The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
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Book Reviews of The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Book Review: Deep, moving, funny...
Summary: 5 Stars
There are two narrators in the story. Renee, a middle aged widow who grew up in poverty to become the concierge at high-end apartment building in Paris. She is described as short, ugly and plump and hides her passion and highly evolved understanding of the arts, philosophy, Japanese culture and music from the building residents. The second narrator is Paloma who is a highly intelligent 12-year old who lives with her well-off family in the same building. She too hides her intelligence behind a mask of mediocrity and has determined to end her life on her 13th birthday for reasons that will be outlined for the reader. The story describes the day-to-day lives of Renee and Paloma until a new wealthy tenant moves into the building (Kakuro Ozu). Ozu is able to see through their disguises and appreciate both of them like no one else has at which time they begin personal transformations.
* I best describe this story as a philosophical fable conveying messages on the meaning of life, death, happiness, time & beauty - in the context of those with and without the benefits of beauty, wealth & social status
* The story has a simple (very) plot. While the writing is genius, the plot line is less so (e.g., unbelievable situations for the main characters; cliff-like ending).
* The use of satire is intelligent, witty and sad.
* There are many (MANY) "8+ letter" dictionary-look-up words.
* The story evolves with short vignettes that rotate between the two narrators.
* The Author is a master of turning a word or phrase in capturing life's small pleasures and perfect moments - I found it to be a charming story.
* Three of my favorite passages include:
"All our family acquaintances have followed the same path: their youth spent trying to to make the most of their intelligence, squeezing their studies like a lemon to make sure they'd secured a spot among the elite, then the rest of their lives wondering with a flabbergasted look on their faces why all that hopefulness has led to such a vain existence. People aim for the stars, and they end up like goldfish in a bowl."
"Personally I think there is only one thing to do: find the task that we have been placed on this earth to do, and accomplish it as best we can, with all our strength, without making things complicated or thinking there's anything divine about our animal nature. This is the only way we will ever feel that we have been doing something constructive when death comes to get us."
"...Just by observing the adults around me I understood that very early on that life goes by in no time at all, yet they're always in such a hurry, so stressed out by deadlines, so eager for now that they needn't think about tomorrow...But if you dread tomorrow, it's because you don't know how to build the present, and when you don't know how to build the present, you tell yourself you can deal with it tomorrow, and it's a lost cause anyway because tomorrow always ends up becoming today, don't you see?"
Book Review: Heartrending yet marvellous
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" transcends excellence. It is one of those rare books with a special inner quality that makes you ponder over life in a way only very few others can. After turning the last page, I was left staring into space, feeling bereft. I wished there was more to read, yet its ending befitted the whole tale. I now understand why it received so many wonderful reviews in France recently and why it became such a literary success. It fully deserves it.
Just a brief summary, as described by both main characters -Renée and Paloma - introducing themselves in the beginning of the book, which is written in a diary form by each.
Paris, present day. Renée is the widowed concierge of an elegant building in an exclusive area. Its inhabitants all belong to the upper class. She is, by her own admission, dowdy, unattractive, often grumpy and wants everybody to believe that she is the stereotype of all concierges, blending into the background, almost featureless. But Renée has a well-kept secret: she is an extremely cultured autodidact. She loves art, philosophy, literature, music. Aestheticism and beauty in all of its forms fascinate her. Renée keeps concealing this aspect of her life to the outside world, hiding behind the concierge's screen -literal and metaphorical-.
Paloma is a twelve-year-old who lives in the building with her rich family. She is distractedly well-loved by her parents and does not get along with her older sister. Paloma is an extremely bright, clear-headed, lucid child. She is so lucid it is uncomfortable -yet to the reader she also conveys tenderness, and her wittiness is remarkable- . She pretends to be the average adolescent, yet despises what she considers the subculture of her peers and does not see any sense in continuing living. Her view of life is very disillusioned, disenchanted, sardonic. She decides to commit suicide on her 13th birthday.
Renée and Paloma could not be more different, yet their way of looking at life is often very similar. Their paths never cross, if not by sight, until the day a new tenant moves into the building and...
I cannot add anything else, the tale would definitely be spoiled.
In my opinion, this book is not your typical beach-read, it deserves to be savoured slowly and quietly if possible. Yet it is a page-turner and I myself have devoured it. Often heartbreaking, yet unbelievably funny in parts. Real humour pops up unexpectedly, which renders the reading even more pleasant and lightens some heart-knotting situations. The narrative flows beautifully and is linguistically refined.
Ladies and Gentlemen, get your tissues ready if you must, but do read this book. It shall touch you profoundly yet you will not regret having read it.
Book Review: Philosophy With Charm and Wit
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a novel truly unlike any other I've read in recent memory. Clever, charming, witty and poignant, it was a delight from start to finish. Not as plot-driven as many novels are, it is nonetheless a book of ideas which are communicated by two fascinating and endearing narrators: Renee Michel, a middle-aged concierge in an elegant Parisian apartment building, and Paloma Josse, a precocious 12-year old resident of that building.
Both narrators are secret intellectuals, hiding their considerable talents for reasons of their own. Renee is an autodidact, a child of peasant parents with no formal schooling who nonetheless is an avid student of philosophy, art, and the cinema (although her favorite films are American adventures). She pretends to be what society expects her to be, even cooking cabbage and keeping her television droning so that she will seem to her tenants to be sitting in front of it, watching all day, instead of hiding in a back room of her apartment, studying literature and art to understand her place in the reality of the world.
