Review: The Girl Who Reads on the Métro

The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I spent most of this book being confused about what was happening, but it was still cute. Plus it's about books so no complaints there!

So we have Juliette - who is quite an odd duck, to be perfectly honest - who lives a dull life and spends her daily commute reading people who are reading instead of her book. Then one day she happens upon a door held open by a book and it leads her to meeting Soliman, who is a recluse living in an apartment full of books. Soliman has people who deliver random books to people after stalking them to discover their interests. What happens after that is mostly a mystery to me.

I found it really hard to follow what was going on, and I think that's because Juliette is always off in her own little world. She goes off on tangents and the story telling skips around and suddenly you're reading thinking, 'wait a sec ... how did we get here?' It's almost like the editor was too heavy-handed and took out half the narrative.

It was also a bit disappointing for me as a Francophile that this was a bit light on the descriptions. Plenty of place names but they're going to be more familiar to locals than tourists - I imagine Parisians reading this will get a kick out of recognising places and descriptions but I found it hard to connect.

This is a book about books so if you're widely read, prepare for the little thrills when you recognise titles and quotes. Some are quite obscure but there's a handy list at the back as well, which will also give book lovers plenty of inspiration. I recognised a few references here and there, and it was fun to understand them.

There's also a heavy emphasis on how much books can change lives and I'm 100% on board with that.

It was a bit of a strange story overall but it was never dull and I wasn't entirely bothered that I only half understood it. I liked the message it was sending and I do feel that Juliette's transformation was there and quite sweet. I loved the emphasis on books and I think there is something here that will really capture hearts for those who can relate.

With thanks to Macmillan for an ARC

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