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The Elegance of the Hedgehog
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat, Cassandra Morris
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
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Editorial reviews
The Elegance of the Hedgehog tells the story of a life spent in hiding. Madame Michel is the concierge of a luxurious Parisian apartment building, tending to the plants, signing for packages, and polishing the brass, retreating when she can to her rooms on the first floor. She keeps a television blaring where the tenants can hear it; she zealously polices her speech and gestures to keep from giving herself away. What is the secret she hides? Madame Michel is an intellectual. She knows Kant, but she's separated by class from other people who do, so she discusses his work with herself while we listen in. Her musings are voiced by Barbara Rosenblat, who lends an air of theatrical irony an auditory raised eyebrow to her descriptions of class blind spots and philosophical rabbit holes.
The other pole of the story is Paloma Josse, a 12-year-old tenant in the building, voiced by Cassandra Morris with an appropriate measure of sarcasm and outrage. Paloma is a wildly precocious girl raised in privilege who has all the gifts of intellect and all the faults of a pre-adolescent. She's grandiose she favors us with excerpts from a journal titled "Profound Thoughts". She's happy to throw stones at glass houses, and even plans to burn hers down, with the aim of teaching her family a pithy lesson about deprivation. She describes the currently deprived in terms that, while well-intentioned, condescend and distort. She is, in other words, a burgeoning intellect in serious need of the influence of an adult she can respect. An adult, perhaps, like the 54-year-old concierge on the first floor. But it takes more than a ride in an elevator to truly meet a woman who has spent her life in hiding. The novel takes two world views, both meticulously constructed from sound philosophical materials, and happily pulls them apart. Rosalie Knecht
Publisher's summary
Renee Michel is the 54-year-old concierge of a luxury Paris apartment building. Her exterior (short, ugly,and plump) and demeanor (poor, discreet, and insignificant) belie her keen, questing mind and profound erudition. Paloma Josse is a 12-year-old genius who behaves as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter. She plans to kill herself on the 16th of June, her 13th birthday.
Both Renee and Paloma hide their true talents and finest qualities from the bourgeois families around them, until a wealthy Japanese gentleman named Ozu moves into building. Only he sees through them, perceiving the secret that haunts Renee, winning Paloma's trust, and helping the two discover their kindred souls. Moving, funny, tender, and triumphant, Barbery's novel exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.
Critic reviews
"An exquisite book in the form of a philosophical fable that has enchanted hundreds of thousands of readers." (Italian Elle)
"Kinetic minds and engaging voices." ( New York Times Book Review)
"By turns very funny and heartbreaking". ( Publishers Weekly)
"Life-affirming." ( Time)
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Ah, France—the food. The wine. The style. From the City of Lights to the countryside, France is one of the most popular tourist destination spots in the world. But whether your French travel plans are on hold or you’re ready to take a virtual trip now, French literature is one of the best ways to get to know France’s fascinating history, people, and culture. Discover three centuries of the best French authors and their greatest works.
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Story4 out of 5 stars 29
David is the small boy who is always asking questions. Simon and Ines take care of him in their new town, Estrella. He is learning the language; he has begun to make friends. He has the big dog, Bolivar, to watch over him. But he'll be seven soon, and he should be at school. And so, with the guidance of the three sisters who own the farm where Simon and Ines work, David is enrolled in the Academy of Dance. It's here, in his new golden dancing slippers, that he learns how to call down the numbers from the sky.
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2 out of 5 stars
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SEXUAL PERVERSION PRESENTED AS BRILLIANT
- By Amazon Customer on 09-29-18
By: J. M. Coetzee
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The Door
- By: Magda Szabó, Len Rix - translator
- Narrated by: Siân Thomas
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 341
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 303
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 303
Intense, brilliant and moving, The Door is a compelling story about the relationship between two women of opposing backgrounds and personalities: one, an intellectual and writer; the other, her housekeeper, a mysterious, elderly woman who sets her own rules and abjures religion, education, pretense and any kind of authority. Beneath this hardened exterior of Emerence lies a painful story that must be concealed.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Challenging, but an engrossing, literary work.
