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Oct 01, 2008

Leah rated it:

This book was recommended to me by Jamie, and it was a perfect rec, thank you so much, lady.

Translated from French to English, Hunting and Gathering is a character - rather than plot - driven, slice of life portrait. Somewhere within these pages, the main character finds herself at a bookstore, pouring over a collection of the French cartoonist Sempe's drawings (as I best know for his work in The New Yorker.) As I read further, I began to realize: There it is. This book is like a Sem More...

1 comment like (12 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2007

Madeline rated it:

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 tem More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2007

Erin rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2008

JoAnne rated it:

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...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2008

Colleen rated it:

My sis lent me this book, dog-eared and loved, and said I had to read it. Thank you, Sis, I loved it. Its four main characters are so unique and lovable, well, one of them starts out annoying and frustrating, but then grows on you, and on everyone in the book. The story is really about four people from the outskirts of society, who have all been knocked down in one way or the other, but while they are wallowing in their personal darkness, they find each other. I will leave it at that. It is More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 30, 2008

Jen rated it:

An interesting translation of a french title, and am happy to have read this. However I would not describe this as a 'lovely story' as it was more of a snapshot of the intersection of four character's lives, and less focused on moving plot.

There were times I felt connected to and enlightened by each character, yet come the next chapter, I felt as though I did not know, or really care for them at all. Powerful insights were encountered, then moments later the same characters were wri More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 11, 2008

Kathleen rated it:

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...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2007

Catie rated it:

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 ab More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 08, 2009

Marianne rated it:

This book was full of heart. An off-beat group of individuals from different walks of life come together to live in a spacious old apartment in Paris. Will they get along? Will there by romance? That's all I'll divulge of the plot. What's most interesting to me about the book is the style of the conversations among the characters, they are long and leisurely and don't need to advance the plot in any way, just reveal more and more about each character's personality. Almost like sitting next to an More...

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Jul 31, 2008

Jamie rated it:

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.

Th More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

May 20, 2008

Amy rated it:

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...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 26, 2008

Hope rated it:

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...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 02, 2011

Annyaraz rated it:

Vier völlig unterschiedliche Leute, deren Lebenswege sich zufällig kreuzen und deren Schicksal daraufhin auf wundersame Weise miteinander verbunden ist. Hat man irgendwo schon mal gehört..

Man merkte schon, dass sich die Autorin um ihre Figuren bemüht hat. Trotzdem ist der Funke nicht so richtig übergesprungen. Sie wirkten über weite Strecken wenig "motiviert" und waren dadurch letztlich leider nur Mittelmaß, was ich ein bisschen schade finde, weil man mehr daraus hätte machen More...

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Apr 27, 2011

Mary Ronan rated it:

How do you say chick lit in French? This charming novel by Anna Gavalda has all the characteristics we want in a love story, with a good bit of French sophistication superimposed. It’s translated from the French by Alison Anderson, and I mention that because it is so smoothly done it doesn’t feel translated.

When I finished reading the book I looked on Amazon to see if there might possibly be a sequel, though the book ends so well and pleasingly that a sequel isn’t really possible wit More...

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Dec 17, 2009

Jess added it

As the staff member responsible for choosing titles for our fiction collection, I often find myself overwhelmed by the hundreds of plots, characters, themes, etc. that I am constantly introduced to via book reviews. But every now and again a book description will intrigue and jump out as to say I'm worth your time!,as did this novel by a bestselling French author. The scene is modern day Paris, the characters are three unique 20-somethings who have a common thread: loneliness. Camille is an extr More...

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Jun 06, 2009

LindyLouMac rated it:

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6021...

I think that this novel about a group of four unlikely misfits that become friends is both profound and touching. Camille is an anorexic and lonely artist. Philibert her intellectual and aristocratic neighbour is the one who initially rescues Camille from herself. Franck a talented chef is Philibert’s lodger. The final member of the quartet is Franck’s aged Grandmother Paulette. The group learn to slowly cope with life together through the re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 24, 2007

ellen rated it:

This is one of the best fiction books I've read in a long time -- the emotions captured in this novel are superb. I got so caught up in this book that I felt a huge let down when it was over. The weaving of the characters lives together speaks to some of the universal struggles of human existence, family, history, loneliness, connection, love in a very real and effortless way. Simply beautiful.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2007

Mark rated it:

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.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 18, 2011

Melee rated it:

I don't mind books that are essentially character studies. The things is, to enjoy them I have to like the characters.
Ok, I did like 3 out of 4 of the main characters... I loved, loved, loved Philibert. What can I say? I have a weakness for stuttering history buffs, apparently. I liked Paulette and Camille (most of the time) but I just couldn't care about Franck. He was really a jerk. His foul mouth got on my nerves too. The first word in every sentence doesn't have to be an expletive, Fr More...

