La Concierge

by Elli Kohen

La Concierge is a diary-like book of fictionalized, life-like figures, around whom revolve other individuals, permanent presences or passersby, engaged in their daily trivial, or not so trivial, activities. It somewhat reminds one of books written by the French author Françoise Sagan, who became an instant success with her triad Bonjour Tristesse, Un Certain Sourire and Aimez-vous Brahms, subtle character novels encompassing young girl diaries, experiences, night scenes of Sorbonne students, endless sequences of dance spots and nightclubs until the wee hours, love triangles and quadrangles.The book is a mini-version of Balzacs or Saroyans Comedie Humaine and Human Comedy. It is a sort of candid camera of the heart and modern mores(more similar to camcorder images). The collection of characters met as they come to pass around the Concierge desk, also reminiscent of XVIIth centurys La Bruyere's Caracteres (Characters). With parading personages from the most attractive and personable to the exquisitely obnoxious, the space around the Concierge desk is a living observation laboratory of psychological images and situations. In this multiplicity of scenarios, somehow similarly to La Bruyeres work, the unifying thread is the master idea to expose the ridiculous and the false which in daily activities, despite their meaninglessness, arouse much passion and controversy.

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2001