Book Review: The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

Katie Brock | sherlockianbooklover

Jun 4

Read between: 22nd May- 1st June 2022

Format: Paperback

Published: 1st February 2017

Publisher: Pan Books

Translator: Ros Schwartz

Rating:

Review:

For someone who loves books, a book about a reader is a wonderful story.
This book is only short, but in that time you discover a lot about the main character, Guylain, but also about the woman who's diary he discovered on a memory stick whilst on his morning commute.

I really liked this story.
I liked how people are so happy to be read to by Guylain when he reads aloud, as it shows how many people actually love stories even if they don't read themselves. I'm really interested in where the extracts in the book come from, as there wasn't anything I recognised.

My one issue was with Julie's diary.
Obviously, he has no idea who she is but I wouldn't necessarily say it is a good thing to read someone's personal thoughts and life in a diary, even if you find it on a train. It's supposed to be private. Curiosity is a very human trait and although it put me off to start with, I could appreciate why a story like Julie's would be so captivating.

It was great, and I loved how it ended on the hint of a romance showing two unlikely people coming together over a piece of writing.

It was a lovely way to end and it's so open ended you don't know if their romance blossomed but you hope that it did.

5/5 stars.
Very lyrically written and I was drawn in to the entire story, even if books were hurt during the narrative.

I'd highly recommend!

Thanks for reading!

~Katie