S elegancí ježka – Barberyová Muriel (2013)

The prickly thorns of irony in a touching story about philosophy and beauty. My name is Renée. I am fifty-four years old and have been a concierge at number 7 on Grenelle Street for twenty-seven years. It is a nice private house with a courtyard and a garden inside, divided into eight very luxurious apartments. All of them are huge, and someone lives in each one. I am a small, ugly, fat widow, I have corns on my feet, and sometimes, when I have a rough morning, I wheeze like a mammoth. I fit perfectly into what the general social consciousness has labeled the paradigm of a concierge, so it would never occur to anyone, even in their dreams, that I am more educated and cultured than all the wealthy residents of our building. My name is Paloma, I am twelve years old, and I live in Paris in an expensive apartment at number 7 on Grenelle Street. Despite all this happiness and all this wealth, I have known for quite some time that the final destination is still a fishbowl. And how do I know this? Because I am quite intelligent. In fact, exceptionally intelligent. That's why I have decided. At the end of this school year, on the day of my thirteenth birthday, precisely on June 16th, I will commit suicide. Muriel Barbery writes about deep things with seductive ease, telling a simple and touching story about encounters and partings, about...