# The People on Platform 5

By Clare Pooley

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/the-people-on-platform-5-fb9fe6c5/

Iona and her fellow commuters observe the rule against talking to strangers on the train until a passenger chokes on a grape. The emergency brings them into conversation, beginning friendships among people who have been traveling together without knowing one another.

## What makes it funny?

Iona has a confident idea of the impression she makes. A change of viewpoint lets readers hear what her fellow passengers think instead: the same clothes and behavior tell quite different stories depending on who is looking.

### The comedy at work

Pooley lets one passenger make a judgment, then gives another a turn to complicate it. Private insecurities undermine the confidence people display in public, making their rigid ideas about train etiquette and each other increasingly hard to sustain.

### Try this if…

An ensemble learning to look after one another supplies the warmth. Readers who enjoy friendship stories built from strangers gradually revising their first impressions have that shared journey to follow.

### Good to know

The US edition is titled Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting. The opening includes sexual harassment as well as the medical emergency.

## What to expect

- Genre: Contemporary & literary
- Kind of humor: Situational comedy
- The atmosphere: Warmhearted
- Format: Novel
- Length: 416 pages
- Audiobook: 8 hr 35 min
- Published: 2022

## A few distinguishing details

- A choking emergency breaking the silence of a commuter train
- Passengers with competing accounts of the same people

## Sources & further reading

- Publisher: [US publisher edition](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610576/iona-iversons-rules-for-commuting-by-clare-pooley)
- Author commentary: [Author](https://clarepooley.com/the-people-on-platform-5)
- Reading sample: [Publisher’s reading sample](https://cdn.penguin.co.uk/dam-assets/books/9781804990971/9781804990971-sample.pdf)
- Book information: [Google Play audiobook](https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/The_People_on_Platform_5_The_feel_good_and_uplifti?hl=en_US&id=AQAAAEC8LCtshM)
- Publisher: [Publisher audiobook](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/439969/the-people-on-platform-5-by-pooley-clare/9781529191004)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/439969/the-people-on-platform-5-by-pooley-clare/9781804990971)
- Review: [Catherine Larner’s review](https://www.moreaboutbooks.com/review/1535)