The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Publisher
:
Editions Gallimard
Parution date
:
2006
EAN
:
9782070780938
Description
The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a novel written in two voices that takes place in an apartment building in a middle-class neighborhood in Paris. The main one is that of Renée, a fifty-four-year-old caretaker, “a widow, small, and ugly.” She loves philosophy but reads only the most obscure works by the world’s great philosophers and authors, which she keeps a secret. The second, Paloma, an exceptionally gifted but unloved twelve-year-old girl, lives on the fifth floor. She has decided to commit suicide on June 16th, her birthday, but in the meantime while waiting, writes in her diary. Funny, prickly, ironic, and intelligent, Muriel Barbery succeeds in writing about deep things with an engaging lightness.
Author
Muriel Barbery : Muriel Barbery teaches philosophy. L’Elégance du hérisson is her second novel, which has been highly acclaimed in the press and was awarded the Prix du Rotary international 2007. So far it has sold to eight countries. Her first book, Une gourmandise (Gallimard, 2000) has been translated into twelve languages.
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