I found Reader for Hire delightfully entertaining in rather a silly way. I’m not sure how much of a comedy it is supposed to be but it amused me no end. It starts off light enough but with a sense of seriousness as she is warned of the dangers of a young woman offering services in the home. The man at the paper is sure she will attract lunatics and perverts, but instead her first client is a disabled teenage boy, confined to a wheelchair.

The effects of her reading him a short horror story are not what she expected, but she finds her clients are getting something out of her reading, so she continues. As she collects more clients, some odder than others, she finds herself in some absurd situations. And then the police start to take notice of what she’s doing.

Originally written in French in 1986, much of the works she reads are likely to be more familiar with a French reader than they were to me. She starts to find familiarities with the texts and her situation. The book does include short passages taken from the books she reads from, so it doesn’t matter so much if you don’t know them. There is one bit from Marquis de Sade, so if you often find someone reading over your shoulder, beware!

Review copy provided by publisher.