The Girl on the Train
Book Summary
What
happens when you jump into someone else’s business? Well, people disregard you
as a rubbernecker. And the more you do it believing that you have a role to
play in other people’s lives, the more you find yourself entangled in their
problems unnecessarily. Being lonely, frustrated and aimless can be a messy
affair for a young woman, the condition gets worsened when she tries to solve
other’s problems regardless of her own. The book mainly revolves the lives of
two women, Rachel and Megan. They are eerily similar in the sense that both
suffer from extreme stress, are inclined to worry endlessly and feel lonely
despite being surrounded by people who care for them. They however differ in
the way they look at life and love.
The
author has chosen the train not only as the characters’ way to commute, but
also to explain the continuity of life with its regular jerks and jolts.
Book Review
The
story starts on a very placid note. The author tries to build a feeling of
thrill and apprehension, which most readers long for, around the life of a
lonely and alcoholic woman whose tendency to over imagine situations and things
leads her to construct and deconstruct human characters in, more or less, an
ethereal form. She longs for what she has lost, while mourning for what she
cannot have.
The
story starts with a journey of a woman on a train that gradually dissolves
itself into the journey of her life. The author takes her readers through the
emotional roller-coaster ride of her characters and their whims and fancies at
times exacerbated due to drinking problems or unwarranted anxiousness. In
between the pages, the author finds an extraordinary tale woven with episodes
of misconstrued love, ubiquitous passion, unbridled lust, and lastly betrayal
before the characters find themselves back on their tracks. It is difficult to
pinpoint which character feels the most betrayed, as every character gets trapped
in a web of lies as each one’s life is interspersed with another’s happiness.
Book Recommendation
This
book would score high in the minds of people inclined towards thrill and
adventure. As opposed to most contemporary American authors who induce alien
characters or supernatural beings or state-of-the art time machines and
technology to induce thrill in the minds of their readers, this book is
different. This book explains how life can take a sudden turn for better or
worse without a forewarning and how each person views life based on past
experiences. All the characters in this book live in the moment rather than
plan their actions keeping future consequences in mind.
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