Rapport: Autumn Rounds by Jacques Poulin

In the gentle novel Autumn Rounds, about an introverted bookmobile operator in rural Quebec, we encounter an interesting theory about rapport with others.

What makes you feel you are on the same wavelength with someone else?  The novel Autumn Rounds, originally published in French in 1995 and first translated into English in 2003, answers this question in a story about a quiet, kind man who delivers books to tiny rural communities north of Quebec City.  Known in the book as “The Driver,” the bookmobile operator forms a bond with a group of itinerant performers, in addition to his connections with avid readers who live scattered in the countryside.