Hunting and Gathering
by Anna Gavalda
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 590)
Read in June, 2008
recommended to KiwiKathleen by:
Reading Seals
It's just possible that I couldn't put this book down because I'm into avoidance tactics at the moment (avoiding the study I need to do for my 4 exams coming up in 2 weeks time), but, nevertheless, I couldn't put it down. I just loved these poor, sad people and their wonderful specialities and their struggling to find some normal type of existence. The way Gavalda brings them together is very clever, and the way she takes the flaws in their characters and weaves in a realisation about friendsh...more
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Read in October, 2007
Every lovely thing that I have read about Anna Gavalda is true. This book is lovely, heartbreaking, and so very hopeful without resorting to sentiment and a flowery vocabulary; I can't say enough good things about it.
Gavalda's style is at once minimalistic and incredibly colorful and provocative. She plunges her reader into the middle of conversations, then sets the scene as she goes rather than vice versa. Some may find that dissorienting, but I found that it greatly improved my ability to...more
Gavalda's style is at once minimalistic and incredibly colorful and provocative. She plunges her reader into the middle of conversations, then sets the scene as she goes rather than vice versa. Some may find that dissorienting, but I found that it greatly improved my ability to...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Jessica by:
Shiri
purchased as a beach read. it was enjoyable enough and certainly light, but missed the mark in saying anything of depth about relationships or about its characters. the book seemed so focused on showing how different the three (or four, if you count paulette) principals were that you never really got inside any of them, even our heroine camille, who goes through multiple major emotional metamorphoses without giving the reader much of a clue as to why. this was interesting read just after myst...more
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This will sound weird, but it's true: some books don't need plots.
Hunting and Gathering is a perfect example of a character-driven novel. Nothing really monumental or dramatic happens, and instead the story is supported entirely by the four main characters. They are: Camille, a cleaning lady (or "cleaning operative") who lives in a tiny apartment by herself and doesn't eat; Philibert, an aristocrat lacking social skills who lives in Camille's building; his roommate Franck, a tempera...more
Hunting and Gathering is a perfect example of a character-driven novel. Nothing really monumental or dramatic happens, and instead the story is supported entirely by the four main characters. They are: Camille, a cleaning lady (or "cleaning operative") who lives in a tiny apartment by herself and doesn't eat; Philibert, an aristocrat lacking social skills who lives in Camille's building; his roommate Franck, a tempera...more
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recommends it for:
people who want to feel like they're on Xanax
Reading this book is akin to what I imagine sex with a Frenchman would be like. Languishing, smoky, kind of dirty and completely unsatisfying. Then at the end said Frenchman would be like, "Well, that's it! Wasn't it mindblowing?!" and I would try really hard to remember if anything exciting or memorable happened throughout the experience and have to conclude that, sorry, but no, not really.
Maybe I'm being too hard on the dear Frenchman. I mean he clearly meant well and proba...more
Maybe I'm being too hard on the dear Frenchman. I mean he clearly meant well and proba...more
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Read in November, 2007
I was worried that once I finished this book I would be filled with sadness over leaving these characters. I was sad to put it down, but the overall experience was so satisfying that I would highly recommend this book to others.
Hunting and Gathering made me miss having conversations with my old roommate from France. The characters' manner of speaking is so different from Americans and refreshing. I was surprised to see American references like Shrek and Angelina Jolie here and there, but th...more
Hunting and Gathering made me miss having conversations with my old roommate from France. The characters' manner of speaking is so different from Americans and refreshing. I was surprised to see American references like Shrek and Angelina Jolie here and there, but th...more
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Read in April, 2007
I started this book and stayed up all night to finish it. I loved Hunting and Gathering-- it is the English translation of the French Ensemble, c'est tout..., which is currently a film starring Audrey Tautou. (Heart!) The characters are very genuine and real-- they're just this perfectly, humanly described motley crew of society's outcasts who have the good fortune to find one other. Le Journal du Dimanche described the book perfectly: "There is loneliness, sadness,...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommended to Jamie by:
Mollyrecommends it for: Leah McKenzie
This book.
This book, this book, this book.
*Sigh*
It is lyrical in that way that only books translated from French can be. I rarely underline or highlight while reading fiction, but this book gave my pen a work out. It was just lovely.
The characters were complex and well developed and sweet. They were just so sweet.
It wasn't perfect, but it was just the thing. It was flawed, but still one of the best I'll read this year.
The biggest flaw for me was probably Philou's char...more
This book, this book, this book.
*Sigh*
It is lyrical in that way that only books translated from French can be. I rarely underline or highlight while reading fiction, but this book gave my pen a work out. It was just lovely.
The characters were complex and well developed and sweet. They were just so sweet.
It wasn't perfect, but it was just the thing. It was flawed, but still one of the best I'll read this year.
