Bilodo is a lonely postman. He has no family or real friends. He completes his daily routine of delivering post and returns to his appartment. But he has a secret - a way to break his routine. He steals letters from his route and reads the letters. He delivers them the next day but this is his soap opera. And then he discovers Segolene's letters and haikus. Her letters to Grandpre make Bilodo fall in love with her. But one day, Bilodo sees something that threatens his way of life: Grandpre getting hit by a car and dying. With his lifeline of Segolene's letters threatened, Bilodo does something he might live to regret: he pretend to be Gaston and continue his letters to Segolene...
But how long can he keep the lie up before it comes crashing down round him?
Ok, this has the same feeling I had when I read The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide (review for that is here).
I really liked the writing and the translation worked (this was translated from French Canadian to English by Liedewy Hawke). And the haikus worked really well. So on that front, this was really good. The story's strongest part.
However, the story, I wasn't so thrilled over. I felt that this story skimmed over the surface and we could have gone deeper. Plus, I had issues over Bilodo. He was meant to be the "hero" of this story, but I never connected to him. He was meant to be a sympathetic character - lonely, awkward, shy. But I found him unlikeable. He stole letters (aka breaking the law and invading people's private lives), then he impersonate a dead man (again, breaking the law) and we're still meant to see him as this sympathetic character?
This is a mixed bag. It was an ok read but I wish for more. But remember, this is my opinion and if this feels like a read you'll love, please read it! I just wished for more substance to go with the strong writing...
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