Hi
This is my
second time reading this novel by Muriel Barbery.
I got it as a gift from my husband a few years ago and it has 315 pages.
“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.”
I loved it
just as much as the first time.
The novel is philosophical but not overly so, sentimental yet still accessible,
it’s charming, it’s moving and it’s bittersweet.
It’s an ode to every form of art out there.
Paloma is
wonderfully pretentious. She is intelligent, humorous, sweet, well-read,
sophisticated and still down-to-earth. And she’s surrounded by a family who
feel too good, too comfortable in their high tower.
Renée is my favorite though. She’s smart, witty, very funny and oh so lovable.
Monsieur Ozu is a real gentleman, he’s generous, charming and he has an open
demeanor.
I thought the characters all very real and genuine.
The ending
is amazing and perfect for this story.
This is
such a lovely novel and definitely worth your time.
Happy
reading!
Helena
