The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
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Book Reviews of The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Book Review: Social Satire at its Best
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this social satire and the "critique" of modern French manners and society through the main characters.
Take one disenchanted 12-year-old child, smart but cynical for her age, add an equally cynical but likeable concierge/caretaker in a building of private apartments, and then mix in an erudite and wealthy Japanese gentlemen - shake together and see what happens when they meet and interact.
What they have in common is a love of beauty and art. Young Paloma thinks the world is not worth living in, until she discovers what she describes as perfection - the movements of a rising young player in a football game, for instance. The concierge, Renee, hides her love of good food, art, music, and literature behind nondescript clothing, unkempt hair, and a blank face that she shows to the tenants of her building. The Japanese gentleman, Mr. Ozu, is a new tenant who enjoys fine painting, music, and literature.
When Paloma and Mr. Ozu reach the conclusion that Renee the concierge is smarter than she lets on, Mr. Ozu is certain that Renee's cat Leo is named after the Russian writer Tolstoy. Renee decides that Mr. Ozu has found her out; his two cats have the names of characters in Tolstoy's War and Peace after all, and he has begun to observe her with curiousity. Ozu and Renee play cat and mouse games at first, trying to discover more about each other.
Young Paloma is anxious to get away from her wealthy parents and irritating older sister, who are always trying to draw her into meaningless conversations. She finds refuge in Renee's apartment. Mr. Ozu decides to invite Renee, whom everyone sees as a lowly concierge, to his elegant apartment for tea and again for dinner.
What happens next? Well, I won't tell everything!
I liked Renee's philosophical discourses on art, literature, beauty, and life. Her character is drawn to show that social stereotypes are just what they are - stereotypes. A concierge brought up in relative poverty is not what may seem to the outside world. She hides her knowledge of literature and art and her love of classical music because she, like the young girl Paloma, wants to be left alone by people who wouldn't understand her.
Those who like unusual and rebellious characters and who enjoy reading social satire will like this novel.
Book Review: Elegant and Exciting Reading
Summary: 5 Stars
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery is a beautiful, moving, and occasionally very funny novel. It tells the story of an amazing woman and a startling young girl, and their parallel and eventually joined paths to recognition of beauty, in the self and in the world.
Renee is the concierge of a very upscale building in Paris, a supremely intelligent and grammatically exacting woman, and Paloma is one of her tenants , a 12-year old girl already fed up with the falseness of the adults around her and doubtful about life's possibilities. Renee is acutely aware and appreciative of life's moments of beauty and yet is unable to grasp the absolute beauty within herself. Paloma is a French, intelligent, and female prepubescent version of Holden Caulfield, a confused and disillusioned but still young and therefore reachable rebel. Her thoughts are presented to us through her two thoroughly engaging and at times heartbreaking journals; from Renee we get her inner thoughts and observations through first person narration.
This book is about finding a reason to live but it is absolutely un-American in its prescription: there is no easy path, life is full of difficulties, and you are on your own. But if you are honest and intelligent and exacting, you will find and appreciate the beauty that exists in relationships and music and nature and books. The book is about the pure beauty that is possible in moments of genuine expression, the fleeting moments that can still last forever in our minds because of their beauty and truth.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog offers a beautiful but thoroughly realistic appraisal of life. By living fully observant and appreciative of the beauty that appears fleetingly in actual time but permanently in our minds, we can survive and surpass the mundane and trivial and superficial. We can make connections and stave off alienation; each moment caught by our flourishing minds only makes all the moments to come better and better. The reason to live, offered and accepted by the characters of this book (and wholeheartedly by me too!) is to find those "moments of always within never."
A wonderful book: read it and share it. Find more great books at www.readallday.org.
Book Review: Fabulous book, I read it twice
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this book so much that when I finished, I went right back to it & read it again. I rarely read books twice and almost never twice in a row.
The narration switches between Renee and Paloma. Renee is a 54-year-old concierge in a luxury condo building in France. Paloma is 12 1/2 years old and she lives in the building along with her family -- neurotic mom, stressed dad & obnoxious older sister Colombe. Both Renee and Paloma are alienated from others and seek refuge in philosophy, literature and art. In both cases, this alienation is rooted in feeling they have to hide their intelligence and well, in feeling so much smarter than everyone else.
