book review the reader on the 6.27

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The Reader on the 6.27, by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent - book review: set to woo British readers and become a book club favourite

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Every day, Guylain Vignolles catches the 6.27am train to a job he detests. Guylain works at a book pulping factory, destroying what he loves the most. At the end of the day, he rescues pages of books from the murderous pulping machine that he refers to as “The Thing”. He dries them out and the following morning, on his daily commute, reads aloud from random sheets. He loathes his supercilious boss, “old Fatso”, and bigoted workmate Brunner. His one comrade is Yvon the factory’s security guard, who loves declaiming poetry and speaking in alexandrines.

Outside work, Guylain’s life revolves around feeding his goldfish, Rouget de Lisle, and visiting his solitary friend Giuseppe, formerly chief operator at the factory. Giuseppe lost both his legs in a horrific accident when “The Thing had devoured his lower limbs, right up to his mid-thighs”. An obsession with collecting copies of a particular book, Gardens and Kitchen Gardens of Bygone Days, made from the recycled paper pulped the day he lost his legs, offers Giuseppe some comfort. One morning, Guylain discovers a memory stick. He opens it to find “72 text files called only by their respective numbers”. From this unpromising start comes the diary of a young woman, Julie, who works as a lavatory attendant in a shopping mall. Every day, she counts the tiles in her miniature kingdom, describes the regulars and their habits, and dreams of finding Mr Right. Guylain finds himself unexpectedly smitten and begins to share pages of her diary with his fellow commuters. Meanwhile, Giuseppe decides to help locate Julie for his friend.

The Reader on the 6.27 is a delightful tale about the kinship of reading. Jean-Paul Didierlaurent explores the redemptive power of books, and plays with the notion that everyone can spar, find poetry in, tempt or seduce with words, whatever one’s station in life. For Giuseppe, books become the legs he lost. Guylain beguiles his fellow travellers and is then begged by members of the local old people’s home to read for them.

It’s also a love story. Much of the book’s charm resides in the simplicity of Didierlaurent’s prose and his vivid characterisation. Ros Schwartz’s translation perfectly conveys the warmth and eccentricities of his memorable cast. Already a bestseller in France, The Reader on the 6.27 looks set to woo British readers and become a book club favourite.

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Little Bookness Lane

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

Publisher:  Panmacmillan

Publication date: 10th March 2016 (Paperback)

Every morning during his commute, Monsieur Guylain Vignolles voluntarily reads aloud from the collection of single pages of books that have been orphaned from its parent. A random yet captive audience of strangers listens intently waiting for the next paragraph to begin, and Guylain willingly obliges until the words on the page run out.

This smallest of reprieves is more sustaining than a hearty breakfast. It sets Guylain up for his endless days at the book pulping factory where he works, like a prisoner in his orange overalls sentenced to hard labour. The only crime he commits from Monday to Friday is destroying tonnes of unsold works which he feeds to the machine they call The Thing.

Being both prisoner and executioner the only comfort of his job is when he aides the escape of the pages that are lucky enough to break free of The Thing, so he can recite from these random leafs on the train at 6.27.

This rail connection offers a man with only his goldfish for company an abstract sanctuary. Even though the paragraphs are cut short, the story forever unfinished, it doesn’t matter. It’s the art of reading, irrespective of the content, that makes the reader and his eager audience take these fleeting intervals from their lives. And yet, as the pages turned I could see that the rut he was stuck in was deepening – the skipped meals, his empty home, the endless unchanging routine.

Be it by chance, fate, or pure luck, the lonely operative finds an abandoned USB stick containing the diarised account of a young woman’s life. By candidly recounting all of her own mundaness this unfamiliar woman, known only as Julie, would rescue him from the madness of his own daily grind. As he shares portions of her writing to those who are listening, Guylain and the other thirsty souls lap up every word.

