Lead Review
- Book: Reader For Hire
- Location: France
- Author: Raymond Jean
3.75*
Another short book from Peirene Press, a publisher who specialises in “Contemporary European Literature. Thought-provoking, well designed, short.”
Marie-Constance has found a bit of a vocation. She has acting skills and a voice that can electrify and charm others. In need of an income and a job, she decides to advertise her services as a reader (and of course The Reader by Bernhard Schlink comes straight to mind at this point).
With no objections from her husband, a shadowy figure in the background, she places an advertisement in the local paper. Her first caller is the mother of Eric, a young paraplegic man. She spends time with him but an error of judgement causes him to have a fit and be admitted to hospital. Her next client is an aristocrat from Hungary who is an elderly but rather naughty minx with leftist leanings. Her involvement with her lands her in trouble with the police superintendent. She takes little Corinde to the funfair, that too is fraught with disaster. Everything is well intentioned but accident prone.
Yet her clients come back to her time and again, as she gradually becomes part of their lives and establishes a bit of a reputation.
She seeks advice from her mentor at the University who helps her pick suitable books and texts specifically for each client. He is a supportive male, steering her in directions that will allow her to cultivate relationships… Maupassant; a text to satiate Eric’s desire for his own feline company, perhaps; prose from Alice in Wonderland featuring Dinah the cat for Clorinde…..And then it all gets a lot darker!
Having already made the acquaintance of a local professor, the magistrate and the police superintendent in her locality, her professional dedication falters when they ask something of her that significantly slews the power imbalance. She is now consigned – essentially because she is a female – to the mercy of three men who have got together and formulated an inappropriate request. Her professional sangfroid, however, has come to the end of the road and perhaps it’s back to where she started…
There is a sexual undertow to this story which beleaguers Marie-Constance, men being controlling, suggestive, needy, and sometimes looking to have power over her. This can make it quite an uncomfortable read at times.
Does Raymond Jean really get inside the head of a female protagonist? The jury is still out….. The writing and translation, however, are excellent.
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