Book Review: The Girl on the Train By Paula Hawkins

Sarah Duggan

indexI finished The Girl on the Train last night, the bestselling debut from Paula Hawkins that The Guardian has dubbed “…the new Gone Girl” – bold statement, indeed. I just could not physically put it down without knowing what happened in the end so it was a late one. Hawkins’ writing is compellingly haunting from page one but she definitely ups the anticipation in the latter half of the book as it spirals at pace towards its unexpected, twisted ending. It’s the climax of the story, the moment that makes you gasp aloud, strain to keep your eyes open and question why you just did not see that coming, how could you miss it?

I was engrossed to the point of guzzling up Hawkins’ sensorial prose. My experience, as a reader, was bittersweet; the conclusion of the novel was shocking and thought-provokingly juicy and I loved everything about it but, at the same time, I did not want the book to finish, it was that good. It was a quick, gripping, exhilarating read but not necessarily easy to read.

Hawkins does not just invite but she makes it absolutely intrinsic to her writing that the reader actively engages in pursuing the truth – it is a story based on a quest for knowledge so it is quite draining to maintain such focus. Nevertheless, I believe I shall be reeling from reading this novel for a long time to come because it is nothing short of magnificent that Hawkins succeeds in evoking such an enthralled, guttural response from her reader which makes keeping up with the plot well worth the mental effort.

Aside from the substance of Hawkins’ writing, another stand-out feature of the book is that Hawkins does not shy away from thoroughly and unflinchingly confronting gritty themes such as Rachel’s alcoholism, with respect, authenticity and frankness. Rachel’s alcoholism is used as a constant throughout, framing each scene, so it is never far from your mind that you cannot trust her voice, ironically that of the main narrator, since she is an addict. She not only has gaps in her memory but she also lives in a kind of lucid state of experience, is somewhat passive, she’s just trying to get by, to exist. Rachel inhabits an illusory world most of the time and, as the reader of a story at which she is the centre, you become inexplicably involved, complicit in her narrative against your own judgement. The reader almost sits on Rachel’s shoulder like the voyeur she is presented as being.

You can completely tell that Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for 15 years before tackling this, her breakthrough work of fiction. This entire book is laid out like a presentation of evidence in a court room, as if Police were piecing together different statements on the same event, in a reporter-style. This is evident in the pivotal movements between chapters where different key characters present their case from their own perspectives. It is a slippery sleuthy work, indeed.

It has an effective investigative, factual, concise tone informed by actions and events and episodes of experience providing stability, a vantage point on competing perspectives and threads of stories that intuitively just do not add up. These discordant scenes are a glimpse into each character’s reality and supply the novel with a base structure, a scaffold almost, upon which the writing’s complexities and possibilities are hung, where Hawkins displays her wares.

In the end, the narrator we doubted all along joins up all the dots, finds ways to tie up loose plotlines and triumphs in becoming truly omniscient. The reader is taught a fatal lesson on judgement.

Buy The Girl on the Train here.


About the author:

Sarah Duggan is a twenty-something Brummy who studied English Literature at the University of Reading, went on to intern in children’s publishing and currently works at Foyles. Aside from writing and books, she loves glitter, pink unicorns, tea and cake, comedy, hair dye, knitting, romance, Beyonce, hiking and red squirrels.”
Visit Sarah Duggan’s WordPress blog and follow her on Twitter

 



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