- By Earnest on 09-05-17
By: Magda Szabó, and others
-
Three Daughters of Eve
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 221
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 202
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 203
Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to the present day, Three Daughters of Eve is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship, tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife and mother, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Review 3 daughters of Eve
- By CA on 04-28-18
By: Elif Shafak
-
The Bastard of Istanbul
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 419
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 277
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 279
In her second novel written in English, Elif Shafak confronts her country's violent past in a vivid and colorful tale set in both Turkey and the United States. At its center is the "bastard" of the title, Asya, a 19-year-old woman who loves Johnny Cash and the French Existentialists, and the four sisters of the Kazanci family who all live together in an extended household in Istanbul.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
A tender gift from far away
- By Barbara on 11-07-07
By: Elif Shafak
-
The Museum of Innocence
- By: Orhan Pamuk, Maureen Freely (translator)
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 318
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 238
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 238
Kemal, scion of one of the city's wealthiest families, is about to become engaged to Sibel, daughter of another prominent family, when he encounters Füsun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation. Once the long-lost cousins violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeosie - a world, as he lovingly describes it, with opulent parties and clubs, society gossip, picnics, and mansions on the Bosphorus, infused with the melancholy of decay.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
one of the very best I've ever heard
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 03-06-10
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
-
The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas
- By: Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
- Narrated by: Edoardo Camponeschi
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 32
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908) was the greatest writer ever to come from Brazil and one of the masters of nineteenth-century fiction. Susan Sontag calls him "the greatest writer ever produced in Latin America", surpassing even Borges. Harold Bloom says that Machado is "the supreme black literary artist to date". And Allen Ginsburg calls him "another Kafka". And The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas is his masterpiece, a dazzling, tragic, and profound novel that belongs next to the greatest works of his contemporaries Melville and Dostoevsky.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A hidden masterpiece
- By C. Park on 08-09-18
-
The Schooldays of Jesus
- By: J. M. Coetzee
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 29
David is the small boy who is always asking questions. Simon and Ines take care of him in their new town, Estrella. He is learning the language; he has begun to make friends. He has the big dog, Bolivar, to watch over him. But he'll be seven soon, and he should be at school. And so, with the guidance of the three sisters who own the farm where Simon and Ines work, David is enrolled in the Academy of Dance. It's here, in his new golden dancing slippers, that he learns how to call down the numbers from the sky.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
SEXUAL PERVERSION PRESENTED AS BRILLIANT
- By Amazon Customer on 09-29-18
By: J. M. Coetzee
-
The Door
- By: Magda Szabó, Len Rix - translator
- Narrated by: Siân Thomas
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 341
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 303
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 303
Intense, brilliant and moving, The Door is a compelling story about the relationship between two women of opposing backgrounds and personalities: one, an intellectual and writer; the other, her housekeeper, a mysterious, elderly woman who sets her own rules and abjures religion, education, pretense and any kind of authority. Beneath this hardened exterior of Emerence lies a painful story that must be concealed.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Challenging, but an engrossing, literary work.
- By Earnest on 09-05-17
By: Magda Szabó, and others
-
The Razor's Edge
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 997
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 880
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 871
The Great War changed everything and everyone, and Larry Darrell is no exception. Though his physical wounds from the war heal, his spirit is changed almost beyond recognition. He leaves his betrothed, the beautiful and devoted Isabel; studies philosophy and religion in Paris; lives as a monk, and witnesses the exotic hardships of Spanish life. All of life that he can find - from an Indian Ashrama to labor in a coal mine - becomes Larry's spiritual experiment as he spurns the comfort and privilege of the Roaring 20s.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
An Classic of Love and the Desire for Meaning
- By Eric on 01-06-17
-
A Tale of Love and Darkness
- By: Amos Oz
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 23 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 334
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 294
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 294
It is the story of a boy growing up in the war-torn Jerusalem of the 40s and 50s in a small apartment crowded with books in 12 languages and relatives speaking nearly as many. His mother and father, both wonderful people, were ill-suited to each other. When Oz was 12 and a half years old, his mother committed suicide - a tragedy that was to change his life. He leaves the constraints of the family and the community of dreamers, scholars, and failed businessmen to join a kibbutz.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
His life was interesting, but not his memoir
- By DR Harle on 01-27-19
By: Amos Oz
-
Buddenbrooks
- The Decline of a Family
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 664
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 599
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 597
First published in 1900, when Thomas Mann was 25, Buddenbrooks is a minutely imagined chronicle of four generations of a North German mercantile family - a work so true to life that it scandalized the author’s former neighbours in his native Lübeck.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Where Have You Been All My Life, Thomas Mann?
