The peculiar life of a lonely postman, by Denis Theriault

Book title: The peculiar life of a lonely postman

Author: Denis Theriault

Rating: 3 out of 5

I won this book through Goodreads’ giveaway.

Synopsis: 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 only 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…

Opinion:

Younger I always wanted to be a postwoman, going around my town with my bike delivering messages, parcels and letters to all my neighbours so I was very happy when I received this book.

Bilodo’s story starts very normally, an average man going on with his life and duties, until curiosity wins over him and he decides to open a letter he is supposed to deliver.

From that moment, his life changes for the worst, becoming a creepy third wheel in a passionate correspondence between 2 lovers. It quickly escalate from opening the letters before delivering them, to break in into the man’s apartment and impersonate him.

Like a lot of things in life, you know what he is doing is morally wrong, your skin feels all wrong continuing to read the story, but you simply cannot stop.

By the end, you get attached to Bilodo and his struggles, you feel how depressing his day to day is, and how much pressure he feels at his work place. We can all rely a bit on that.

The plot is easy enough to follow until the last chapter, and then I got completely lost with the last bit of the story. I can understand vaguely what the author tried to do, but it is so out of the blue and so unrelated to the rest of the story, that it didn’t make any sense.

I must say the Haiku’s were a very nice touch and very romantic choice, even so I am extremely bad with poetry and have no interest in it.