This entire story is something to be cherished, I adore it and I mean everything about it. The tragedy of destroying books, only being able to save a fragment of them like a macabre souvenir of Guylain’s tiresome days, is balanced with renewed optimism as his journey to track down the illusive writer of the diary gives him the courage to step back into the light. And his relationship with the previous operator of The Thing is simply wonderful – I raise a glass of champagne to Monsieur Vignolles and the discreetness of his unwavering emotional generosity.

With its quirky humour giving a second chance to everything that is thought to be lost, The  Reader on the 6.27 is a pure delight.

Rating:   5/5

( Source: My own purchased copy.)

(Courtesy of Amazon UK)

An international bestseller from French author Jean-Paul Didierlaurent, The Reader on the 6.27 is ready to take you on a journey …

Guylain Vignolles lives on the edge of existence. Working at a book pulping factory in a job he hates, he has but one pleasure in life …

Sitting on the 6.27 train each day, Guylain recites aloud from pages he has saved from the jaws of his monstrous pulping machine. But it is when he discovers the diary of a lonely young woman, Julie – a woman who feels as lost in the world as he does – that his journey will truly begin …

The Reader on the 6.27 is a tale bursting with larger-than-life characters, each of whom touches Guylain’s life for the better. For fans of Amelie and Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore, this captivating novel is a warm, funny fable about literature’s power to uplift even the most downtrodden of lives.

BUY THE BOOK

(Courtesy of Publisher’s website)

Jean-Paul Didierlaurent lives in the Vosges region of France. His short stories have twice won the International Hemingway Award. The Reader on the 6:27 is his first novel. ” ” ” “Ros Schwartz has translated over 60 works of fiction and non-fiction from French including a new translation of Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince . In 2009 she was made a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her services to French literature.

PUBLISHER’S WEBSITE

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19 thoughts on “ book review: the reader on the 6.27, by jean-paul didierlaurent ”.

What a wonderful review! I would never have picked this up on my own.

Like Liked by 1 person

Thank you, you’re very kind. I desperately needed something ‘lighter’ to read after indulging in a bit of a crime fest and this was just perfect.

This book is so gorgeous. I wanted to snuggle up in its weird, slightly macabre pages and never let go. ❤

It IS absolutely gorgeous. I bought it a while ago and can’t believe it was sitting on my shelf for so long!

This sounds amazing! For fans of Amelie? :O

Oh, it is so lovely. And you know something, I’ve never seen Amelie – I’ll just head back to my cave… !

Hahaha Dont worry, I havent seen many popular ones 😹

I thought it was brilliant too. And this is his first novel! He’s set the bar high for himself 🙂

Astonishing, isn’t it? I was most grateful to step away from the reads I’m usually drawn to, well, for a little while anyway! 🙂

Reblogged this on Mike Thomas .

Thank you 🙂

Such serendipity, I just ordered this book yesterday! Can’t wait for it to arrive now 🙂

Oooh, I wonder if you will receive the snowy cover version? It won’t change the wonderful content but it does look rather pretty! Hope you enjoy and thanks for stopping by 🙂

Oh I saw that one, with the reindeer, but decided against it – just in case I’m still reading it in January!! Brilliant review and by the way, Amelie is probably my favourite movie of all time – you need to watch it toute suite 😉

Ah, I understand completely! I may not be a huge movie/TV watcher but I do like the sound of this one – will take a closer look. (Thank you, btw.)

I love this book too, there is something magical about it. Great review.

It is such a special book. Thank you so much for stopping by 🙂

I have been meaning to read this since Claire’s review and your just rekindled my interest!

Oh, it’s a terrific book! Would love to hear what you think of it 🙂

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

The reader on the 6.27, jean-paul didierlaurent.

This book is the antidote. To cynicism, to the everyday drudgery of existence. I cannot recommend this book enough to you, my reader.

“The Reader on the 6.27” will reignite your hope and redeem every bad book, every disappointing ending; every over-pretentious pit-stain of a novel you have ever had the misfortune to encounter. This book will remind you of your faith in literature.

