The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
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Book Reviews of The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Book Review: on class, culture and intellect.
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was excellent. It was a bit of a slow start as you meet Renée, who plays a stereotypical concierge for an apartment complex of wealthy folks. In fact, Renée is not your stereotypical concierge, she's a rather intelligent and cultured woman who believes she should hide this from her tenants. The reason for Renée's actions is not revealed until the very end of the book, and in the beginning she spends a lot of time acting unintelligent that you wonder if the other tenants cared about whether she was brilliant or not.
The other voice in the book is Paloma, she's a 12 year old who is extremely intelligent and has decided that on her 13th birthday she will commit suicide as she does not believe life has any reason worth living. She speaks through her Journal and Profound Thoughts and you get a glimpse into her life and why she thinks the way she does.
The two are brought together by a new tenant, and their friendship quickly blossoms. If you can hold on pass the slow start you will find the book rather enjoyable.
Book Review: Worth the effort
Summary: 5 Stars
I was one of those readers that struggled with the first one hundred pages or so of Elegance. What's the point? I thought. I don't get all this, I whimpered. Where's the plot, the action, the tension, blah, blah, blah..... I'd read in spurts, not truly motivated to go on, or feeling so satiated with topics like phenomenology, or discourses on Flaubert that I would roll my eyes and think, how much longer? Then somewhere around chapter 15, things started looking up, and suddenly the past ruminations started feeding the present, and I found myself step by step, inside the story. Much like the characters themselves who began to find meaning in life beyond their own cynical protestations. On one level, this is a story of class difference. On so many others, it is a story of love, life and beauty, and how it can be found in unlikely places. The book, like all books, has some flaws. But part of me thinks that Ms. Barbery placed them there intentionally, like a Japanese potter will place a flaw in a tea cup, just to show it is made by a human's hand.Book Review: The Cover Grabbed Me
Summary: 5 Stars
The cover of a young teen in a dress and clunky boots got me as I passed the YA display at the library. I am so grateful, for this is one of my top ten favorite books - ever - of the thousands I have read. The protagonists are two brilliant people: a 12-year-old who plans to kill herself on her 13th birthday, and a 54-year-old concierge of the Paris apartment which houses them both. How this got to be a YA title, I know not. Don't let the kid on the cover do anything more than enchant you and call you into this wondrous examination of two lives intensely lived, class differences, different forms of hiding, learning, and a surprise ending. If you enjoy great conversations among fascinating people and a glimpse into Parisian life, grab this book and spread the word so you can talk about it with others. It won many prizes in France, and its translation is terrific. I hope young adults will read this book, but we established adults should cherish it too. Thank you, cover artist, for your gift to my reading life.Book Review: A book to remember
Summary: 5 Stars
I truly loved this book. It is a story of two people: Paloma, a wealthy, gifted 12 year old girl who has decided to end her life on her 13th birthday and Renee a brilliant woman who loves literature, philosophy and art, but works as a building concierge. When a new resident moves into the building, he inspires both Paloma and Renee to become the women that they truly are.
But I will say that this book is not for everyone. It is filled with jokes and references related to other literary works. My favorite line from the book is when Paloma equates an Alzheimer patient's attempted escape from the hospital to Edmond Dantes. If you have no idea who Edmond Dantes is, then clearly you miss the joke. Also if you are not familiar with the quote "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," then this may not be the book for you.
This book is comical, heart warming, and heart breaking. It is a must read for all lover of books.
Book Review: Ma Mignone meets Marx
Summary: 5 Stars
Read this as our book group selection for 21 March 22, 2010. This was a very enjoyable book though sad at the end. What was intriguing was wondering if professor of philosophy Muriel Barbery had several of her philosophy students in mind as the characters in the book. Also intriguing - she now lives in Japan. So there is a bit of the possible autobiographical in this. But it is so existential! The conclusions the characters make, the solutions to their quandaries, even they way they go about reaching their conclusions are all so French. Thought the food is Japanese. Love the toilet! That would be a daughter worth meeting. Cats are decoration but also an integral way the characters come to become engaged. Is this what happens to people who read too much without guidance from someone who has been through "the program"? Loved the reference to Ma Mignone. A literal Deus ex machina ending finishes it off.