Saturday, March 28, 2015

“Life is not a paragraph, and death is no parenthesis.” ~ Paula Hawkins, The Girl on the Train


At knitting the other day one of the ladies pulled a book out of her bag and asked if anyone would be interested in taking it as she was passing it on. Well, I forgot all of my manners and practically snatched it out of her hands. I did apologize a few days later to those other women who had but a brief moment to express interest before I whisked it away.

I have been wanting to read The Girl On The Train for some time now. Short of purchasing it however, that was not going to happen any time soon. I looked at the reserve lists at the libraries that I use, and being number 100 and something was something I didn't want to do, at least not until we get back north. So, I had made peace with the fact that I wasn't going to read in it the foreseeable future. I was practically simmering with excitement that I had it in my hot little hands!

Just a few days later, it is done and ready to pass on to the next knitter! What a ride! I had read somewhere that if a reader liked Gone Girl, they would like The Girl On The Train. I would have to say that this is an accurate recommendation. I am not going to say too much, just copy the Amazon summary below. To do more than that would run the danger of revealing more than I (or you) would want. I can say that I did have the culprit pegged fairly earlier on, but to say how I arrived at that conclusion would also be saying too much.

"Intersecting, overlapping, not-quite-what-they-seem lives. Jealousies and betrayals and wounded hearts. A haunting unease that clutches and won’t let go. All this and more helps propel Paula Hawkins’s addictive debut into a new stratum of the psychological thriller genre. At times, I couldn’t help but think: Hitchcockian. From the opening line, the reader knows what they’re in for: “She’s buried beneath a silver birch tree, down towards the old train tracks…” But Hawkins teases out the mystery with a veteran’s finesse. The “girl on the train” is Rachel, who commutes into London and back each day, rolling past the backyard of a happy-looking couple she names Jess and Jason. Then one day Rachel sees “Jess” kissing another man. The day after that, Jess goes missing. The story is told from three character’s not-to-be-trusted perspectives: Rachel, who mourns the loss of her former life with the help of canned gin and tonics; Megan (aka Jess); and Anna, Rachel’s ex-husband’s wife, who happens to be Jess/Megan’s neighbor. Rachel’s voyeuristic yearning for the seemingly idyllic life of Jess and Jason lures her closer and closer to the investigation into Jess/Megan’s disappearance, and closer to a deeper understanding of who she really is. And who she isn’t. This is a book to be devoured." -Neal Thompson amazon.com

And "devour" it I did! If you liked Gone Girl (I know that some folks, including Bruce, didn't), then I would highly recommend this read. Unless you choose to purchase it however, you may be in for a wait!



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2 comments:

  1. It's selling for 6.99 on Kindle. I liked it just about that much. (I did read it quickly too)

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  2. I hadn't heard of this book until your post, but it sounds gripping. :-) I will keep my eyes open for it at our library. :-)

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