Guylain Vignolles hates his job; Guylain works in a book-pulping factory. His only joy is his morning ritual, where he boards the 6.27 train and reads from the fragments of books he has saved from the teeth of the monster. He reads aloud to his fellow passengers, who “show him the indulgent respect reserved for harmless nutters”. Nevertheless, he is the ray of sunshine that briefly illuminates the dullness of their 9-to-5’s.

“He was the reader, the bearer of the good word.”

Guylain appears to be suffering from the Nausea, as Sartre would define it: that indefinable feeling deep in your gut that life is pointless. Then one day, he happens upon a USB memory stick that changes his life forever. What is on the USB? The diary entries of a 28-year-old toilet attendant, named Julie.

How, you might ask, can this bored young woman, who sits outside toilet cubicles all day, help Guylain? How can accounts of what other humans are literally experiencing in their guts save him? Isn’t she just another sufferer of everyday drudgery, like him? Well, Julie is no ordinary toilet attendant.

Humanity abounds – glorious, at times stupid and disgusting, but glorious humanity. There is nothing high-flown about this honest, forthright account of how words can, sometimes, save people. Of how people can save each other.

This book is the antidote to modern life.

I spend a lot of time on trains in my life and I read almost this entire book on a train. I was desperate to finish it the same way, if only to satisfy the romanticism of this particular reader. Unfortunately, my train pulled in when I had four pages to go. So I read as I walked down the street, almost walking into other pedestrians and walls in my eagerness to finish before my journey home was completed. Almost there, two pages left. Then my Dad rings. He’s waiting in the car, so I’m obliged to pause. Load bags, sit down, seat-belt on. Read. Sprint. Before there’s another interruption, sprint to the end. But don’t miss a word.

I crossed the finish line. I closed the book and held it for a few seconds. Warmth spread through my whole body, as a smile spread across my face, and I felt content.

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Book review: The reader on the 6.27

The reader on the 6.27

Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

Mantle, 195pp, £12.99

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We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but it is to be hoped that whoever eventually ends up directing the movie version is able to capture the understated charm of the original; because, while the book cleverly manages to avoid tipping over into oversentimentality while wandering dangerously close to the line at times, it wouldn’t take much to transform it into an almighty ­Gallic cheese-fest on the big screen.

The unlikely hero of the piece is Guylain Vignolles – a worker at a paper pulping plant who spends his days feeding unwanted books into the gaping maw of a machine called the Zerstor 500. This beast – and Didierlaurent gives it a wonderful, malign life of its own as “The Thing” – then slices, soaks and pummels the books into a grey mush which is finally “expelled in the form of great steaming turds”. The resulting substance, the narrator observes, “would be used one day to make other books, some of which would inevitably end up back here… The Thing was an absurdity that greedily ate its own shit.”

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Out of context, that might sound like an attempt to pass comment on the futility of writing and publishing books, but in fact Didierlaurant is on his way to making the opposite point: his central thesis is that every printed page, however humble in origin, is a little bit sacred.

Vignolles is so embarrassed by his name (reversing the first letters makes it sound like “Vilain Guignol,” or “ugly puppet”) that he spends most of his life trying to remain invisible – with one very notable exception. Every day, while cleaning out the belly of the machine, he manages to rescue a few precious, un-pulped pages, which he then reads aloud on the train to work the next morning, regardless of the subject matter – a performance that is lapped up by the bored commuters around him.

One day he finds a memory stick on the train, downloads the contents and discovers the diary of somebody called Julie, a toilet attendant in a shopping mall. He enjoys her writing so much (and so, I suspect, will you) that he starts to perform extracts to the commuters on the 6.27 and slowly, inevitably, he realises that he is falling in love. The question is: will he have the guts to track Julie down and tell her how he feels?

Didierlaurent has twice won the International Hemingway Award for his short stories, and although The Reader on the 6.27 is billed as his first novel, it’s so slight it barely qualifies as a novella. Not that it needs to be any longer or more convoluted than it is – once the author has set up his ingenious central conceit, it’s almost as if the narrative takes on a life of its own, freewheeling inexorably, enjoyably and even sometimes a little giddily towards its conclusion.

