy for the predicament she gets herself in.  If you read the book, be prepared for her to lie to you, too.  Of course the minute she takes out that petite bottle of Chenin Blanc from her bag (she at least waited until her return journey home in the evening) and begins to drink alone, right there on the train, you'll begin readjusting all your ideas and perceptions about her.  And  maybe that's exactly what you are meant to do.  A good, old unreliable narrator will certainly put you on edge and make you wonder.  When you see how obsessed she is with her ex-husband and his new wife and baby.  And how she fantasizes over this unknown couple. 

I have mixed feelings about this story (that have nothing to do with those missing pages by the way).  I don't need to like a character in a story, and sometimes the more unlikable a character the more interesting a story actually.  But I do question motives and actions.  This is an entertaining thriller, Hawkins is good at moving the story along at a nice pace, and by the very end I was even more sympathetic towards Rachel than I had expected to be.  But some little voice in my head kept saying . . . but Patricia Highsmith made you root for Mr. Ripley even though he was a complete and utter psycho.  You read the book with a mixture of fascination, horror and even a little delight at what she managed to pull off.  And I kept thinking about Highsmith's story (albeit very different) that takes place on a train, which I am now even more keen to read.   

The Girl on the Train is a good choice to wile away a few hours on a cold, snowy afternoon, and I think Paula Hawkins has a lot of potential.  While all the right elements are there, I guess for me, it just falls a little short of a Rear Window or Patricia Highsmith, lose-yourself-completely-in-the-story experience.

But I am still going to find those missing thirty pages.

Comments

[Stefanie]

Oh! What a terrible place for the pages to go missing! No wonder you were all aflutter! It seems like this book is everywhere right now. Since I've not yet read Highsmith (I know!) I think I will choose her instead when the thriller mood strikes.

[Lark]

I see so many reviews raving about this book, but then one of my friends read it and had nothing good to say about it. I've been torn. I like the comparison to Rear Window...understanding that it falls a little short of that brilliant classic. It also sounds like it's a very fast read, so I'll probably end of trying it. Hopefully the copy I read won't be missing pages. How frustrating is that! Hope you get to read what you missed. :) And thanks for the review.

[Danielle]

I did sort of freak when I realized my book was missing pages--crazy. But it turned out okay. I do still wonder what happened in those missing pages and will go in search of them--maybe the book will even be at the supermarket when I get groceries and I can quickly skim? The book is good, but I definitely recommend Patricia Highsmith if you've never read her. I am ready to pick up another of her books--maybe even reread the first Ripley book!

[Danielle]

I don't want to dissuade anyone from reading the book at all--I think it was very entertaining, but somehow the characters were a little off putting for me. And maybe it just suffers a tiny bit, too, from all the hype. I don't regret reading it and would love to hear your take on it when you get to it. I think I was just expecting something a little different. It is definitely a 'gulpable' sort of book. Check page 262--as long as you have a 263 and onwards you'll be fine! :)

[Cipriano]

The cover of this book is SO compelling, you have no idea how many times I have picked it up in the store and just thought, "Dangity, I should get this thing!"
Thank you for this review, even though I feel, as a result, more interested in Patricia Highsmith now, whom I have never read.

[Kay]

What a good job you did here! And what an awful place to have the publisher error occur. Wow. I think you are the first I've seen compare the story to Rear Window. Interesting and understandable. I, too, will be so interested in seeing what Paula Hawkins writes next. I was so frustrated in many ways by this book, but yet, I finished it and want to read her next book. Guess it accomplished what it set out to do. LOL

[cath]

I wondered what you'd do: read on or wait till you could find the missing pages. Now that you chose to read on: did you miss those pages very much? I don't know what I would have chosen. It happened to me a while ago while reading Susan Howatch - oops forgot the title - and it put me off the book entirely.

[Jo]

For a debut novel I think this is an excellent book. The unreliability of the characters made me want to keep reading as if to say to them "I knew you couldn't be trusted".

Be interesting to see what Hawkins writes next, but I think we are going to see a lot about this book over the coming months.

[iliana]

Now that's a case to be solved - what happened to those missing pages! Well, I do want to read this one but I'm either going to let all the buzz go away a bit because I feel that there is so much hype to it now that I may not even enjoy it as much. My mystery group wants to read it though so we may end up picking up sooner rather than later!

[Danielle]

It is a great cover and it suits the story so well. I think this must have been what made me look in the first place. It is worth reading if it appeals, but I also recommend Patricia Highsmith. She is a master of suspenseful stories! And she was an excellent writer, too!

[Danielle]

I know--talk about a cliff hanger! I returned the book yesterday and explained what happened to the Circ folks, and they kindly let me jump in line to the front. I will get the next available copy so I should get it soon! And then I can find out what happened in those missing pages.... I will watch for her next book, too. What was it that frustrated you? I'm glad I was not alone there... ;)

[Danielle]

I just couldn't wait! I had to find out what happened and who did it! I was hoping that maybe the pages were just misnumbered but it was obvious right away that there are pages missing and the story did seem a little disjointed. Oh well, I will get another copy soon since the library is allowing me to go to the head of the line! I do wonder if that made me lose momentum however...

[Danielle]

It is impressive for a first novel--I do agree. She certainly managed to keep me reading. I did feel a little fidgity over the characters, but maybe I am being too nitpicky! I will be curious, too, so see what she comes up with next!

[Danielle]

It was very entertaining--and I would be very interested to hear what you think of it, too. I think it has taken on a life of its own, though--lots of hype. Sometimes I think a book suffers because of it!

[Caroline]

Litlove sort of put me off of this book but now I'm tempted again. :)
I love unreliable narrators and can live with an unlikabel one as well.
Guess I'll have to find out for myself whether I'll be one of those who loves or hates it.

[Danielle]

I would be very interesting to hear what you think of it! I did like it, though there were a few little quibbles. I had this idea that the narrator would be different so was surprised when the story from the start took a turn I was not expecting--maybe a good thing actually? Unpredictablity is actually a good thing sometimes. I only wish publishers were not to eager to compare a book (ad naseum) to other popular books. I think that can sometimes be very off-putting. I mean I do want to know if a book is similar to something else I might have read and loved, but I don't necessarily want to read the Same book--if you know what I mean. It is a thin line publishers walk when it comes to promoting books sometimes. Anyway--I still have those missing pages to read--there is a copy now waiting for me at the library so it will be part of my weekend reading!

[Liz F]

Just finished The Girl on the Train yesterday and while I admired the skill of the writer and the idea of the story, I disliked the characters so much that at times I felt that I was keeping reading despite myself.
All that kept me going was that despite the unpleasant cast, it didn't have the feeling of a cold heart - I think it was probably that despite being a walking, talking disaster, Rachel was at least still trying to do the right thing and I did feel sorry for her in the end.
Think I need to read something fairly fluffy now to redress the balance!

[Danielle]

I don't feel so bad now that I see you had pretty similar reactions to the story as I did! I didn't like any of the characters either, though by the end Rachel did elicit more sympathy from me than in the beginning. And like you I needed something a little different for my next book. I had another thriller waiting for me at the library which I decided to take a pass on for the moment--I have a feeling this is going to be the sort of story that sells for a while....if you know what I mean.

[Terri]

What is meaning behind the guy with red hair in the train