Following four unsuccessful romantic comedies under the pseudonym Amy Silver, Paula Hawkins was under huge pressure to produce a successful novel. The Girl on The Train most certainly provided that success, as Hawkins broke Dan Brown's record for the longest consecutive run as the number one best-selling hardback novel in the UK. Rachel Watson is 'the girl on the train', who is struggling to get over her inability to have a baby and her husband leaving her for another woman. She is also an alcoholic, which caused her to lose her job, but she continues to commute into work everyday in order to keep up the pretence to her flatmate. From the 8:04 to Euston, Rachel frequently sees a young couple in their house, and creates the perfect life for them in her head. One day she sees something unexpected , and the following day the woman, Megan, goes missing. The night of the disappearance, Rachel knows that she got off the train just down the road from the couple, who happen to live on the same as her ex-husband, Tom, and his new family. As she was drunk she experienced a memory blackout while she was there and does not know what she did or did not see, but is determined to help in the investigations as much as she can.
Hawkins' portrayal of each of the characters and their flaws, especially Rachel's alcoholism, is highly realistic and makes each one very believable. The novel is told from an entirely female perspective, focusing on Rachel, but also bringing Megan and Anna's (Tom's new wife) viewpoints, reflecting the largely female issues that Hawkins addresses throughout the novel: abuse, motherhood and depression. All of the men who appear in the novel are abusive in one way or another, and whilst that is in no way reflective of reality, the terrifying part is that none of the women realise or acknowledge that they are experiencing abuse, and that is worryingly common. Since one in four women and one in six men experience domestic abuse at some point in their lives, novels like this, which mention rather than centre around it, could help people experiencing abuse to identify this.
Although mental health problems were traditionally associated with women, the fact that suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 shows that this stereotype is both inaccurate and harmful. However, most of the characters, male and female, in The Girl on the Train show signs of suffering from some form of mental health problem, from compulsive lying to paranoia and depression. Although most people will experience mental health problems at some point in their lives, with one in four suffering at any given time, the combination of mental health problems that Hawkins portrays seems somewhat unrealistic, although each is central to the plot, making the premise of the plot itself seem somewhat questionable.
On the other hand, on the subject of motherhood, Hawkins has completely captured the joys, heartbreak and guilt involved in motherhood, or even attempting motherhood. Rachel first started turning to alcohol when she was unable to get pregnant, and the fact that Anna, Tom's new wife, fell pregnant before she even moved in with Tom, sent Rachel's anguish and jealousy sky high, while her self-esteem plummeted. From her perspective, women are good for motherhood, beauty and very little else - a sentiment that seems more reflective of her self-esteem than her true vision of women's role in society.
Although The Girl on the Train is undeniably well-written, with beautifully constructed characters and a truly gripping, unpredictable plot, the unrealistic culmination of personalities and events does somewhat detract from an otherwise brilliant novel. Hawkins is due to release another novel of the same genre next year - hopefully it will be just as powerful and more rooted in reality.
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