The author finds time to give us some richly imagined characters along the way, too, notably Guylain’s colleague Yvon, a literature-loving security guard who is fond of speaking in alexandrines, and his friend Giuseppe, formerly chief operator at the factory, who lost both his legs to the Zerstor 500 and has subsequently devoted his life to tracking down all the copies he can find of Gardens and Kitchen Gardens of Bygone Days – a book printed on recycled paper containing the remains of his shredded thighs.

In spite of such grisly asides, and the fact that it remains firmly rooted in the grey, soul-sapping world of dead-end jobs and dull commutes, The Reader on the 6.27 is a tale that never loses its capacity to enchant – not by indulging in escapist flights of fancy, but by finding the magical in the everyday.

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

Genre: Romance/ Comedy

Published by: Pan Books/ Pan Macmillan (UK edition)

Publication date: 10th March 2016 (English Translation)

Pages: 194 (Paperback UK)

If you liked:  Amélie (not a book, but similar in feel)

Working in a job he hates at a book pulping factory and living alone with a goldfish called Rouget de Lisle, there is little that Guylain Vignolles likes about his life. Every day on the 6.27 train into work, he reads aloud from miscellaneous pages that he has rescued from the jaws of the book pulping machine. It is through this act that he gradually begins to form connections with the people who listen with rapt attention to every new page. One day, on the train, he finds a memory stick containing the diary of an equally young woman called Julie. As he reads it, both alone and to his audience of commuters, Guylain finds himself falling in love with the lonely public toilet attendant, as she enchants him with her words.

“‘I need a goldfish,’ mumbled Guylain. Need – that was indeed the word. He was truly addicted to the golden creatures. Guylain could no longer cope without that silent, colourful presence gracing his bedside table. From experience, he knew that there was a vast difference between living alone and living with a goldfish.”

The last book that I reviewed was a sweet love story as well, but there is really no comparison between On the Other Side and The Reader on the 6.27 . There is nothing saccharine or fluffy about The Reader on the 6.27 , but it has a charm and a warmth that makes it truly enjoyable to read. The love story, as it is, doesn’t even start until just over half way through.

Didierlaurent manages to make the ordinary every-day life of Guylain seem fascinating, something that is especially impressive when the first half of the book primarily consists of him going to work, reading on the train, giving a book to an old friend and reading aloud in a retirement home. None of these sound that exciting, but the author manages to make them compelling. The moment when he accidentally reads a page of an erotic novel to the avid listeners in the retirement home is very funny.

The contrast between the destructive nature of Guylain’s work: pulping books in a machine that previously cut of his colleague’s leg, and the way in which seeks to connect with other people through books and reading aloud in the rest of his life provides just the right amount of discord and dissatisfaction to maintain the reader’s interest. The prose is simple, but effective, and the translation by Ros Schwartx brilliantly retains the story’s warmth and the little eccentricities of it’s characters.

There is a touch of magic in the way that Didierlaurent writes about Guylain’s life. The pulping machine, the loathsome Zerstor 500, while never actually being anything more than a machine, has such a ominous and threatening presence that it almost seems alive. The inexplicable mangled rats, the story of Giuseppe’s legs, the way in which parts of the machine are described as human body parts, all weave together to turn the machine into a monster. Similarly fanciful, but somehow down-to-earth at the same time is the wonderful tale of Giuseppe’s quest to find his legs in a rather unexpected way, or Yvon, the security guard who likes to speak in rhyming couplets.

As for the love story itself, Guylain falls in love with Julie, a public toilet attendant, through the words she has written. Neither he nor the reader meets her in person until the last seven pages of the book. Instead, Guylain gets to know Julie through a memory stick he finds which contains her diary. Her life too is nothing extraordinary, but Guylain is enchanted by the voice and personality that shines through her diary. In this way, his experience is remarkably similar to the way in which the reader gets to know him, or any other character in a book. We hear about the events in his daily life, what he does and what he says, and we come to care about him just as he comes to care about Julie. The only difference is that we, unlike Guylain, cannot track down our favourite characters and tell them how immeasurably they have brightened up our day.

