This is a book, and now a movie, that should not be spoiled, so don’t read past the spoiler warning if you haven’t already read the book. Although, I was 99% sure I knew who the murderer was and why fairly quickly. I wasn’t surprised, but this book is really more about uncovering memory and revealing the things we already know, than it is an actual whodunnit.
Rachel is an alcoholic who gets black out drunk. She is having a hard time moving on from the end of her marriage. A lot of people have found her to be unlikable, probably because she is self-destructive and so clearly hates herself. I never disliked her. She is broken, but so am I. I understand her. As the book goes on, it becomes clear that all of the characters are broken, but some do a better job of hiding it. Rachel knows she is broken. As she gives up the facade of normalcy, she gains strength while she struggles to remember what happened. She is trying to remember not just the night in question, but the other missing nights, too.
Is this the best book? No. It is gripping. Depending on your ability to empathize with broken people, it is also cathartic and rewarding.
SPOILERY DISCUSSION
There are a few relationship red flags in this book. 1) Cheating. My BFF and I have a saying – if he’ll do it with you, he’ll do it to you. This is a blanket statement so there are always exceptions. In general though, an affair is not a good indicator of someone good at relationships. Having an affair may not make you a bad person, but it certainly means that something is not right. I know I sound very judgey here, because I am being judgy. I’ve seen too much of the hurt caused by affairs. It isn’t about morality to me, so much as it is about the destructiveness of lies on the lied to and on the liar. Relationships have survived affairs, and even become stronger. But only after work on the cracks that existed in the relationship before the affair ever happened. Megan and Tom are each unhappy with themselves and neither has a deeply intimate relationship with their spouse.
2) Liars. Everyone lies. We lie to ourselves and to each other. But, when someone brags to you that they are a good liar, believe them and run the other way. This is not negotiable, nor are there caveats. Get. Out.
3) Control. If your partner checks your email or browser history to monitor your behavior, your relationship has problems. If one partner has full control of the finances and won’t discuss them, things will end badly. When one partner needs that much control over the other, violence is a possible outcome when the other partner starts acting like an adult.
The diary-like style of The Girl on the Train was difficult to get into at first. Ultimately it worked for me.
Really glad this worked a lot better for you than it did for me. I suspect the fact that I read it at a bad time (mourning my continued failure to get pregnant), combined with the rather triggering (I don’t like that word, but it probably applies her) fact that alcohol is the family disease and it’s difficult for me to be in the head of someone who drinks as much as Rachel, meant that I was never going to connect entirely with it.
I agree with all three of your points. You make some extremely good points. While I’m sure Paula Hawkins is laughing all the way to the bank, and doesn’t care too much at the end of the day, I think this book suffers with all the “It’s just like Gone Girl!” comparisons. Because it makes the readers expect something completely different from what they get. I expected a different book than what I got, as I suspect a lot of others do/did too.