Muriel Barbery has 3 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 10 narrators, with an average listener rating of 3.6★ across 90 ratings. The most-rated is The Elegance of the Hedgehog.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Summary
An enchanting New York Times and international best seller and award-winner about life, art, literature, philosophy, culture, class, privilege, and power, seen through the eyes of a 54-year-old French concierge and a precocious but troubled 12-year-old girl. 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.
©2006 Editions Gallimard, Paris (P)2009 Highbridge Company
Gourmet Rhapsody
Summary
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. He is desperately searching for that singular flavor, that sublime something once sampled, never forgotten, the Flavor par excellence. Indeed, this flamboyant and self-absorbed man desires only one thing before he dies: one last taste. Thus begins a charming voyage that traces the career of Monsieur Arthens from childhood to maturity across a celebration of all manner of culinary delights. Alternating with the voice of the supercilious Arthens is a chorus belonging to his acquaintances and familiars: relatives, lovers, a would-be protégé, even a cat. Each will have his or her say about M. Arthens, a man who has inspired only extreme emotions in people. Here, as in The Elegance of Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery's story celebrates life's simple pleasures and sublime moments while condemning the arrogance and vulgarity of power.
©2009 Muriel Barbery (P)2009 HighBridge Company
Une gourmandise
Summary
C'est le plus grand critique culinaire du monde, le Pape de la gastronomie, le Messie des agapes somptueuses. Demain, il va mourir. Il le sait et il n'en a cure : aux portes de la mort, il est en quête d'une saveur qui lui trotte dans le cœur, une saveur d'enfance ou d'adolescence, un mets original et merveilleux dont il pressent qu'il vaut bien que tous ses festins de gourmet accompli. Alors il se souvient. Silencieusement, parfois frénétiquement, il vogue au gré des méandres de sa mémoire gustative. Il se souvient - et il ne trouve pas. Pas encore.
©2000 Éditions Gallimard (P)2008 Éditions Gallimard