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Review – The Reader on the 6:27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

Title:  The Reader on the 6.27

Author:  Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

Publisher:  Pan Books

Release Date:  2016

Genre:  Books about Books/Cute/Foreign

My Rating: 8/10 Solid

Working at a book pulping factory in a job he hates, Guylain Vignolles has but one pleasure in life. Sitting on the 6.27 train each day, Guylain recites aloud from pages he has saved from the jaws of his monstrous pulping machine. It’s this release of words into the world that starts our hero on a journey that will finally bring meaning into his life. For one morning, Guylain discovers the diary of a lonely young woman: Julie. Julie feels as lost in the world as he does. As he reads from these pages to a rapt audience, Guylain finds himself falling hopelessly in love with their enchanting author. This is a tale bursting with larger-than-life characters, each of whom touches Guylain’s life for the better. This captivating novel is a warm, funny fable about literature’s power to uplift even the most downtrodden of lives.

I struggled to put this book in a particular genre. It’s a book about books, but it’s also a romance, warm, cute, happy, uplifting, subtle, funny, charming. At only about 200 pages, it’s a fairy short read, but it doesn’t need to be any longer. It’s not trying to be anything epic or outrageous, it’s just a simple story and that’s where its charm lies.

I worried about this being a translation at first, as I’ve not really enjoyed the previous translations I’ve read, but it really wasn’t an issue. It’s been beautifully translated, with care taken to ensure the humour remains.

There’s not really that much more I can say about this book. The synopsis above tells it all. It really isn’t anything more than that. I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves books, or who just wants a light, uplifting break in-between heavier reads.

Amazon  | Goodreads | Waterstones

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Art and Soul

Books served with a generous slice of cake..

Review | The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

A little gem for book lovers. 3.5/5 stars.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for giving me an e-copy of this book in return for an honest review

The blurb:   Guylain Vignolles lives on the edge of existence. Working at a book pulping factory in a job he hates, he has but one pleasure in life. Sitting on the 6.27 train each day, Guylain recites aloud from pages he has saved from the jaws of his monstrous pulping machine. And it’s this release of words into the world that starts our hero on a journey that will finally bring meaning into his life. For one morning, Guylain discovers the diary of a lonely young woman: Julie. A woman who feels as lost in the world as he does. As he reads from these pages to a rapt audience, Guylain finds himself falling hopelessly in love with their enchanting author…

The Reader on the 6.27 is a short novel which is thoroughly charming, and that’s not damning with faint praise. There are several things which lift the book from 3 to 3.5 stars. The characters, particularly the secondary characters, are drawn just on the right side of the line between quirky and caricature. And, in such a short story, this is an asset because the author doesn’t have a lot of time to make them memorable.

The author has great descriptive powers: I applaud his ability to make a book pulping plant resemble one of the lower circles of hell and to insert sections of reading into the text which shine as bright points of happiness amid the drudgery and gloom of Guylain’s day to day. This is definitely a book for book lovers.

The story is also full of originality. In particular, the strand involving Giuseppe’s quest to find his legs is fantastic (sorry if that sounds odd… spoilers!).

The romantic element of the tale is handled with lightness and subtlety. As it develops, you find yourself getting behind the hero and, when it comes, the ending leaves you smiling.

One final note: bravo to Ros Schwartz for an excellent translation. I would never have guessed this wasn’t written in English originally.

Overall: in under 200 pages, The Reader on the 6.27 achieves a great deal. It will make you grimace, despair, smile and laugh. In the end, you will close the book feeling better for having given it a few hours of your life.