- By Virginia Waldron on 03-30-17
By: Thomas Mann
-
Wicked Autumn
- A Max Tudor Novel
- By: G. M. Malliet
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,084
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 950
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 950
Max Tudor has adapted well to his post as vicar of St. Edwold's in the idyllic village of Nether Monkslip. The quiet village seems the perfect home for Max, who has fled a harrowing past as an MI5 agent. But this new-found serenity is quickly shattered when the highly vocal and unpopular president of the Women's Institute turns up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an accident, but Max's training as a former agent kicks in, and before long he suspects foul play.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Classic Cozy English Village Mystery
- By Sara on 10-08-14
By: G. M. Malliet
-
The Sunday Philosophy Club
- An Isabel Dalhousie Mystery
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 904
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 584
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 578
New York Times best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith, winner of the first-ever Saga Award for Wit, has entertained millions with his beloved No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency mysteries. Now this phenomenally popular author introduces a fresh series, brimming with the charm and humor his stable of dedicated fans can't get enough of.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Advice For Prospective Listeners
- By DCinMI on 02-18-13
-
Amulet
- By: Roberto Bolaño, Chris Andrews - translator
- Narrated by: Adriana Sananes
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 36
A tour de force, Amulet is a highly charged first-person, semi-hallucinatory novel that embodies in one woman's voice the melancholy and violent recent history of Latin America. Amulet is a monologue, like Bolaño's acclaimed debut in English, By Night in Chile. The speaker is Auxilio Lacouture, a Uruguayan woman who moved to Mexico in the 1960s, becoming the "Mother of Mexican Poetry", hanging out with the young poets in the cafés and bars of the University.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Read The Savage Detectives first
- By Alicia Grega on 12-05-13
By: Roberto Bolaño, and others
-
The Bad Seed
- By: William March
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 238
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 211
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 214
There's something special about eight-year-old Rhoda Penmark. With her carefully plaited hair and her sweet cotton dresses, she's the very picture of old-fashioned innocence. But when their neighborhood suffers a series of terrible accidents, her mother begins to wonder: Why do bad things seem to happen when little Rhoda is around?
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5 out of 5 stars
-
loved it
- By CoCo B.M.J on 07-23-19
By: William March
-
More Die of Heartbreak
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Ramiz Monsef
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Kenneth Trachtenberg, an eccentric and witty native of Paris, travels to the Midwest to spend time with his famous American uncle, a world-renowned botanist and self-described "plant visionary". After numerous affairs and failed relationships, the restless Uncle Benn seeks a settled existence in the form of marriage - but tying the knot again opens the door to a host of new torments.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
A great book
- By John A. on 03-16-22
By: Saul Bellow
-
A Closed Eye
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Prunella Scales
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 35
Born to elegant but frivolous parents, Harriet grows up ignored and unguided, and retains a curious innocence that neither her marriage to Freddie Lytton, nor her friendship with the beautiful Tessa can dispel. Freddie is far older than she is - a companion rather than a lover - and slightly disapproving of Tessa and her irresponsible, attractive husband, Jack. Yet all four are bound together: by their backgrounds, their children, by Harriet’s unspoken feelings for Jack and by the tragedy that lies in wait for all of them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Late Great Ms. Brookner
- By David P on 05-15-16
By: Anita Brookner
-
An Available Man
- A Novel
- By: Hilma Wolitzer
- Narrated by: Fred Sullivan
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 125
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 107
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 107
When Edward Schuyler - a modest and bookish 62-year-old science teacher - is widowed, he finds himself ambushed by female attention. There are plenty of unattached women around, but a healthy, handsome, available man is a rare and desirable creature. Edward receives phone calls from widows seeking love, or at least lunch, while well-meaning friends try to set him up at dinner parties. The problem is that Edward doesn’t feel available. He’s still mourning his beloved wife, Bee, and prefers solitude and the familiar routine of work, gardening, and bird-watching.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Lovely book, easy read, wonderful characters
- By Molly-o on 02-17-12
By: Hilma Wolitzer
-
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
- Stories
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon, Piter Marek, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 153
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 131
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 133
In "Books and Roses", one special key opens a library, a garden, and clues to at least two lovers' fates. In "Is Your Blood as Red as This?", an unlikely key opens the heart of a student at a puppeteering school. "'Sorry' Doesn't Sweeten Her Tea" involves a "house of locks", where doors can be closed only with a key - with surprising unobservable developments. And in "If a Book Is Locked There's Probably a Good Reason for That Don't You Think", a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
clever
- By jared rogerson on 03-15-18
By: Helen Oyeyemi
-
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
- By: Laurie Viera Rigler
- Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 602
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 251
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 255
After nursing a broken engagement with Jane Austen novels and Absolut, Courtney Stone wakes up and finds herself not in her Los Angeles bedroom, or even in her own body, but inside the bedchamber of a woman in Regency England. Who but an Austen addict like herself could concoct such a fantasy?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Delightful
- By Twin2th on 08-15-07
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Gourmet Rhapsody
- By: Muriel Barbery
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz, Barbara Caruso, Eliza Foss, and others
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Overall3 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 69
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In the heart of Paris, in the posh building made famous in The Elegance of Hedgehog, Pierre Athens, the greatest food critic in the world, is dying. Revered by some and reviled by many, Monsieur Arthens has been lording it over the world's most esteemed chefs for years, passing judgment on their creations, deciding their fates with a stroke of his pen, destroying and building reputations on a whim. But now, during these his final hours, his mind has turned to simpler things.
