I wasn't sure what to make of this when I started. I knew the basic plot and not much else. I'm glad I didn't know about the precocious child - I took Paloma with a grain of salt. Maybe it's because I'm older now but I often look at younger characters thinking 'was I that annoying when I was younger?' (I'm guessing I was), and often I treat them with less sympathy than I should. I thought, although wordy at times, this was well written. I ended up reading/listening to this because I was enjoying it so much. I'm not quite sure why the audio version has Paloma with an American accent?! I found that out of place but I did enjoy the lady who read Renee. 
 Which brings me to my favourite character, Renee. She was magnificently grumpy, I feel like that's me in 50 years! I liked her view on the tenants of the building, the little insights into their lives, she noticed so much when they were oblivious. 
 I wasn't familiar with all of the philosophy that was mentioned in the book, so that will be reading for another time. But I would happily recommend this, I enjoyed it, if I could sum it up in a few words - Live well, live honestly and don't give a damn what they say!