Paloma,like Renee, pretends at being merely average, quietly fitting in at school and in her family, whose members she tolerates, secretly despising them on many levels. She plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday, after setting her family's apartment on fire. She has determined that life is meaningless, and thus is not worth living. But before she goes, she is setting down her thoughts in a series of journal entries entitled "Profound Thoughts," often punctuated with haiku.
When one of the apartment residents dies, Kakuro Ozu, a wealthy Japanese businessman, moves in. Both Renee and Paloma are instantly intrigued by, and impressed with, Ozu and he quickly recognizes the intelligence in both of them, and reaches out to them so charmingly that they both become friends with him. This 3-way friendship enriches all of their lives, causing Renee and Paloma to see life and its meaning differently.
The plot moves along, peppered cleverly with philosophical musings that reveal the desire of both Renee and Paloma to find meaning, through the beauty of art, in life. There are also multiple references to music, painting and literature, specifically Tolstoy (when Anna Karenina came up, I was sold, because it is one of my favorite novels of all time), but knowledge of all this is not necessary to enjoy the story.
The characters are appealing and sympathetic and their voices are well rendered. The imagery and symbols serve primarily to support the characters and the themes of the story, which are, really, primal and simple.
A lovely story, beautifully rendered, yet thought provoking. It will stay with me for a long time. Highly recommended.
Book Review: A lovely gem of a book
Summary: 5 Stars
Renee Michel is the concierge of a small but elegant Paris apartment building, inhabited by eight families who are part of the wealthy upper echelon of French society. Our concierge strives to blend into the surroundings, to present a bland but courteous demeanor to those who only see her in relation to what she can do for them. So Renee goes through life hiding whom she really is, presenting the demeanor of uneducated woman who could aspire to nothing more than the job she has held for 27 years. However when the door to her loge is closed we learn of another Renee, a self educated woman who glories in Tolstoy, Dutch artists, Mozart and Japanese culture. It is her secret life away from the world, one she works assiduously at keeping hidden.
Paloma Josse is twelve years old and lives with her wealthy family in the building where Renee works. An exceedingly bright child, Paloma too presents a different face to the world, trying hard to hide her intelligence and just fit in. Paloma is frequently at odds with her family all of whom she disdains for their clichéd lifestyle. It is for this reason Paloma has decided that on her 13 birthday she will commit suicide. Before she goes through with her plan she begins recording her Profound Thoughts in a journal that we become privy to. Although Renee and Paloma are aware of each other, they have little to do with each other; we just get to see the residents through two sets of eyes.
At first I wasn't sure about this book, I wasn't at all sure I liked either of the main characters, whose stories are revealed in alternating chapters. At times I found them a bit pretentious and very self-centered. After a few chapters they began to grow on me, and I enjoyed their wit and humor, as well as their rather astute observations of the people around them. Just as I was settling into a comfort level with these two protagonists, Mr. Kakuro Ozu, a Japanese gentleman, moves into the building. As Mr. Ozu befriends the concierge and the young girl both Renee and Paloma's lives will become intertwined and changed in ways neither of them could foresee, leading to a series of events that are humorous, touching and sometimes heartbreaking. From the time he enters the story until the last page I could not put this book down. The writing is beautiful and as much as I wanted to finish this book I also didn't want it to end. I was sorry to turn the last page and end my time with Paloma, Renee and Kakuro. Recommended very highly.
Book Review: Wisdom from very unexpected sources
Summary: 5 Stars
The author, a former teacher of philosophy, examines the assumptions and absurdities of class-based French society through the voices of two intellectual residents of an upper-middle class apartment building in Paris consisting of eight families, though both of them have managed to conceal their erudition. Renee, fifty-four years old, has been the concierge of the building for twenty-seven years, and during that time has transformed herself into the equivalent of a scholar in art, philosophy, and literature while maintaining the outward appearances and habits of a peasant woman. Paloma Josse is a precocious twelve-year-old who sees through the follies, obsessions, and illusions of her family members and other building residents, though, like Renee, she keeps her observations well guarded.
Through short, alternating chapters that consist of the musings and observations of first Renee and then Paloma, the reader learns of the nature of Parisian society and the inconsequentiality of those of humble origins to those of considerable wealth. Indeed, Renee learned at an early age that coming to the attention of elites usually results unnecessary suffering. Both Paloma and, especially, Renee infuse their observations of life with references to art and literature. Despite any obscurity, their insights are quite astute and often acerbic.
The story gains impetus when a wealthy Japanese man, Kakuro Ozu, moves into the apartment building after a resident's death. Since both Renee and Paloma appreciate Japanese culture, not to mention Renee's knowledge of literature, Kakuro senses that they are kindred souls. Subsequent socialization with Kakuro is both thrilling and enervating to Renee, as she knows that she has overstepped her social station, despite reassurances from Kakuro.
This is definitely a thinking person's novel. Life's ironies, absurdities, and cruelties are explored. It is very interesting to watch these characters work through them. A modicum of happiness is achieved through their understandings. It would be hard to argue that these characters are not highly improbable, despite their abilities to capture us. Yet, perhaps we could hope that they could exist. The philosophical nature of the book may be tiresome to some, but the author keeps the almost non-stop reflecting moving well by shifting the voices frequently. It all does reach a thought-provoking conclusion.