Name: The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman
ISBN: 9781786070548

Denis Thériault

*Selected for Simon Mayo’s BBC Radio 2 Book Club* Secretly steaming open envelopes and reading the letters inside, Bilodo has found an escape from his lonely and routine life as a postman. When one day he comes across a mysterious letter containing a single haiku, he finds himself avidly caught up in the relationship between a long-distance couple who write to each other using only beautiful poetry. He feasts on their words, vicariously living a life for which he longs. But it will only be a matter of time before his world comes crashing down around him.

The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman

This short novel conjures up the solitary daily life of Bilodo, a postman who shares his Montreal apartment with his goldfish, Bill. As a result of his indiscretion (the steaming open of personal correspondence), Bilodo becomes involved in an exchange of haiku between the woman of his dreams, a Guadeloupean beauty, and Gaston Grandpre, an eccentric intellectual whose mail Bilodo delivers. Around these events, Denis theriault weaves a passionate tragicomic love story full of twists and turns, but also rich in dazzling descriptions of lush, tropical landscapes and subtle evocations of the sober, precise art of the haiku. All this takes place against the prosaic background of a life deeply rooted in an unvarying routine.

Beth Cordall

3.5.<br /><br />It took me a while to get into this despite how short it is, I think partly because I had very little sympathy for the narrator. Redeemed by an interesting ending.

Deepika Ramesh

The book is a gem. I did not expect it to be this beautiful.

More thoughts in my blog: https://worncorners.wordpress.com/201...

Denis Theriault

Bilodo lives a solitary daily life, routinely completing his post round every day and returning to his empty Montreal apartment. But he has found a way to break the cycle - Bilodo has taken to stealing people's mail, steaming open the envelopes and reading the letters inside. And so it is he comes across Segolene's letters. She is corresponding with Gaston, a master poet, and their letters are each composed of only three lines. They are writing each other haikus. The simplicity and elegance of their poems move Bilado and he begins to fall in love with her. But one day, out on his round, he witnesses a terrible and tragic accident. Just as Gaston is walking up to the post-box to mail his next haiku to Segolene, he is hit by a car and dies on the side of the road. And so Bilodo makes an extraordinary decision - he will impersonate Gaston and continue to write to Segolene under this guise. But how long can the deception continue for?

Lesly Alimangohan

Dennis Jacob Rosenfeld

Denis Thériault's 'The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman' is a slim book of 109 pages, but it is a great piece of literature. A stunning and poetic achievement that lingers in the mind afterwards and I plan to re-read it several times over the summer. Do yourself a favor and read it even though it might not seem like your usual reading material. The translated edition released by Hesperus Press is a thing of beauty (with a few typographical mistakes inside). To mention plot or characters would be a mistake, and should you choose to read it, try doing so with as little information as possible. Know just that this book is a thing of true beauty, and it is unlike any of the other books you'll be likely to read this summer.

The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman

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