Delicacy

French novelist and screenwriter Foenkinos tells the story of Natalie and Markus, two young coworkers traversing the uneasy terrain between love and friendship.

Natalie's life abruptly halts when her husband of seven years dies. With barely enough energy to continue on, Natalie returns to work but allows her friendships to lapse and her love life to disintegrate into nothingness. Enter Markus, a self-effacing Swede, who stumbles into her office at precisely the right moment. Taken over by the need to feel feminine, Natalie gives into a sudden and impulsive act that sends both her and Markus down a muddled path toward love. As with all stories of would-be-lovers, a number of obstacles are thrown in their way. Natalie and Markus must show more contend with their lovesick boss, Charles, and a whole horde of nosy coworkers who can't seem to understand Natalie's interest in the geeky Markus. The reader, unfortunately, will have to contend with the opposite problem as they are left to wonder what is so magnificent about Natalie. The fault lies with Foenkinos’s decision to present Natalie as a feminine ideal rather than a fully fleshed out character. He tells the reader of Natalie’s love of reading, fascination with Pez dispensers, and educational background. None of these facts, however, make her personality any more decipherable as Foenkinos focuses more on her beauty than her character. Foenkinos's stylistic prose can also be faulted for this lack of character depth. This is unfortunate since his prose is also his greatest strength. The narrative style of Delicacy can best be described as ethereal ¾ concerned far more with style than substance. The reader sorts through pages and pages of aesthetically appealing prose without finding any true emotional connection with the characters. Hearts are broken and love restored, but the reader has difficulty caring. Foenkinos may believe that pretty words are an acceptable substitute for characters and story, but the reader may not be convinced.

Delicacy is a meringue of a novel, and those wishing for meatier fiction should look elsewhere. show less

This is light, fluffy French romantic nonsense. As such, it would not be expected to appear on *my* reading list. In fact I have no idea how it got onto my wish list, as none of my LibraryThing friends list it. Anyway, I read it, and although I wouldn't say my life has been profoundly affected by the experience, I did finish it and quite enjoyed the experience. I liked Foenkinos's quirky style with wacky footnotes, very brief chapters, and slightly irrelevant asides. I haven't seen the movie (nor would I), but the book actually almost seems to have been written with a movie in mind.
It begins with a remarkable similarity to Ann Hood's "Ruby" (ultra-romantic marriage is cut short by the death of the husband when he is hit by a car while show more jogging).and then focuses on the life of the beautiful young widow and the men she attracts. Having recently read a remarkably thoughtful, introspective, contemplative and sometimes depressing book on relationships (Elizabeth Hay's "Small Change"), perhaps I needed something like "Delicacy" to refresh my reading palate. show less

This is a beautiful, touching, whimsical, heartbreaking, and oh so very French story.

What do I mean by that last? It's hard to describe - but I think it's the combination of refined/whimsical/slightly stuck-up mixed with not-so-neatly wrapped endings.

Delicacy was all that. And, much like it's title suggests, it's a delicate story.

I loved so much about this book - I loved the way the relationships are wrote about, and the breaks in the story to feed the reader random facts about what is happening. I found it utterly charming, and laughed and cried my way through it all.

For such a thin little book, this one packs a punch, and I hope you give it a chance - now.. I need to get my hands on the film!

I think this book thinks it's charming, but it just left me feeling gross. The main character is this woman who is barely even a person, just a beautiful face with vaguely strange habits. Of course, everyone loves her for no special reason. It just seemed like the author really wanted to fuck Audrey Tautou and decided to write a book about what he would like her personality to be, but he didn't even care that much and just put in a bunch of random crap to make it sort of like Amelie.
Also, don't put in the book who you think should be in the movie. It's tacky. You know who else does that? Dan Brown.

Creo que lo mejor del libro es que aún y cuando se trata de una historia romántica, en realidad no es para nada empalagoso, más bien todo gira alrededor de sobrevivir a la viudez y darse una segunda oportunidad, no solo al amor si no a la vida después de perder al que fuera el amor de la Nathalie, la protagonista.

Creo que llegue a este libro con expectativas demasiado altas, había visto muy buenas críticas y por lo tanto esperaba mucho, pero mucho más, no digo que es una decepción completa, pero para ser honesta me ha parecido un libro bastante simple, en forma y en fondo.

Si bien es cierto que David Foenkinos tiene una escritura fluida y sencilla que te ayuda a leer rápido y que no se te vaya nada, también es verdad que la show more historia es bastante simple, voy a concederle que tiene un bonito mensaje, pero nada nuevo bajo el sol, ni tampoco ha descubierto el hilo negro.

No es una novela dramática a pesar de lo que se trata, tampoco es una novela romántica como tal, la parte de salir adelante después de perder a alguien, bueno, está bien, pero creo que pasa por sobre el tema de manera muy ligera, así que, como ven no tiene grandes cosas, aunque reconozco que como entretenido, pues si, ha sido entretenido.

No sé si me he perdido alguna reflexión escondida o de plano no entendí el punto, pero para ser completamente sincera, esa segunda oportunidad en el amor me ha parecido tan sosa, con tan poca gracia como el mismo Markus, un hombre bueno, sí, pero completamente anodino.

En fin, el libro no está mal, creo que esta para pasar el rato agradable, pero no esperen demasiado show less

I started this book in much the same way as the main character - hopeful. It seemed so full of promise. Unfortunately, I very quickly found myself becoming irritated by the writing style, which reads like a cross between a movie script and a Twitter feed. Is it really necessary for a 250 page book to have 115 chapters? - Especially when some of them are made up of only three or four words. I should have been forewarned by the footnote on the first page, where after saying "But she never ever felt nostalgia. That was something that was quite rare for Natalie" the author feels compelled to add a footnote saying "There's often a clear tendency for nostalgia in Natalies".

Even though the story is quite slight, there are plus points. The two show more main characters are quite well drawn, and the writing style is such that not only do you get to see their back story and motivation, but you get to see their thinking. Unfortunately, there are other characters who, for me, actively detracted from the book. Natalie's boss, Charles, in particular is supposed to be holding down a responsible position but acts in such a way that in real life, he would be in industrial tribunals and police investigations so fast his head would have been spinning. Considering the book is set within the last decade, he seems to have been drawn from the 1950's.

If you can put up with the staccato style, and are looking for something light and frothy to read on a weekend break, then this may be very much for you but if you are looking for a literary romance then, alas, you may be in for a disappointment - much in the style of a collapsed soufflé. show less

Really a 3.5. I liked this, but I didn't really think of Nick Hornby, other than the lists..

The writing was enjoyable and the sentences clever but it never captivated me, and I think it wanted to.