The Elegance of the Hedgehog
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Author:
Barbery, Muriel
Translator:
Anderson, Alison
Published:
Europa 2008
Format:
OverDrive Read
Status:
Available from OverDrive

Description

A New York Times Bestseller
We are in an elegant hôtel particulier in the center of Paris. Renée, the building's concierge, is short, ugly, and plump. She has bunions on her feet. She is cantankerous and addicted to television soaps. Her only genuine attachment is to her cat, Leo. In short, she is everything society expects from a concierge at a bourgeois building in a posh Parisian neighborhood. But Renée has a secret: she is a ferocious autodidact who furtively devours art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With biting humor she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants—her inferiors in every way except that of material wealth.
Then there's Paloma, a super-smart twelve-year-old and the youngest daughter of the Josses, who live on the fifth floor. Talented, precocious, and startingly lucid, she has come to terms with life's seeming futility and has decided to end her own on the day of 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 subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.
Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma's trust and to see through Renée's timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.

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Subjects

Subjects
Fiction
Literature

More Details

Street Date:
09/02/2008
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781609450137
Accelerated Reader:
UG
Level 8.1, 15 Points

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Citations

APA Citation (style guide)

Muriel Barbery. (2008). The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Europa.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Muriel Barbery. 2008. The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Europa.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Europa, 2008.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Muriel Barbery. The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Europa, 2008.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.

Copy Details

LibraryOwnedAvailable
Shared Digital Collection22
Essex Library Association00

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Grouped Work ID:
2632887e-cc80-081b-f36b-c18c9d4aa8d6
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API Extraction Dates

Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Mar 01, 2018 14:03:11
Date Updated:
Mar 01, 2018 14:03:11
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 17, 2025 02:03:43
Last Metadata Change:
Jan 27, 2025 02:13:52
Last Availability Check:
Mar 17, 2025 02:03:56
Last Availability Change:
Feb 23, 2025 05:51:34
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Mar 19, 2025 22:22:06

OverDrive Product Record

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A New York Times Bestseller
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Then there's Paloma, a super-smart twelve-year-old and the youngest daughter of the Josses, who live on the fifth floor. Talented, precocious, and startingly lucid, she has come to terms with life's seeming futility and has decided to end her own on the day of 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 subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.
Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma's trust and to see through Renée's timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.
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A New York Times Bestseller
We are in an elegant hôtel particulier in the center of Paris. Renée, the building's concierge, is short, ugly, and plump. She has bunions on her feet. She is cantankerous and addicted to television soaps. Her only genuine attachment is to her cat, Leo. In short, she is everything society expects from a concierge at a bourgeois building in a posh Parisian neighborhood. But Renée has a secret: she is a ferocious autodidact who furtively devours art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With biting humor she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants—her inferiors in every way except that of material wealth.
Then there's Paloma, a super-smart twelve-year-old and the youngest daughter of the Josses, who live on the fifth floor. Talented, precocious, and startingly lucid, she has come to terms with life's seeming futility and has decided to end her own on the day of her thirteenth birthday. Until then she...
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