For those of you that haven't or couldn't attend book club lately, we'll be publishing the previous months' discussion questions here. I hope eventually to post discussion questions for all of the books we've covered since I took over a couple of years ago and beyond, all the way to the beginning over a decade and a half ago. It will take a while. Until then, we will be posting discussion questions on a weekly basis. Here are the questions from a 2017 title, The Girl on the Train. We hope these questions spark discussions of your own.
The Girl on the Train
by Paula Hawkins
Summary:
EVERY DAY THE SAME
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.
UNTIL TODAY
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?
Discussion Questions
We all do it --- actively watch life around us. In this way, with her own voyeuristic curiosity, Rachel Watson is not so unusual. What do you think accounts for this nosey, all-too-human impulse? Is it more extreme in Rachel than in the average person? What is so different about her?
How would you have reacted if you’d seen what Rachel did from her train window --- a pile of clothes --- just before the rumored disappearance of Megan Hipwell? What might you or she have done differently?
In both Rachel Watson’s and Megan Hipwell’s marriages, deep secrets are kept from the husbands. Are these marriages unusual or even extreme in this way? Consider how many relationships rely on half-truths? Is it ever necessary or justifiable to lie to someone you love? How much is too much to hide from a partner?
What about the lies the characters tell to themselves? In what ways is Rachel lying to herself? Do all people tell themselves lies to some degree in order to move on with their lives? Is what Rachel (or any of the other characters) is doing any different from that? How do her lies ultimately affect her and the people around her?
A crucial question in THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is how much Rachel Watson can trust her own memory. How reliable are her observations? Yet since the relationship between truth and memory is often a slippery one, how objective or “true” can a memory, by definition, really be? Can memory lie? If so, what factors might influence it? Consider examples from the book.
One of Rachel’s deepest disappointments, it turns out, is that she can’t have children. Her ex-husband Tom’s second wife Anna is the mother to a young child, Evie. How does Rachel’s inability to conceive precipitate her breakdown? How does the topic of motherhood drive the plot of the story? What do you think Paula Hawkins was trying to say about the ways motherhood can define women’s lives or what we expect from women’s domestic lives, whether as wives, mothers, or unmarried women in general?
Think about trust in THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN. Who trusts whom? Who is deserving of trust? Is Rachel Watson a very trustworthy person? Why or why not? Who appears trustworthy and is actually not? What are the skills we use to make the decision about whether to trust someone we don’t know well?
Other characters in the novel make different assumptions about Rachel Watson depending on how or even where they see her. To a certain extent, she understands this and often tries to manipulate their assumptions --- by appearing to be a commuter, for instance, going to work every day. Is she successful? To what degree did you make assumptions about Rachel early on based on the facts and appearances you were presented? How did those change over time and why? How did your assumptions about her affect your reading of the central mystery in the book? Did your assumptions about her change over its course? What other characters did you make assumptions about? How did your assumptions affect your interpretation of the plot? Having now finished THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, what surprised you the most?
In The Girl on the Train, what function does it serve to have three narrators?
How does time, particularly the skips in time between narrators, play a role in The Girl on the Train?
What role does Kamal Abdic play in The Girl on the Train?
What is the role of alcohol in The Girl on the Train?
How does Megan’s troubled past play a role in The Girl on the Train?
How does Hawkins portray women and the role of women in society in The Girl on the Train?
Crucial to The Girl on the Train is the relationship between truth and memory. How objective or “true” can a memory, by definition, really be? Can memory lie? If so, what factors might influence it?
Characters often make assumptions about Rachel based on the information they have about her. From where do these different assumptions stem? How, as the reader, did your assumptions or perceptions about Rachel change throughout the book?
Rachel is the character who spends the most time narrating, followed by Megan and then Anna. How would the book be different if Megan or Anna were the primary narrator?
In what ways will a film adaptation be better and worse at tackling the plot and suspense of The Girl on the Train? What things from the novel may need to change for a film production and audience?
How did you feel about reading the book from different points-of-view? Did you find there was a difference in voice for each of the characters? Was it difficult to keep switching into the head of each narrator?
How did you like the narrative structure of the book? Do you feel like the author held back too much? Do you feel like the structure helped build the suspense?
Is the character development flawed? Do you feel like you really knew any of the characters? Were the characters relatable at all? Do you feel sorry for Rachel?
How did everyone feel about the male characters presented in the book?
Why do you think the book captivated so many people and drew the reader in? What was it about the writing? Do you think it’s a well-written book?
Did you know who the killer was before it was revealed? Who did you suspect it was leading up to the end? What surprised you the most? Were you satisfied with the ending? Was it obvious at some point?
What are the comparisons you found between this book and Gone Girl?
On the topic of motherhood – it defined the success or failure of the women in the book. What do you think the author was trying to say? How do you feel about the fact that the women were unemployed and relying on their husbands for income?
On the topic of lies. We all lie to ourselves a little bit, but do you have an example of a real-life lie gone too far? Do you think deep-down the women in the novel knew the lies they were telling themselves?
What did you like most about the book?
What didn’t you like about the book?
Who do you think she play these characters in the upcoming film adaptation?