The girl on the train

 

The Girl on the Train
Author: Paula Hawkins
ISBN: 978-0-857-52232-0
Pages: 320

 

Ever thought of who might be watching you?  That innocent person passing by each day, what do they know of you?  What kind of life do others see in you actions, while not knowing you?

 

Each day we look into other peoples worlds.  These are the worlds they want us to see.  What world are they actually living beyond what they want us to know.  We put on faces when we open the door to the outside world.  Us women are really good at it.  We put on a pretty dress, shoes from the growing platform in our wardrobes, and make up to cover every blemish.  We smile and know just the right things to say.  We are socialised this way from infancy.  Schools mould us.  Friends influence us.  Work places structure us.  Then we enter our world at home, where we take of the makeup and shoes and relax with a book. 

 

This book shows the secrets behind three families, linked in ways that will twist your mind.  The girl on the train sees the perfect side, from the safety of the carriage.  She hides her own misfortunes and drinks away the pain.  Lost is her perfect world, as her ex-husband lives with his new family covered with smiles and beauty.  The couple viewed from the train, are her vision of perfect.  She creates their world, through the window of the train and her imagination.  All is a shattered as the train stops, for just an instance, and she sees... (SPOILER!)

This book is written as a diary, of all three homes.  It took me a while to get into the structure of this one.  I have to admit the first few entries confused me, as it skipped from one person to the next.  Then I realised each person was writing their own diary entry.  It is not just one persons entry.  Once I got head around this idea, the book was really good.  The twists and turns; the annoyance I developed for each character along the way; the sorrow I felt for them also grew.  Then, I had to keep reading to find out the connections and answer all the questions.  So many questions were needing answered by the end of the book, there was no way I could put it down. 

If you pick one up off the shelf, keep reading.  I was tempted to put it down, but I'm glad I didn't.


Here is the blurb:

To everyone else in this carriage I must look normal; I'm doing exactly what they do: commuting to work, making appointments, ticking things off lists.  Just goes to show.

Every day 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.

 

This was available from: Fishpond, Book depository and Amazon

http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Girl-on-Train-Paula-Hawkins/9780857522320

http://www.bookdepository.com/The-Girl-on-the-Train-Paul-Hawkins/9780857522320

http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Train-Paula-Hawkins/dp/1594633665/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446839120&sr=8-1&keywords=the+girl+on+the+train