Book review: Waiting For Monsieur Bellivier

THIS is a strange title, but then, this turned out to be a strange book written by Britta Rostlund . Throughout, the reader is not given a sense of what it's all about. Even the characters are kept guessing.
Paris, the City of Lights, harbours lots of secrets in its cafés and courtyards and so, too, do its inhabitants. We are presented with two situations here.
One centres on Helena Folasadu, a journalist who is approached by a man one day asking if she was waiting for Monsieur Bellivier. She's not. But bored, she says yes on a whim, and her life changes.
The other situation involves Mancebo, a Tunisian shopkeeper who lives an orderly and structured life. He spends his days sitting outside his grocery shop observing life passing by.
One day, a woman asks him if he would spy on her husband, who lives in an apartment across the street. Surprisingly, he agrees, and his life changes.
Two different people in two different situations, but their missions soon overlap in a surprising manner. However, you only find that out towards the end.
There's no action to speak of here, yet somehow, there's a lure that keeps you reading. If nothing else, I just wanted to find out what's going on.
Then, I got hooked on the intriguing situations and, well, started to enjoy the book. Like I said before, this book is strange, but interesting.