I decided I must accept that my part in this story was over. But my better angels lost again, defeated by drink, by the person I am when I drink. Drunk Rachel sees no consequences, she is either excessively expansive and optimistic or wrapped up in hate. She has no past, no future. She exists purely in the moment. Drunk Rachel—wanting to be part of the story, needing a way to persuade Scott to talk to her—she lied. I lied. I want to drag knives over my skin, just so that I can feel something other than shame, but I’m not even brave enough to do that.

From “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins

This is an excellent mystery novel.  It is also good literature, not just entertainment.  Paula Hawkins follows Faulkner’s style, each of the characters narrating the events in different chapters.  The author delineates the personality of each of the protagonists with great skills:  “My better angels lost again, defeated by drink, by the person I am when I drink. Drunk Rachel sees no consequences, she is either excessively expansive and optimistic or wrapped up in hate. She has no past, no future. She exists purely in the moment.” Let us not forget that the story is fiction. Does alcohol change someone’s personality?  It does and it does not.  Alcohol releases the part of us that we consciously control.  But we are who we are, drunk or sober.  Many use alcohol as an excuse to do what they wish to do.  And some even have the audacity to say they have no memory of it.