Saturday, April 15, 2017

'The Girl on the Train' by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins (3.0)
I’ll admit this book is a page-turner, though I wasn’t as enamored with it as its bestselling status implies others were. As with the other famous ‘Girl’ fiction, the mystery is based on surprises and literary manipulation. The coincidences become a bit hard to take. In this case, the girl is a sad case who has lost her husband, job, etc. and continues to ride the train each day in an attempt to add normality to her life – and hide from others the fact that she has no job. During her daily commute, she watches people in their homes and gardens near the train tracks. She even creates a fake narrative for one such couple, complete with names, occupations, etc. When something happens to the couple, the main character inserts herself into the investigation. Now the coincidences and oddities emerge. She used to live a few houses down from them, her husband still does with his new wife… you get the picture. To top things off, she is a poor witness as her alcoholic bouts often lead to blackouts. Generally, as the reader, you are curious to see how it all unfolds, but you don’t care too much how it does. Unfortunately throughout the book, I also had the picture of the beautiful Emily Blunt playing this supposed overweight, out of shape, alcoholic in the movie adaptation.


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