The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery

What a very strange book. At times tedious, often stretching credulity, occasionally very entertaining, it is not at all clear why it became an international best seller. It is written from alternating points of view, those of 12-year-old Paloma Joss and 54-year-old Renee Michel, the concierge of the apartment building in Paris where Paloma’s family lives. At times the voices are difficult to distinguish, which is possibly intentional, but does not contribute to enjoyment of the story. Precocious Paloma is suicidal and contemptuous of her neglectful family. A plain exterior and inferior class disguise Renee’s refinement and intelligence. The former regains some sense of childhood and the latter a sense of self from their involvement with a new resident, a wealthy elderly Japanese man. Quirky in the extreme, the book’s shock ending comes as something of a relief.