Their narratives introduce us to other residents and the various happenings in their building. Almost all of the book is set inside the apartment building. This building is very exclusive and most of its residents are snotty upper-class French people. Until one of them dies and a Japanese man moves in.
I truly loved Renee and Paloma and really enjoyed reading their musings. There are times when they both get a bit deep into their ramblings about philosophy, the meaning of life, beauty, art, literature, etc. However, these ramblings really help you understand these ladies as they try to make sense of life in general and their own in particular. So, they might be a bit hard to read if you are used to fast-plotted action books, but if you really love to know what makes people "tick", you'll be pleased to dig in there. There are so many lines in the book that I truly love, especially the one about "the elegance of the hedgehog".
This book gives much attention to the seemingly "little things" in life -- enjoying literature, art, beauty, tea, pastries and music for instance. The descriptions of Dutch paintaings make me eager to go see more of them, and, I will probably pull out Tolstoy for a re-reading, too. You'll laugh, think, and maybe even cry with this book.
Highly recommended!
Book Review: Must read for people who think about the meaning of life
Summary: 5 Stars
"With her it's as if a text was written so that we can identify the characters, the narrator, the setting, the plot, the time of the story, and so on. I don't think it has ever occurred to her that a text is written above all to be read and to arouse emotions in the reader."
Paloma's statement from The Elegance of the Hedgehog made me feel guilty for reviewing the novel. The author, Muriel Barbery, has attempted to arouse emotions and has succeeded. After a few pages I thought to myself that I wish I could read this in French. Although beautifully translated into English, it must be even more meaningful in the author's native language. There is much existential thought behind the characters' voices.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog captures the sentiment that the more superficially connected people become the more isolated they are. This novel is for anyone who has observed that people have become more self-centered and give little to no thought to the people they interact with. "We never look beyond our assumptions and, what's worse, we have given up trying to meet others; we just meet ourselves."
One theme throughout the novel is that music, art and literature are the fabrics of society that tie us together. Appreciation for the arts transcends class status, external beauty and economic status. The characters show the reader the difference between existing and living and the beauty in living.
Muriel Barbery has created a very modern novel woven together with references to philosophers, artists and writers who emerged during times of great social inequities. Is this novel an attempt to recapture or reinstate the feelings and actions that prompted drastic social changes to remove class structure?
The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a novel for anyone who has ever paused in their life to think about life.
Book Review: Muriel Barbery Inspires
Summary: 5 Stars
Among the shelves and shelves of any given library reside treasures that has the capability to transcend generations. One among these estimable works is the book known as The Elegance of the Hedgehog: created with profound thought, humor, and the uncanny ability to see humanity's nack for stupidity and monotony.
We follow the stories of our two heroines in the hotel number 7, rue de Grenelle, Paris. Paloma Josse is a 12-year-old girl with a brilliant mind who has proclaimed life futile, and will commit suicide on her 13th birthday; in the meantime, she writes as a philosopher, yearning to find something worth living for. Her parents and her sister aggravate her with their blatant stupidity, living by what she calls the "fishbowl theory". Disillusioned with life itself, Paloma never believed she would find a kindred soul.
Renée Michel is a 54-year-old struggling against her own social status quo, maintaining a façade as a typical, moronic hotel concierge whilst stockpiling philosophic works, as well as nurturing an unceasing devotion to still life paintings. Having lost her husband a number of years ago, she now lives alone with her cat Leo, named after Leo Tolstoy. She has but one friend, the housekeeper
Manuela. Painfully honest with herself, Renée never imagined that art could be found not only in paintings, but in people, as well.
As these two shelter their astounding abilities, their lives suddenly take a turn when Kakuro Ozu arrives at the hotel. Renée's undying fervor for art is unmasked; Paloma discovers that their might be people worth living for, if not something; and both have gained a friend. But is it enough to save the two women from their tragic ends?
The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a moving description of loss and love, biting wit, and life with meaning that goes beyond intellectual understanding that will leave readers with a true passion for life.