I realised I loved Jean-Paul Didierlaurent’s The Reader on the 6.27 when I took offence at “trousers corkscrewing” down someone’s legs – they don’t corkscrew, they concertina. The writing (and Ros Schwartz’s translation) is so elegant and poetically rhythmic, that the rare off-word pulls the reader out of Guylain Vignolles’ magical world.
The blurb on the back of The Reader unfortunately compares the book to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie. While there are similarities, a comparison to something as perfect as Amelie can only make The Reader second best! That’s not taking away from the charm and romanticism of The Reader, it’s a very good book, but as I turned that last page, I was more tempted to recommend Amelie than The Reader.
While not perfect, it’s better than the coldly angular 4, and as the curvaceous 5 is more appealing (like Julie’s favourite numbers), it’s only fair to round up!
See review on Goodreads.