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Jun 05, 2011

Mitch rated it:

There are two ways to look at it: a) it took me months to get all the way through Hunting and Gathering, or b) despite having started months ago, and with no shortage of other reading choices, I still wanted to finish Hunting and Gathering. Draw your own conclusion.

A few years ago, everyone was reading this book. Perhaps I should've guessed by the cover (I read the Russian translation, Prosto vmeste) that it was "chick lit," but for most of the novel it was mostly just the More...

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Mar 25, 2010

Jane rated it:

This was a 'good read'!! I would love to see this book as a movie- I could imagine the characters as I read-the author gave such visual descriptions-they were each so different but loveable-I couldn't wait each night to be able to return their world to see how everything was going!
Philibert a funky young man with glasses held together by Band-aids, rescues Camille-a young woman artist who lives in the upstairs attic of their apartments-thin and almost unconscious because she doesn't eat- More...

1 comment like

Mar 13, 2009

Stephanie rated it:

This book will break your heart and then mend it and repeat the cycle. All I wanted to do was read it all day - I didn't want to put it down. This is the tale of four downtrodden individuals who are thrown together by fate or random chance, whatever you want to call it, and the unlikely friendships that develop (keeping the rags with the napkins, one might say).

This book makes me want to move to Paris and find three quirky roommates of my own.

There are many contenders, bu More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Snowgirl19 rated it:

Bittersweet. That's the word that first crossed my mind when I first finished reading this book.
I began reading it in the evening and I couldn't stop anymore so I had to stay awake the whole night to finish it. It was the first book that did this to me.
It's also the only book that made me cry and laugh at the same time. It's the book I read 5 times and I bought it for all the special people in my life. The story of those mistfits that in the end make it gives you hope, lifts you of More...

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Sep 19, 2011

Katya rated it:

I've read this book once before, but it was a Russian translation from French. I loved it so much that I didn't want it to end (and great that the book is quite long). It left a very bittersweet feeling.
Now I'd like to see what the English translation is like. Already I can tell that it differs in style. It feels more elaborate than Russian, when usually it's the other way around.

I got the same bittersweet feeling the second time around. The language felt very different, richer in More...

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Jan 22, 2012

Christina rated it:

Sûrement l'un des meilleurs livres de ces dernières années. Un livre tellement humain, tellement prenant que j'avais le sentiment de faire partie de la vie de ces personnages, qu'ils étaient réellement vivants. Un livre que je ne pouvais lâcher, mais que je m'interdisais de lire à certains moments pour faire durer l'histoire et atteindre la dernière page le plus tard possible.

Certainly one of the best books of these last years. A human and fascinating book which gives to the reader th More...

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Jan 30, 2008

Gina rated it:

This is a translation of a French novel. Unfortuately, that's exactly how it reads- like a translation. I liked the story and enjoyed reading it. But the writing is pretty clumsy, so I only give it three stars.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 28, 2008

Maggyheintz rated it:

To read absolutely ! I would love to give it 6 stars, but I can't ! Although I have to say that I read it in french, and I would be a bit concerned about an english translation ...?

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 20, 2010

Virginia rated it:

Translated from the French, set in Paris and in a small village outside Paris, this book seems very French. Three unlikely characters--a disturbed artist, a surly chef, an eccentric aristocrat--housesit in a an old flat. The book is about how they support and change each other, become a family, redeem their souls. It is also a love story, a story of the limited opportunities for young people in today's France,and a story of an aged grandmother in her last year. I liked it very much and read it More...

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Jun 28, 2009

Tracey rated it:

I have read this book twice, as well as watching the movie twice. I loved the characters - the mix of young and old, odd and mainstream, all living together amongst the history years gone by. I loved that Camille and Franck were at war initially but as they got to know each other realised that they weren't so different afterall. Philibert, the man born into a family entrenched in the past, and Paulette, Franck's forgetful grandmother, gave the story softness and make you want to give them a h More...

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Oct 11, 2009

Lauren rated it:

I smiled when I saw "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" in the list of "Customers who bought this item also bought" on the Amazon page. I saw similarities between the two books as soon as I started reading this. I read the whole 500 page book in a day (while home sick) so it was obviously enjoyable. But it was predictable as other people have pointed out. It shares with Elegance the whole "strange roommates" and "made-families" themes. But the author has a More...

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