The Elegance of the Hedgehog / Muriel Barbery 325 p.

I finally got around to reading this, and really enjoyed it except for the annoying ending. I liked the setting, an exclusive Parisian apartment building which functions as a sort of sociological petri dish where Barbery examines various segments of society: concierges, cleaning women, spoiled university students, wealthy housewives, even legislators. She then injects a foreign 'agent' into the experiment in the form of a rich, mysterious, and slightly Buddha-like Japanese businessman. The result is interesting and affirming.