The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

I love trains and it's not hard for me to imagine looking out from a train's window into other people's lives. However, I never saw it as real life, it was like watching television, like something that doesn't really exist. I never for a moment thought about being a part of the world I saw from a train. But then again, I'm not Rachel.

This book's huge success sort of put it on hold for me, somehow it worked the opposite way. I just wasn't interested enough. Then the time came when I had some time to kill and the book wandered my way, so I read it and liked it. 

The Girl on the Train in a psychological thriller told from a perspective of three women. Two of them live on the same street: A third used to live there and now observes the houses from a train and can't seem to stay away. Rachel is as unreliable a narrator as she can be. She's an alcoholic, drunk or drinking most of the time. She has blackouts and doesn't remember certain events from the past. Anna spends her days at home, taking care of her daughter and waiting for Tom to come home. Megan used to run a gallery she was forced to close and is now caught in a role of a housewife she desperately wants to escape from.

It's a book about obsession, control, lies, disillusionment. Rachel is obsessed with her ex-husband and the life she shared with him which she considered to be the best part of her life. Was it really? Anna misses work, what it meant to her, she considers leaving her job a sacrifice for getting what she has now. At the same time she doesn't want to give her new life up and is prepared to protect it at all costs. But is it really what she thinks it is? Megan needs to find something to fill her days with, to start living, not just playing at real life. She can't just be a housewife, to wait for her man to come home and love her. However, there's a secret from the past tormenting her. 

The book is a page-turner without unnecessary descriptions or repeated information. I was able to guess the outcome but it didn't bother me. None of the women is particularly likable but they don't have to be. I don't read books to feel connected to the protagonists. Do women like those three exist? Oh, yes, I think they do.

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Obožujem vlake. Ne zdi se mi pretirano težko predstavljati si nekoga, ki sedi v vlaku in opazuje življenja ljudi, ki živijo v hišah ob progi, čeprav tega nikoli nisem videle kot resnično življenje. Zame je to nekaj podobnega gledanju televizije, nekaj fiktivnega, kar v resnici ne obstaja. Nikoli si nisem predstavljala, da bi bila del sveta na drugi strani okna vagona. Morda zato, ker nisem kot Rachel. 

Uspeh te knjige name ni deloval kot bi deloval na marsikoga drugega. Nisem komaj čakala, da bi jo prebrala. Čudno pravzaprav, kot da bi me vsa reklama od nje odvrnila. Bliskovito je bila prevedena v slovenščino, v promociji so sodelovale celo Slovenske železnice, predstavitev za novinarje pa je bila v muzejskem salonskem vagonu na železniški postaji v Ljubljani. No, kakor koli, prišel je čas s preveč urami, knjiga je prijadrala mimo in sem jo prebrala. Ne vem zakaj me to vedno preseneti, vendar mi je bila všeč.

Dekle na vlaku je psihološki triler, ki ga beremo kot prepletanje zgodb treh žensk. Dve živita v isti ulici, tretja pa je tam živela v ne tako daljni preteklosti in zdaj iz vlaka opazuje hiše in življenje ljudi v njih. Rachel je nezanesljiva pripovedovalka. Je alkoholičarka, večino zgodbe je okajena ali pa s pomočjo pločevink pred pripravljenega gin-tonika dela na tem, da bi bila. Tu in tam ima luknje v spominu, zaradi česar se nekaterih dogodkov ne spominja. Anna dneve preživlja doma, skrbi za otroka in čaka moža, da se vrne iz službe. Megan je nekoč imela galerijo, vendar jo je bila, zaradi upada prometa, prisiljena zapreti. Zdaj je ujeta v vlogo gospodinje, iz katere bi silno rada pobegnila. 

Knjiga obravnava obsedenost, željo po nadzoru, laži in razočaranje. Rachel je obsedena z bivšim možen in z njunim zakonom, ki ga še vedno razume kot najsrečnejši del svojega življenja. Je bil res? Anna pogreša delo, pogreša kar ji je delo pomenilo. To, da je postila službo je zanjo žrtev za to, kar ima sedaj. Hkrati priznava, da se za nič na svetu ne bi odpovedala svojemu sedanjemu življenju in ga je pripravljena obdržati za vsako ceno. Je res tako kot misli, da je? Megan potrebuje nekaj, s čimer bi zapolnila praznino vsakdana, da bi resnično živela, ne samo igrala življenja. Ne more biti samo gospodinja, ki doma čaka, da se mož vrne iz službe. Poleg nezadovoljstva z vsakdanjim življenjem, jo vedno bolj obremenjuje skrivnost iz preteklosti.

Dekle na vlaku se hitro bere, ni nepotrebnih opisovanj in ponavljajočih se informacij. Še pred koncem sem ugotovila kaj se bo zgodilo, a me to ni motilo. Nobena od treh žensk mi ni bila všeč, vendar niti ni treba, da bi mi bile. Ne berem knjig zato, da bi se poistovetila z liki v njih. Ali ženske kot so Rachel, Anna in Megan obstajajo? O ja, pa še kako obstajajo.