The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean Paul Didierlaurent
Hip hip hip... This May, Waterstones' Fitcion Book of the Month is The Reader on the 6.27, written by French best-selling short-story teller and novelist Jean-Paul Didierlaurent! It was translated into English by Ros Schwartz, and published by Pan Macmillan this year. What is it about?
'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.'
To read an extract >> follow this link ! <<
On this occasion, Waterstones asked a few questions to Jean-Paul Didier Laurent:
'Congratulations on the release of The Reader on the 6.27! In your own words, what is it about and what does it mean to you?
JPD: In this novel, I wanted to highlight the invisible, the battered lives, the ordinary people who often go unnoticed; and I wanted to show that each of them could have their own unexpected story. In a society where looks have become a religion and where we judge more on appearance, I wanted to highlight our prejudices and show that the clothes do not always make the man. But this book is also a declaration of love for words and for reading. All the characters have a close relationship with words - the words they read, the words they speak and finally the words of love. These words are the real cement of the novel.
This is your first novel following two short story collections. Can you tell us about the challenges faced in The Reader on the 6.27 as opposed to short stories?
JPD: As a short story writer, novels, by their size, scare me. I suffered from an inferiority complex faced with the writing of a long story, fearful of getting lost in the vastness of so many pages. At the same time, it was my frustration with the short story which pushed me to write the novel. When you create a character, when you become attached to that character and you have to give him up after only a few pages, you regret not having been able to spend more time with him, not having had the opportunity to round him out with your words, to give him more substance. (...)'
To read the full interview >> click this way ! <<
About the author Jean-Paul DIDIERLAURENT
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.
About the translator Ros SCHWARTZ
Ros Schwartz been a freelance translator from French since 1981. She has translated a range of contemporary fiction and non-fiction from authors as diverse as Ousmane Sembène, Jacqueline Harpman, Yasmina Khadra, Aziz Chouaki and Dominique Eddé. In 2010 she published a new translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and she is currently translating her eighth Maigret novel for Penguin Classics’ Simenon project. In 2009 she was made a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She is co-founder of the Translate in the City summer school in London and gives talks and masterclasses around the world. She regularly publishes articles on literary translation, including a chapter in The Translator as Writer, (Eds. Susan Bassnett and Peter Bush), published by Continuum.