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Los Angeles Times: "'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' is a high-wire performance; its characters teeter on the surreal edge of normalcy. Their efforts to conceal their true natures, the pressures of the solitary mind, make the book hum."
IT IS its own genre: apartment-building novels. In each apartment, a different storyline, a daily drama. Each character hides a secret life. Renée, 57, has been the concierge of a luxury Parisian building for 27 years. She looks and acts, outwardly, like a cartoon character, consciously playing the role. She pretends to watch TV incessantly. In reality, she has devoted her life to art, culture and "the quest of timelessness." Paloma, a 12-year-old autodidact who lives in the building, also hides her true identity, pretending to be an obnoxious pre-teen when, she is, in fact, a genius. She plans to kill herself at the end of the year, on the day she turns 13, to avoid the mediocrity of adulthood. All novels are bound together by tension, a kind of literary adrenaline that courses through the paragraphs. "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" is a high-wire performance; its characters teeter on the surreal edge of normalcy. Their efforts to conceal their true natures, the pressures of the solitary mind, make the book hum. from the L.A. Times September 10 2008 |
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