The Elegance of the Hedgehog
by Muriel Barbery
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Book Reviews of The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Book Review: Not for me
Summary: 2 Stars
I had heard so many good things about this book and the premise really caught my attention so I was very eager to read this one for myself. I enjoy quirky characters and I often am intrigued by settings outside my everyday world.
The two main characters live in a French apartment building. One is a 12-year-old girl who lives there with her family and the other is the concierge who has been there for over 25 years. Both are brilliant and both hide their intellect behind the masks they show to the world - neither fits into the world that they inhabit.
I know many people have absolutely loved this book, but I am not one of them. Around page 50, I came back to look at the reviews to see if I could get some guidance on what I was missing. Many of the reviews refer to needing to get to the end of the book before judging so I kept going (even though being told I must read over 160 pages before it all comes together seemed a bit much to ask). I did finish it and there were moments of brilliant writing, but they were outweighed by the majority of the book which was pretty mediocre. The reviewers appear to be divided into two camps: 1) those that loved the rambling philosophical musings of the characters and the introspection and 2) those that found it to be pretentious and stilted. I largely fall in that latter category. When pages are devoted to ramblings about whether the cat really exists or is all that exists is the perception of the cat I find myself losing patience. I am a concrete thinker; a table can actually exist in my world there isn't just an essence of a table. I wasn't keen on philosophy in college and still find myself wondering what mind-altering substances were involved by the folks who thought some of this stuff up - just not my thing.
While I'm glad I read it since I like to make my own decisions about things, it wasn't a good use of my time from my perspective. I classify this as a spinach book - something that is good for you that you don't particularly like.
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: Has rewards if you keep slogging through
Summary: 3 Stars
The main flaw with this interesting novel is the age of Paloma, one of two alternating narrators. Paloma is a brilliant 12-year-old with a professorial education and more depth of understanding of human nature than Freud and Jung combined. She's also as drawn intellectually to the idea of suicide as any Nietzsche-reading 17-year-old. However, the age of the girl is just wrong. (A brilliant pre-teen character more skillfully written for adults is Flavia de Luce of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.)
After annoyingly slow development, The Elegance of the Hedgehog begins to redeem itself in the third section, "Summer Rain," more than halfway through the book. When the philosophizing moves from internal monologues to outward conversations, the narrative also gains room to breathe, and the ruminations and inner workings of the characters are brought together to good effect.
A friend who didn't like the book told me that she hated the ending, so when I was only halfway through, I skipped ahead and read the final chapter. Once I knew the stark ending towards which the novel was hurtling, I began to read it with much more pleasure. Our dual narrators are both observers, with hidden judgments of their societies - societies in which they are supposed to be junior members, but to which both feel superior. In that respect, the reader can enjoy perhaps a meta-level superiority to either of those brilliant minds, because the hypocrisy of these characters is revealed to us before it is revealed to them.
But still, the idea that this 12-year-old, through reading alone, could have independently developed her sophisticated views of religion, sexuality, relationships, and philosophy became increasingly absurd. If only the author had made Paloma a 16-year-old, and her older sister a mid-level college student. Instead she picked child ages out of a hat and got them dreadfully wrong.
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: `The orgy, it would seem, is a vicious type of orange.'
Summary: 4 Stars
There are two narrators in this novel: Renée Michel, a fifty-four year old widow who is the concierge at 7, