The Elegance of the Hedgehog is about a concierge in a Paris apartment building who is very intleligent but tries to hide her true self from everyone. It's also told from the point of view of a 12 yo girl who is also very intelligent but feels alienated by her bourgeios family. A Japanese man moves into the apartment building and befriends both of them, changing everything.
The book has a lot of philosophical digressoins, discussions of whether something exists in the absence of our consciousness of it, thigns like that. I guess that kind of thing is over my head, I don't really understand so it's boring to me, but I plowed through anyway. Otherwise it was a quick and interesting read, very enjoyable.