61 pages • 2 hours read
Muriel BarberyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Renée loves literature so much that her cats have been named after famous pieces of literature. However, she also loves films, especially American blockbusters. For Renée, films represent escapism and nostalgia.
Renée’s husband Lucien became very sick in 1989 and died in 1990. She recalls how her employers hardly noticed Lucien’s death and reflects that:
The fact that we might be going through hell like any other human being, or that our hearts might be filling with rage as Lucien’s suffering ravaged our lives, or that we might be slowly going to pieces inside, in the torment of fear and horror that death inspires in everyone, did not cross the mind of anyone on these premises. (70)
Three weeks before Lucien died, he summoned his strength and brought Renée to a showing of the film The Hunt for Red October, a film she still treasures as a final happy memory with her husband.
Renée listens to a radio broadcast of a sociologist who identifies the balance of sophisticated literature with baser entertainment as emblematic of contemporary intellectualism. Renée is annoyed that she could be labeled as emblematic of the society she has tried to subvert.
Appearance Versus Reality
View Collection
Art
View Collection
Beauty
View Collection
Books About Art
View Collection
Books & Literature
View Collection
Coming-of-Age Journeys
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Education
View Collection
Family
View Collection
French Literature
View Collection
Friendship
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
National Suicide Prevention Month
View Collection
New York Times Best Sellers
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Popular Book Club Picks
View Collection