I hope everyone had a wonderful week. I was waylaid by a brief but vicious cold Monday and Tuesday that totally knocked me out. While laying in bed drinking white tea and blowing my nose every minute, I did manage to max out on the number of consecutive episodes of Law and Order SVU I'm capable of watching. So, to pass the time, I finished
The Elegance of the Hedgehog and bravely reentered the beginning plot lines of
Cutting For Stone. For someone who has become delightfully stuck in the genre of emotionally driven, real life is rich enough to write about, relationship centered novels, like Irving's
Hotel New Hampshire,
Rosie by Anne Lamott and even
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon, it was difficult to transition to such a philosophical work. Not to say that
Elegance of the Hedgehog was devoid of emotion. The sort of abrupt, sort of anticipated self discovery of both narrators was the final push that carried me to the end of the book, right when I thought I needed a break from philosophizing. Recognizing Renée as character and not a vehicle of the author's thoughts made it much harder for me to leave the small, dreamy world of "7 Rue de Grenelle." So, overall, I'd recommend it! It feels good to work out your brain, turn off the arrested development re-runs, pull your eyes away from your Reader, etc, etc. Enjoy!
