I would not have picked up this book normally, not because it doesn’t sound interesting, but because it just didn’t sound like anything I would normally read. And to be fair that would have been my loss.
This is the story of Renee, an ageing autodidact concierge in a bourgeois apartment block in Paris, and Paloma, a twelve-year-old girl who has decided that by her thirteenth birthday she would commit suicide. To be fair, there really isn’t very much of a plot other than that. I mean, sure, a sudden death in the building starts a chain of events that affects both their lives, but that is hardly the point of the book.
Both women are interesting in a sense that somehow they feel they have to hide a part of themselves from others. Renee feels she should act ignorant and coarse, hiding her extraordinary passion for literature and Paloma thinks she should hide her “remarkable intelligence” (her words, not mine) from the world. Their reasons for this, other than giving the author starting material, are very thin indeed. As for Paloma’s suicide plans, even though she did explain it her logic is so flawed the reader really doesn’t take her claims seriously. Renee is by far a superior literary character to Paloma simply because you can’t help but feel for her. Paloma is too annoying for you to feel for.
Japanese culture is very prominent throughout the book. It is presented as the more elegant uncluttered cousin of European culture. Well that’s a bit unfair! Also, having two unrelated characters focusing on Japanese culture before you introduce the external stimulus is in the same neighbourhood as half the coincidences in The Poe Shadow. Possible, but a bit unlikely as there are so many world cultures that could have inspired her heroines.
With all these aside, this book really did grow on me. It’s true, the plot made me roll my eyes quite a few times, and the nonchalance of a mother letting her twelve year old daughter go to a middle aged man’s apartment for tea on her own was a bit off-putting! Yet it is beautifully written and you really do feel for Renee. I think what really makes this book stand out is the true insight in the life of upper middle class Paris. Renee is an invaluable narrator because her deep understanding of human nature makes it so easy for the reader to interpret the small insignificant actions that could have gone unobserved. Paloma on the other hand, well she was there, and I’m sure she had her uses… Somehow…
It turns out they have made a movie out of this book. I really don’t know how to be fair as the plot is possibly its least important aspect. Maybe I should watch it and see. Watch this space!
Enjoyed it: Yes, very much.
Read again: Easily!
325 days remaining – 11 books down, 89 left.
No comments:
Post a Comment