The biggest flaw for me was probably Philou's char...more
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Read in January, 2008
I loved this book. It was translated from French, but was so beautifully written the translation was transparent to me. The characters were a motley assortment of wounded souls brought together to heal one another. A real gem. I was astounded by her descriptions of the world through Camille's artistic eyes and the ability to make you feel as though you were in the scene. She was able to make each character whole. You could picture the way they appeared to the world, but also the inner beauty and...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
sentimentalists, romantics, loners, broken-hearted, francophiles
I finished the translation of Anna Gavalda's lovely novel through a veil of tears. I'd grown to adore the characters so. As I savored the final chapters, it was almost as if I were about to part forever from my only true love. I've already read Gavalda's first book, a short story collection I raved about a few years ago with a most Miranda July-ish title, "I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere." I feel the French author is a kindred spirit especially since some reviewers conside...more
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Read in May, 2008
What a lovely story. The author is adept at easing you into a genuine interest in these four misfits, each encumbered by some misfortune or ineptness. There is a satisfaction in watching each as their lives are changed by their relationships with one another. It's as if each character begins in black and white and we slowly watch the blood and color seep into each, fueled by the love that develops between them. By the end you are so happy to have watched their journey and you are genuinely ha...more
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Read in October, 2006
I have one person who I really look to for book recommendations. I trust him. I believe him. I'll read anything he tells me to read. I'm afraid to buy books without asking him if he knows anything about it first. However, I have to disagree with Richie on this one. I haven't loved a book so much since I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere. I couldn't put it down. I stayed up until four in the morning when I had to wake up at seven... I was not disappointed at all. Gavalda's image...more
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Read in April, 2007
I loved this book. It's not often I find a book that wraps me up in a warm blanket and gives me a nice cuppa but this one did. The characters are quirky and whimsical. However they aren't far off from being real, at least I've known people like them. I swear the chef could've been a head chef I worked with years ago! I also liked that it was set in France. It added to the 'romance' of the book. While I was reading it I could see the places they lived. I found the whole book touching and endearin...more
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My daughter loved this book passionately, and I do too. Anna Gavalda is a French author -- a "big" French author to judge by the cover copy. The novel is contemporary, and unfolds almost entirely in dialogue. It took me a while to adjust to this, but then I was hooked. The characters are eccentric and charming and the dialogue invariably sparkling and surprising. (And, of course, it doesn't hurt a bit that it's set in Paris and the Loire Valley, and that one of the characters is a chef...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
fiction lovers, french lit enthusiasts, everyone!
I found this book because I saw a French movie on an Air France flight called Ensemble C'est Tout (starring Audrey Tautou from 'Amelie'). In searching for the movie back in the U.S. I discovered that it has not been released here and that it is based on a book - a French novel that has been translated into English with the title Hunting and Gathering. I loved the movie and so picked up the book... just as great! Complex, well developed characters that bring you into their world and make you want...more
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Read in October, 2007
Am Anfang habe ich mich schwer getan mit der Sprache. Später habe ich mich reingefunden und von der Wärme und Nähe die dieses Buch zu seinen Protagonisten aufbaut in den Bann ziehen lassen. Ja, es ist zutiefst französisch. Es ist voller Klischees und es ist vorhersehbar. Aber was solls. Es ist auch elegant auf eine verschrobene Art und Weise. Es berührt und es rührt.
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Read in December, 2007
Adrien gave this a high rating and I'm so engrossed in it. I really like it and had a hard time putting it down to go grocery shopping. I'm going back to it now. What a sweet, very French, romance kind of novel. I really liked it!
April 2, 2008, I just saw the film version of this book at the VCU French Film Festival. It starred Audrey Tautou as the female lead. The film was very well done, true to the book. See it if you can. It was called "Ensemble, C'est Toute"
April 2, 2008, I just saw the film version of this book at the VCU French Film Festival. It starred Audrey Tautou as the female lead. The film was very well done, true to the book. See it if you can. It was called "Ensemble, C'est Toute"
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
Kate Liebesny, Kim T. Nguyen
Addictive, lovely, and very French. Four characters struggling with their loneliness and despair. Two (an eccentric with aristocratic airs and an old woman harboring regret) I found somewhat underdeveloped, but the other two (youngsters, an artist and a restaurant line cook) were exquisitely portrayed as damaged, empty, confused, aching souls. A story of how destructive solitude is and how healing human kindness can be, but without a hint of sentimentality- brilliant.
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Read in November, 2007
This one rode in my bag for weeks and was unfortunately subject to a water bottle accident that made me feel like a bad library patron. I had mixed feelings about it mostly because I was often lost. My colloquial French is stuck in the 80s. Then I found out it had been made into a movie with Audrey Tatou, so she kept sneaking into my perceptions of the main character, Camille. It is a sweet story of lonely messed up people creating their own family.
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Read in November, 2007
This one rode in my bag for weeks and was unfortunately subject to a water bottle accident that made me feel like a bad library patron. I had mixed feelings about it mostly because I was often lost. My colloquial French is stuck in the 80s. Then I found out it had been made into a movie with Audrey Tatou, so she kept sneaking into my perceptions of the main character, Camille. It is a sweet story of lonely messed up people creating their own family.
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