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5 out of 5 stars
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If you are a food lover, this is a must to read!
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A Single Rose
- By: Muriel Barbery, Alison Anderson - translator
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 11
Rose has just turned 40 when she gets a call from a lawyer asking her to come to Kyoto for the reading of her estranged father’s will. And so, for the first time in her life, she finds herself in Japan, where Paul, her father’s assistant, is waiting to greet her.As Paul guides Rose along a mysterious itinerary designed by her deceased father, her bitterness and anger are soothed by the stones and the trees in the Zen gardens they move through.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Beautiful Book
- By Scott Frankenberg on 02-27-22
By: Muriel Barbery, and others
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Social Crimes
- By: Jane Stanton Hitchcock
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,742
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,547
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,545
Dark secrets lurk beneath the glamour and glitter of New York's high-society life in this riveting tale of murder, obsession, and revenge. Jo Slater, one of the grandest of New York's grande dames, is knocked off her pedestal when her husband of 20 years dies under strange circumstances and leaves his fortune to a mysterious French countess. When Jo discovers she has been the victim of a plot, she decides to set things straight. And nothing is going to get in her way.
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1 out of 5 stars
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This writing is criminal
- By Katherine Lammers on 03-12-08
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L'élégance du hérisson
- By: Muriel Barbery
- Narrated by: Myriam Boyer, Salomé Lelouch
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 22
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Story4 out of 5 stars 22
"Je m'appelle Renée, j'ai cinquante-quatre ans et je suis la concierge du 7 rue de Grenelle, un immeuble bourgeois. Je suis veuve, petite, laide, grassouillette, j'ai des oignons aux pieds et, à en croire certains matins auto-incommodants, une haleine de mammouth. Mais surtout, je suis si conforme à l'image que l'on se fait des concierges qu'il ne viendrait à l'idée de personne que je suis plus lettrée que tous ces riches suffisants. Je m'appelle Paloma, j'ai douze ans, j'habite au 7 rue de Grenelle dans un appartement de riches."
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Very insightful
- By AnMaKo on 02-23-21
By: Muriel Barbery
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The Only Story
- A Novel
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Guy Mott
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 207
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 191
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Story4 out of 5 stars 194
One summer in the 60s, in a staid suburb south of London, Paul comes home from university, aged 19, and is urged by his mother to join the tennis club. In the mixed-doubles tournament he's partnered with Susan Macleod, a fine player who's 48, confident, ironic, and married, with two nearly adult daughters. She is also a warm companion, their bond immediate. And they soon, inevitably, are lovers. Clinging to each other as though their lives depend on it, they then set up house in London to escape his parents and the abusive Mr. Mcleod.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The Only Story
- By KP on 09-21-18
By: Julian Barnes
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Happy All the Time
- By: Laurie Colwin
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 20
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 18
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 18
Guido and Vincent, best friends (and third cousins), aren’t expecting to fall head-over-heels in love, but that is exactly what happens. Guido is smitten with Holly, a dazzling young woman who chafes at the idea of complacency, while Vincent falls for Misty, a work colleague with an acerbic sense of humor who seems as uninterested in romance as she is in Vincent (at first). In the months that follow, both couples will experience the rituals of courtship, jealousy, estrangement, family entanglements, and other perils of the heart as they try to find love in spite of themselves.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Charming characters
- By Cathy on 12-14-23
By: Laurie Colwin
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Gourmet Rhapsody
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Overall3 out of 5 stars 105
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In the heart of Paris, in the posh building made famous in The Elegance of Hedgehog, Pierre Athens, the greatest food critic in the world, is dying. Revered by some and reviled by many, Monsieur Arthens has been lording it over the world's most esteemed chefs for years, passing judgment on their creations, deciding their fates with a stroke of his pen, destroying and building reputations on a whim. But now, during these his final hours, his mind has turned to simpler things.
