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. 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. Then there’s Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building’s tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers.

Synopsis (from Amazon): We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbaryįind it/buy it here: The Elegance of the Hedgehog This month’s selection is yet another of Boxall’s 1001 Books to Read Before you Die : The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. Read the reviews and let us know whether either of the reviewers managed to convince you. I do have strong feelings about this book but I’ll leave it up to you to guess whether I loved it or hated it (I was not one of the reviewers). Our very own Book Worm was the Love it Reviewer and Zombie Kitten was our Hate it Reviewer. For the first time since starting this feature, the “Hate it/don’t want to read it” people won with 58% of the vote! Many thanks to our reviewers for their awesome reviews. Last time we discussed The Children’s Book by A.S. Welcome to the Love it or Hate it post! Each month, we’ll pick one book to review and two contributors will battle it out to convince you to pick it up or throw it out. Instead people either seem to love it or hate it. Have you ever noticed how some books seem to drive a wedge between people? You check the reviews and find almost no middle-of-the-road ratings.

The eloquence of the hedgehog