Book Club reviews – November and January reads

‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’ by Muriel Barbery. 

The book follows the events of a concierge Renee Michel, who deliberately conceals her intelligence. This fact is uncovered by an unstable but intellectual precocious girl Paloma Josse who lives in one of the apartments, who has promised herself that on her thirteenth birthday she will commit suicide. It is a book about philosophical introspection, and the importance of human connection.The overall view of those who read the book was that it was pretentious, banal, and turgid, scoring 2-5/10 – not recommended by the group.

‘Don't cry for me Aberystwyth’ by Malcolm Pryce. 

It is Christmas in Aberystwyth, a man wearing a red and white robe is found brutally murdered in a Chinatown alley. A single word 'Hoffmann” is scrawled in his blood on the pavement. But who is Hoffman? The celebrated crime fighter Louie Knight is charged with solving the mystery and finding Hoffman.Some of the group felt it was a good and humorous start with likeable characters, but halfway through the author had some form of "writer's block", and the story line and narrative became lost in nonsense. And, turgid (yes that word again, but stated with such passion).One reader totally disagreed with this analysis, whilst another felt the main character was like a Philip Marlowe type and could actually envisage the scenes described quite clearly. Most loved the surrealist feel to the narrative and felt that the characters played out like a fragmented film reel, connecting eventually to a grand finale ,or like a fever dream, when upon waking reality becomes initially confusing and suddenly becomes hilariously clear. We gave a rather confusing score of 3-8/10.