Claire Huston / Art and Soul

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I LOVED this book x

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It was so cute! I was a bit unsure at first, because the author does such a good job of describing how depressing the main character’s life is, but by the time we got to the story of Giuseppe’s legs I was sold! 🙂

I believe this is one of the must-have-on-your-shelves books. And now that I know the translation is good, I’ll check both versions and use them. Now I’m even eagerer to read this because of the leg quest, haha!

I’ll be really interested to hear if you enjoy it in the original. Usually the original is always slightly better than any translation, although in this case the translation was very good. The leg thing is just brilliant. I tell you, the author has a wonderful imagination! 🙂

Sounds interesting!! 🙂

It’s hard to talk about the book without giving away the best bits! I think any book lover will enjoy it. It’s a bit slow at the start and bleak, but that’s so the author can show you how much better the main character’s life gets as the story progresses… so it all turns out well in the end!

Ahh I know the feeling!! well that sounds brilliant- and I love a happy ending!!! 🙂

I have this on my shelf to read. Thanks for much for this post Claire! X

Yay! I really hope you like it. The beginning is rather gloomy, but that’s only so it can get better 🙂

Thank you! I have to say, you have inspired me with so many reading choices. Thank you for being here!

Thank you! 🙂 I’m still jealous of your fabulous end of term presents. I once got a giant personalised cookie and it’s still one of the best gifts I’ve ever received!

It’s so touching isn’t it? 🙂

I’m intrigued! I’ll have to look it up later 🙂

I hope you can track down a copy. I think any book lover could enjoy it. Plus, a nice short book between big fantasy novels 🙂

I’ve pretty much quit NetGalley after my initial rush of requesting every ARC ever and then proceeding to panic: when am I going to get to read all of these. Maybe it’s time that I go back there and try again.

I have to limit myself to requesting no more than 3 things at a time from NetGalley because I get a similar panic. I hate the feeling that I “have” to read things – I don’t need the pressure! 🙂

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I loved this book too. Beautifully written and ultimately uplifting. Vivienne

It had be a little worried at the beginning with all the gloom, but then it rose above that and took us with it. Lovely!

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The Reader on the 6.27 Book Review

“When the train pulled into the station and the passengers alighted, an outside observer would have had no trouble noticing how Guylain’s listeners stood out from the rest of the commuters. Their faces did not wear that off-putting mask of indifference. They all had the contented look of an infant that has drunk its fill of milk.”

Author: Jean-Paul Didierlaurent                     Published : 2014                   Pages : 194

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

Saving condemned books a few pages at a time is an obsession for Guylain Vignolles. By reading the fragments to his fellow commuters, he subverts a system that has ceased to value them except as a grey pulp.

Slowly the words he brings to life create bonds that reach beyond the morning train trip.

But when he discovers a manuscript that touches him beyond any other, he is moved to break out of his habitual routine and try to find its author.

This beautiful, mysterious tale uses its prosaic setting to create a feeling of fable while unfolding the simple tale of a romance between two unusual characters who don’t seem to fit in the places they have landed up.

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Book Review – The Reader On The 6.27

The Reader On The 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent, translated by Ros Swartz (Mantle) ISBN 978-1-4472-7646-3

What a delightful, funny and strange little tale this is! The Reader On The 6.27   is the story of a lonely man, Guylain Vignolles, who hates his job as the operator of a book-pulping machine (a monster of note) from where he ‘rescues’ random pages to read aloud on his train commute.

When he finds a memory stick containing the diary of a mysterious ‘Julie’, he begins a quest that brings meaning to his life and to many along the way. It has a cast of quirky characters – from a security guard who only speaks in Alexandrine quatrains, to a goldfish called Rouget the Fifth (actually the replacement for Rouget the second, third & 4th), some crazy old ladies, and the resident cleaner of a public loo.

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BOOK REVIEW: The Reader on the 6.27

A slender and surprise bestseller set mainly on a train which, at 6.27 each morning, takes gloomy Frenchman Guylain to a job he hates at a book pulping factory.

