The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Registered by stubee of Bury, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on 11/4/2017
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by stubee from Bury, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Saturday, November 4, 2017
A moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.
We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence.
Then there's Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.
Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma's trust and to see through Renée's timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.
We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence.
Then there's Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.
Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma's trust and to see through Renée's timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.
Part of a collection of books going to Kilburn for a hopefully short stay in an old Telephone Box.
Gratefully received from stubee for my OBCZ. A generous donation. Many thanks!
Journal Entry 4 by mrsmontague at Horsley Book Exchange Phonebox ☎️ in Horsley, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Sunday, March 25, 2018
Released 6 yrs ago (3/25/2018 UTC) at Horsley Book Exchange Phonebox ☎️ in Horsley, Derbyshire United Kingdom
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- If you can, please register when and where you found this book. Using the BCID number from the BookCrossing label inside the front cover, log on to the site, then follow the instructions to make a brief journal entry. The person who released the book will be happy to know it's in safe hands!
- You can then read it if you wish. We'd be most grateful if you could leave it somewhere else for someone else to find afterwards.
You don't have to sign up to BookCrossing- your entry will just appear as an 'Anonymous Finder'. If you do join: please consider putting me, mrsmontague, as your referring member. Enjoy!
