{"product_id":"the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog","title":"The Elegance of the Hedgehog","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe phenomenal \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller that \"explores the upstairs-downstairs goings-on of a posh Parisian apartment building\" (\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn an elegant \u003ci\u003ehôtel particulier\u003c\/i\u003e in Paris, Renée, the concierge, is all but invisible--short, plump, middle-aged, with bunions on her feet and an addiction to television soaps. Her only genuine attachment is to her cat, Leo. In short, she's everything society expects from a concierge at a bourgeois building in an upscale neighborhood. But Renée has a secret: she furtively, ferociously devours art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With biting humor, she scrutinizes the lives of the tenants--her inferiors in every way except that of material wealth.\u003cbr\u003ePaloma is a twelve-year-old who lives on the fifth floor. Talented and precocious, she's come to terms with life's seeming futility and decided to end her own on her thirteenth birthday. Until then, she will continue hiding her extraordinary intelligence behind a mask of mediocrity, acting the part of an average pre-teen high on pop culture, a good but not outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.\u003cbr\u003ePaloma and Renée hide their true talents and finest qualities from a world they believe cannot or will not appreciate them. But after a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building, they will begin to recognize each other as kindred souls, in a novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us, and \"teaches philosophical lessons by shrewdly exposing rich secret lives hidden beneath conventional exteriors\" (\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The narrators' kinetic minds and engaging voices (in Alison Anderson's fluent translation) propel us ahead.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Barbery's sly wit . . . bestows lightness on the most ponderous cogitations.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\r","brand":"Muriel Barbery, Alison Anderson","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44440372773100,"sku":"9781933372600","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0684\/1791\/3068\/files\/9781933372600.jpg?v=1708831421","url":"https:\/\/intl.allstora.com\/products\/the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog","provider":"Allstora","version":"1.0","type":"link"}