On the way, he reads aloud to fellow commuters fragments of pages he has managed to rescue from the jaws of the book shredder. The journey takes 20 minutes, his captive audience applaud. It is the golden moment in Guylain’s day, which invariably concludes with a quiet chat with his best friend, Rouget de Lisle – a goldfish.

One day, Guylain discovers a USB stick containing the diary of a dreamy, book-loving cleaner of lavatories, Julie, living somewhere in the same large city, which the smitten Guylain must scour to find her.

A delightful, quintessentially French tale.

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Organising successful book promotion for authors. visit the author services tab for more information. for book reviews from kelly lacey, click the book blog tab., #bookreview the reader on the 6.27 by jean-paul didierlaurent @panmacmillan #firstread #2019.

💫 Welcome to Love Books Group Blog

Today I review my first read of 2019. The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent. This International Bestseller has been on my TBR since I got it for my Christmas last year.

💫 Back of the Book

The Reader on the 6.27 is ready to take you on a journey . . . Guylain Vignolles lives on the edge of existence. Working at a book pulping factory in a job he hates, he has but one pleasure in life.

Sitting on the 6.27 train each day, Guylain recites aloud from pages he has saved from the jaws of his monstrous pulping machine. But it is when he discovers the diary of a lonely young woman, Julie – a woman who feels as lost in the world as he does – that his journey will truly begin.

💫 Review by Kelly Lacey

Format – Physical Copy Pages – 194 Genre – Literary Fiction

Rating – 💫💫💫

So I had very high expectations for this book. When I posted on social media that this was my first read of 2019 I had an influx of emotions from folks about how good the book was.

For me it was a book of two halves, I really enjoyed part one and then slowly I was like this is not what I had anticipated. As we meet the reader, he is deeply depressed and living a shell of a life. The only highlight of his mundane life is reading to the folks on the train as he travels to work each morning.

I loved the idea of this and then following on we learn about his job and meet the tiny group of people that are in his life. All of that is genius, I enjoyed the writing style and the plot was so out of the box and new it worked. But as I said it went off in a tangent that I didn’t really enjoy.

I would recommend everyone has a read, I didn’t hate it, I was just disappointed in the direction it went. But then I think my expectations were so high.

There are various numbers throughout the book for certain reasons. I wondered why there were so many and if they had secret meaning or they were just numbers.

This is a book for anyone who has felt alone in the world. I recommend it for a quick read in the afternoon or a cold night.

My Star Ratings Explained: 💫💫💫 Good, worth adding to your TBR. 💫💫💫💫 Excellent, really enjoyable. 💫💫💫💫💫 AMAZING, buy it today, I loved it.

In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for us (at no extra cost for you).

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A very fair and honest review. We can’t all like the same things.

I take the train every day so this seems like a great book to me, a very relatable situation to start with. I’m sorry it went into a different direction then you anticipated though. Nice review !

Thanks Inge, I still recommend it. You could read it on your commute. I can send you it if you would like?

Like Liked by 1 person

Ooooh yes please *happy dance* I’ll DM you 😉

Great review! It does sound like an interesting commute read. I take the subway to work each day.

[…] Read my full review here: click here. […]

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

Would you like to comment?

I would love you to bring this over to remind the Books You Loved crowd of this quirky little book. Cheers from Carole's Chatter

Sure thing Carole, consider it done.

Thanks for your comment, Carpe Librum!

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The Reader on the 6.27 Paperback – October 1, 2016

• Print length 256 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Pan Books
• Publication date October 1, 2016
• Dimensions 5 x 0.5 x 7.75 inches
• ISBN-10 9781447276494
• ISBN-13 978-1447276494
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About the author, product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1447276493
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pan Books; Main Market ed. edition (October 1, 2016)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781447276494
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1447276494
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.5 x 7.75 inches
• #27,580 in Romantic Comedy (Books)
• #55,451 in Literary Fiction (Books)

About the author

Jean-paul didierlaurent.

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Customers find the book an engaging, beautiful read with well-written characters. They also say the story is beautiful and the language is beautiful.

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Book Review: The Reader on the 6.27

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