The Reader on the 6.27
Ratings9
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings9
Average rating3.8
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.
Reviews with the most likes.
Really quirky and fun. “Similar in look and feel to Amélie” is a fair appraisal.
Playful and simple to read, but if you stop to think about it, it really covers some pretty deep topics. I must have read Guylain's monologue at the doctor's five times before finally accepting that he's not completely oblivious to the nature of his reality, having spent the rest of the book under the assumption he was deferent to the inevitability of the static, unfulfilled nature of his life.
“For all those fellow commuters, he was the reader, the bizarre character who each weekday would read out, in a loud, clear voice, from the handful of pages he extracted from his briefcase.”
I hated this book the first time I tried to read it, I dnf-ed it after 50 pages or so because I couldn't get into it at all, the writing and the main character felt unbearable. But I kept postponing giving it away and this week I felt the urge to give it another shot, probably because it had been on my radar for years before I bought it and I really wanted to see where the story would go.
This time it was like reading a completely different book. I thought it was very charming, very Amélie-esque. And I truly appreciated the writing on this occasion. I have to say, I think the translator did a wonderful job, it didn't feel like a translated work at all.
Guylain works at a job he hates, at a job any self-respecting reader worthy of the name would hate: Guylain destroys books. His one joy in life is reading aloud each day on the 6.27 train. And then he discovers a diary on the train, and he feels compelled to find the author of the diary.
A lovely little adventure containing all my favorite ingredients including books and France.
