*This review may contain spoilers*"The Elegance Of The Hedgehog," by Muriel Barbery, is a novel following the events in the life of an apartment concierge, Renee Michel. The novel features a number of unique characters and incorporates themes related to class awareness, philosophy and personal battles. The events and ideas of the novel are narrated, in the first person, by Renee and her unlikely friend, teenager Paloma Josse. Paloma Josse narrates in the form of of written journal entries and philosophical reflections whilst Renee writes in a more traditional narrative style in the present tense. Selling over two million copies in France the novel was translated into forty languages, including English by Alison Anderson. Muriel Barbery is also the author of "Gourmet Rhapsody."I have to admit that I found this novel very hard to read. It was highly philosophical and very intellectual which made me feel alienated from the story as I struggled through the text. I most enjoyed, and understood, Paloma's reflections in her notebook and she was the only character I felt connected to throughout. In sharp contrast to the 'high-brow' nature of the book, there were a few moments, although not many, that were crude, vulgar and slightly disgusting. Despite these problems, it was an intriguing and exciting read, when you could understand it. There was a strong story behind all the philosophical musings and the ending was a huge shock, delivering a blow to the reader. I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped to, but I did enjoy it.Overall: ***For readers looking for a meaty read; one to really sink your teeth into and make your brain work, this is it. This is a beautiful book (and beautifully translated - Alison Anderson obviously has more command over multiple languages than I do of just English). But I struggle with actually rating it. So I'll just break this review down into what I found enchanting, annoying, and maddening. ~~~The enchanting: long, thought-provoking inner monologues, deep and philosophical, the sort that make you put down the book to mull over a sentence in your mind and contemplate how it applies to your own life. THIS is what I live for when reading.~~~The annoying:The two main characters, Paloma and Renee, border on narcissistic while themselves exhibiting intellectual imperfections and inconsistencies. And I get the impression this was not a subtlety intended by the author but rather a failed attempt at creating perfectly erudite and rational main characters. For example, Paloma first describes sex as a "marvelous sacrament", then in a later chapter as "not a salacious subject: it's a scientific matter." I'm left with the sense that Barbery just didn't finish mapping out the opinions of her characters (even more ironically, Paloma later claims "I am hypersensitive to anything that is dissonant, as if I had some sort of absolute pitch for false notes or contradictions"). A page or so is also spent for Renee to castigate a resident for an errant comma; she herself fails to exhibit flawless grammar and punctuation.The characterization also falls short when Paloma, Renee, and Kakuro express strikingly similar opinions, trains of thought, and even use the same vocabulary and capitalization of "Art" and "Beauty". The end result is that it's hard to feel as though there are three distinct individuals interacting. It's simply the author who has found three hallow vessels for her own voice.~~~The maddening [AND HERE THERE BE SPOILERS]:First, it seems as if the world in Hedgehog is split clearly into the protagonists (who are invariably kind, perceptive, and intelligent) versus antagonists (who are invariably selfish, unobservant, and simple). This is a pet peeve of mine in literature - you lose out on all the interesting gray areas of humanity.And...the ending. I don't mind sad endings, but this particular ending unraveled the entire point of the story leading up to it. Renee has a revelatory experience over dinner with Kakuro that she is free from fate, then the very next morning meets her incredibly unlikely and fatalistic demise (run over by the dry cleaning van from which she stole a dress). It makes about as much sense as, say, Fight Club ending with the protagonist realizing he just needed a fancier car to make him happy all along.Not to mention Paloma's absurd overreaction to Renee's death: "I couldn't breathe, my heart aching fit to burst, my tummy crushed. An unbearable physical pain...I wanted to scream." Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't they only acquainted for two days? It's not as if she bothered to speak with the concierge for the first twelve years of her life. That said, I think it would have been a much more fitting ending for Paloma to actually commit suicide as she planned to all along. Perhaps Barbery couldn't bring herself to kill off a main character any younger than middle age. Because that would just be *too* tragic now, wouldn't it? Which is why the ending of Renee dying in a freak accident chasing a homeless person into the street for no apparent reason, while entirely LESS likely than a detached and self-admittedly suicidal pre-teen killing herself, comes as no surprise at all to the reader.
What do You think about L'Élégance Du Hérisson (2009)?
**SPOILERS** First can I say I DID like the book. I might even read it again one day, many many, many years from now...I liked its ‘life-affirming-ness’ which is basically about how important it is to be known and understood by another, whatever your age/background etc. I can see how this would make a good film. But it was in no way 'life-transforming' (as some effusive reviewers suggest), at least not for me. Mostly, I was aggravated by the obtuse vocabulary and the name-dropping braininess of it all. Those few crumbs about Eminem (please) and Paloma liking Manga just weren’t enough to make up for all the rest. I’m sure there’s something in here about ‘Art’ and ‘Beauty’ (capitals, please) transcending culture and class so maybe bonding over Buffy and a shared love of show tunes isn’t as ‘transcendent’ as loving Dutch still-life and Anna Karenina, but I like Buffy and show tunes. I am obviously a philistine. It's basically a book of philosophical musings, some of which I thought were interesting - but I didn’t need them in the book. Or not so many. To me, their purpose in the novel was to reveal character and motivation, not to fill pages. In the end I just let most wash over me in the interest of trying to read on and find the plot. But I guess not everybody reads books for the plot. (I did like the ‘musings’ on Ozu’s renovation of the apartment though, that struck a chord with me as I live in piles of evil clutter...)MB obviously isn’t a bad writer, but is she a good novelist? Everyone I know found the first half a slog, and then the second half seems really rushed. I’d have liked much more of Ozu/Renee/Paloma getting to know each other. But it seems to me MB just can’t do it, as the characters are just too shallow and two-dimensional (despite all their Musings) - all they need is one ‘ooh-we-both-love-Tolstoy’and it’s pretty much done and dusted. And despite the fact that at the end of the novel Paloma is suddenly and mysteriously the most important thing that Renee leaves behind her, we hardly see ANYTHING of how the two of them connect…I also have problems with the sudden expository introduction of the sister, and then the instantaneous ‘cure’ by Ozu and then the way the book ends! It’s seems like MB took the easy way out or just didn’t know what else to do with her. So, overall, this book is a pretty mixed bag, hard going but with some redeeming features. PS: a couple of interesting things1. ‘Paloma’ and ‘Colombe’ both mean dove (Spanish and French respectively). Not sure what that says about Paloma’s parents.2. Through this book I learned about the essay ‘The Hedgehog and the Fox’ by Isaiah Berlin: there are 2 types of people in the world, hedgehogs and foxes - "the fox knows many little things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing" - apart from this hidden background being more evidence that MB is a smug brain, it did at least help me finally understand what Sally was talking about in Husbands and Wives that time.
—Paty
Another book where everything that happens is crammed into the very last couple of pages. Other than that, I found it a hard slog. The only redeemable, mildly interesting character is Mr. Ozu. Paloma is mildly interesting. Renee is awful. It's a shame because the plot outline seems so unusual and full of potential, but in practice, the story is bogged down with internal, nonsensical dialogue about obscure philosophy and more. As another reviewer said, have you ever tried to have a conversation with a philosophy major? Yeah — reading this book is a lot like that.
—desi
