Her simple plot and sudden denouement add up to a great deal more than the sum of their parts. By turns very funny (particularly in Paloma's sections) and heartbreaking, Barbery never allows either of her dour narrators to get too cerebral or too sentimental. The arrival of a new tenant, Kakuro Ozu, who befriends both the young pessimist and the concierge alike, sets up their possible transformations. Having grasped life's futility early on, Paloma plans to commit suicide on her 13th birthday. Meanwhile, “supersmart” 12-year-old Paloma Josse, who switches off narration with Renée, lives in the building with her wealthy, liberal family. Though “short, ugly, and plump,” Renée has, as she says, “always been poor,” but she has a secret: she's a ferocious autodidact who's better versed in literature and the arts than any of the building's snobby residents. We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée Michel, 54 and widowed, is the stolid concierge in an elegant Paris hôtel particulier THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG by Muriel Barbery & translated by Alison Anderson RELEASE DATE: Aug. Debut Rate this book Write a Review Book Reviewed by: Megan Shaffer Buy This Book About this Book Summary Excerpt Reading Guide Book Summary A moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us. This dark but redemptive novel, an international bestseller, marks the debut in English of Normandy philosophy professor Barbery.
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