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5 out of 5 stars
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If you are a food lover, this is a must to read!
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 14
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Rose has just turned 40 when she gets a call from a lawyer asking her to come to Kyoto for the reading of her estranged father’s will. And so, for the first time in her life, she finds herself in Japan, where Paul, her father’s assistant, is waiting to greet her.As Paul guides Rose along a mysterious itinerary designed by her deceased father, her bitterness and anger are soothed by the stones and the trees in the Zen gardens they move through.
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,742
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,547
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Dark secrets lurk beneath the glamour and glitter of New York's high-society life in this riveting tale of murder, obsession, and revenge. Jo Slater, one of the grandest of New York's grande dames, is knocked off her pedestal when her husband of 20 years dies under strange circumstances and leaves his fortune to a mysterious French countess. When Jo discovers she has been the victim of a plot, she decides to set things straight. And nothing is going to get in her way.
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1 out of 5 stars
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This writing is criminal
- By Katherine Lammers on 03-12-08
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 22
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"Je m'appelle Renée, j'ai cinquante-quatre ans et je suis la concierge du 7 rue de Grenelle, un immeuble bourgeois. Je suis veuve, petite, laide, grassouillette, j'ai des oignons aux pieds et, à en croire certains matins auto-incommodants, une haleine de mammouth. Mais surtout, je suis si conforme à l'image que l'on se fait des concierges qu'il ne viendrait à l'idée de personne que je suis plus lettrée que tous ces riches suffisants. Je m'appelle Paloma, j'ai douze ans, j'habite au 7 rue de Grenelle dans un appartement de riches."
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Very insightful
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One summer in the 60s, in a staid suburb south of London, Paul comes home from university, aged 19, and is urged by his mother to join the tennis club. In the mixed-doubles tournament he's partnered with Susan Macleod, a fine player who's 48, confident, ironic, and married, with two nearly adult daughters. She is also a warm companion, their bond immediate. And they soon, inevitably, are lovers. Clinging to each other as though their lives depend on it, they then set up house in London to escape his parents and the abusive Mr. Mcleod.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Happy All the Time
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 20
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Guido and Vincent, best friends (and third cousins), aren’t expecting to fall head-over-heels in love, but that is exactly what happens. Guido is smitten with Holly, a dazzling young woman who chafes at the idea of complacency, while Vincent falls for Misty, a work colleague with an acerbic sense of humor who seems as uninterested in romance as she is in Vincent (at first). In the months that follow, both couples will experience the rituals of courtship, jealousy, estrangement, family entanglements, and other perils of the heart as they try to find love in spite of themselves.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Charming characters
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By: Laurie Colwin
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The Mandelbaum Gate
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 80
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 67
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Story4 out of 5 stars 65
The Mandelbaum Gate divides the conflict-torn realm of Jerusalem, separating Israel from Jordan. Barbara Vaughn, a stubborn young English woman and half-Jewish Catholic convert, insists upon crossing the divide in order to rendezvous with her fiancé, in spite of the very real danger. Her quest sets off a series of bizarre situations and adventures, set against the backdrop of the Eichmann trial of 1961.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Graham Greene meets PG Wodehouse...
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Une heure de ferveur
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Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
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Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
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Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Un homme solitaire et volage, amant d'une Française de passage à Kyoto perd sa légèreté le jour où celle-ci lui interdit d'approcher l'enfant née de leur liaison. Littéralement bouleversé, ce Japonais éprouve soudain un sentiment paternel irrépressible. Il accepte pourtant la cruelle injonction. Par l'entremise d'un photographe dont il achète les services et la discrétion, il va dorénavant passer sa vie à observer sa fille au fil des images volées.
