I loved, loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery’s breakout novel (2008), and seized on the recent American issue of her first book Gourmet Rhapsody (originally published in France in 2000). I’m two thirds of the way through it and I fear I may soon give up, something I rarely do. I’m clueless about what is going on and, more damningly, I don’t care. So if you appreciated Elegance and are tempted by Gourmet – two words: skip it.