A grumpy man, old and lonely is found in hospital following an unexplained dip in the Seine. Around him revolve different characters: a teenage girl plump ("a donut on legs"), a cop looking for a father substitute, a student who is a prostitute and of course the doctors and hospital staff. The story is ultimately no surprise, we imagine the turn of events: the grumpy will eventually open up to others. This may sound very conventional yes but now there is the style of Marie Sabine Roger, very powerful (reinforced with short chapters and dialogues that score), while sweet irony that manages to move us into a laugh and to make us laugh at the turn of a rather sad way. The author does not yield to the easy (nothing maudlin) and yet it was easy with such a subject.