By: Muriel Barbery
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The Bachelors
- By: Muriel Spark
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 113
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Story4 out of 5 stars 98
First found contentedly chatting in their London clubs and shopping at Fortnum's, the cozy bachelors are not set to stay cozy for long. Soon enough, the men are variously tormented - defrauded, stolen from, blackmailed, or pressed to attend horrid séances - and then plunged, all together, into the nastiest of lawsuits. At the center of that suit hovers pale, blank Patrick Seton, the medium.
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4 out of 5 stars
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philosophical black comedy
- By connie on 04-22-09
By: Muriel Spark
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Trick
- By: Domenico Starnone, Jhumpa Lahiri - translated by
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
Trick is a stylish drama about ambition, family, and old-age that goes beyond the ordinary and predictable. Imagine a duel between two men. One, Daniele Mallarico, is a successful illustrator who, in the twilight of his years, feels that his reputation and his artistic prowess are fading. The other, Mario, is Daniele's four-year-old grandson. Daniele has been living in a cold northern city for years, in virtual solitude, when his daughter asks if he would come to Naples for a few days and babysit Mario. Shut inside his childhood home, grandfather and grandson match wits.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Interesting book
- By MB on 05-25-22
By: Domenico Starnone, and others
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Une rose seule
- By: Muriel Barbery
- Narrated by: Delphine Lanson
- Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3
Alors qu'elle a traversé la planète pour rejoindre le Japon, une femme franchit la cloison de verre de l'altérité et entre peu à peu dans l'agencement esthétique et spirituel des jardins et des temples de Kyôto. Jour après jour, guidée par celui qui fut l'assistant de son père disparu, ces promenades sont en elle autant de motifs à résonances, chambres d'échos, révélations minuscules puis essentielles de sa personnalité. Ce roman des origines est un voyage, une géographie secrète, en même temps qu'une transposition poétique de l’énigme du sentiment amoureux.
By: Muriel Barbery
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Memento Mori
- By: Muriel Spark
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 295
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 214
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Story4 out of 5 stars 214
Muriel Spark's blackly comic masterwork begins with a voice on the telephone warning, "Remember, you must die." The recipient of the grim message is elderly Dame Lettie Colston, but soon 10 of Lettie's oldest friends also become targets of Death's anonymous herald. A bizarre investigation lays bare an intricate network of deception and disloyalty that binds together the vulnerable group of aging eccentrics.
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4 out of 5 stars
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More Spark, Please!
- By Cariola on 10-27-11
By: Muriel Spark
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Sweet Tooth
- By: Ian McEwan
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,301
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,120
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 1,120
Winner of such prestigious honors as the Booker Prize and Whitbread Award, Ian McEwan is justifiably regarded as a modern master. Set in 1972, Sweet Tooth follows Cambridge student Serena Frome, whose intelligence and beauty land her a job with England's intelligence agency, MI5. In an attempt to monitor writers' politics, MI5 tasks Serena with infiltrating the literary circle of author Tom Healy. But soon matters of trust and identity subvert the operation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Perfect Book for your Literary Sweet Tooth
- By Susianna on 11-18-12
By: Ian McEwan
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The Red Notebook
- By: Antoine Laurain
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 364
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 316
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 318
Heroic bookseller Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street. There's nothing in the bag to indicate who it belongs to, although there's all sorts of other things in it. Laurent feels a strong impulse to find the owner and tries to puzzle together who she might be from the contents of the bag. Especially a red notebook with her jottings, which really makes him want to meet her. Without even a name to go on, and only a few of her possessions to help him, how is he to find one woman in a city of millions?
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4 out of 5 stars
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A slight story
- By RueRue on 12-22-16
By: Antoine Laurain
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The Sweet Life in Paris
- Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City
- By: David Lebovitz
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 212
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 190
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Story4 out of 5 stars 188
Like so many others, David Lebovitz dreamed about living in Paris ever since he first visited the city in the 1980s. Finally, after a nearly two-decade career as a pastry chef and cookbook author, he moved to Paris to start a new life. Having crammed all his worldly belongings into three suitcases, he arrived, hopes high, at his new apartment in the lively Bastille neighborhood.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Great content, but it needs a different narrator
- By Jennifer Sader on 09-22-12
By: David Lebovitz
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My Good Life in France
- In Pursuit of the Rural Dream
- By: Janine Marsh
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 173
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 159
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 159
One grey dismal day, Janine Marsh was on a trip to northern France to pick up some cheap wine. She returned to England a few hours later having put in an offer on a rundown old barn in the rural Seven Valleys area of Pas de Calais. This was not something she'd expected or planned for. Janine eventually gave up her job in London to move with her husband to live the good life in France. Or so she hoped. While getting to grips with the locals and la vie Française, and renovating her dilapidated new house, a building lacking the comforts of mains drainage, heating, or proper rooms.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Really funny, delightful, informative
- By mz on 10-02-18
By: Janine Marsh
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Burnt Sugar
- By: Avni Doshi
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 75
In vivid and visceral prose, Tibor Jones South Asia Prize-winning writer Avni Doshi tells a story, at once shocking and empathetic, about love and betrayal between a mother and a daughter. A journey into shifting memories, altering identities, and the subjective nature of truth, Burnt Sugar is a stunning and unforgettable debut.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful narration - Story is lacking.
- By Anon54fdgnb7 on 02-05-21
By: Avni Doshi
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The History of Love
- By: Nicole Krauss
- Narrated by: George Guidall, Barbara Caruso, Julia Gibson, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,692
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,867
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,883
Nicole Krauss' first novel, Man Walks Into a Room, was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and her short fiction has been collected in Best American Short Stories. Now The History of Love proves Krauss is among our finest and freshest literary voices.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Like Garcia-Marquez on Anti-Pschyotics
- By Jane on 10-14-08
By: Nicole Krauss
What listeners say about The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- derek durling
- 02-08-15
Brilliant thoughtful book
This book was very well constructed wit.h an unusual format, I found it to be thought provoking and enjoyed it immensely
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kwwilkie
- 02-17-20
Beautifully Written and Narrated
A brilliant novel with exquisitely drawn characters. Totally absorbing. Narrators are perfect. I highly recommend.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Charlene
- 02-09-14
Takes a while to get into it but hang in there
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Yes but only people interested in books that tell the story between the lines instead of straightfoward storytelling. If you're expecting what-you-see-is-what-you-get this is not the book for you.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Elegance of the Hedgehog?
The end. Devastating.
What does Barbara Rosenblat and Cassandra Morris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I loved the tones -- those kinds of nuances may not have been so visible in just reading the book.
Was Elegance of the Hedgehog worth the listening time?
Yes although it's not a book I would re-read even though it would probably yield more mysteries/stories if I did.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- amanda
- 02-17-16
The worth of each life!
what a wonderful story to remind each of us that no matter what our station in life we can affect another for good or bad. To receive love, kindness or respect, we must be willing to give these feelings to all we come in contact with!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- R. Van Klaveren
- 01-29-19
surprisingly great read.
thoroughly fell in love with the narrators and story. a surprisingly sweet story. highly recommended. laughter. tears. friendship.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Pyles
- 04-21-10
It surprised me
I would not have had the patience to read this book with my eyes. I used it as a companion for pulling weeds and I must report that the garden and I are both the better for it. It was a very good listen. I'll not forget these characters anytime soon.
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76 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Dr.
- 10-01-10
Thoughtful and engaging
This story grew on me the more I listened. You have to some patience, however, since most for most of the story you are listening to the two main characters talking to themselves - thinking out loud. Both characters are amazingly smart and insightful - the young girl preternatually so. A touching but improbable ending is a bit of a disappointment. Fun if you enjoy learning more about class struggles in France.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Aryn
- 03-31-11
How very mean
The book is technically very good; the translation is smooth and readable. The narration is more than adequate. THE HOWEVER and SPOILER: I do not want misanthropy in my books and the final chapters read, to me, more of a 'f*** you' than anything else. I do not recommend the book to people I care about and will certainly never read this particular author again. As always, this is a subjective, emotional response to the book which says as much about me as it does the author. And it is the mark of a well crafted book, that ability to evoke a strong emotional response, n'est pas?
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- NJB
- 02-18-10
beautiful book. mixed narration
i'm sure others have already said how you must pay close attention to this book. It's no light listen, but contrary to those who might think it pretentious because of the vocabulary. I found it a work of art. My only gripe is the narration of the little girl. She does a first class job, and I don't want to take anything away from her, but she is supposed to be playing a french girl, yet her accent is the strongest whiney american accent I think I have ever heard. But this shouldn't put you off downloading this one. It is worth it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Annabelle
- 03-31-11
As pleasing to the ear as a Madeleine to the mouth
A wonderful book that I will listen to again. Full of insightful observations and philosophical questons to consider. And the narrators were both delightful, their voices enhancing the characters they portrayed.
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1 person found this helpful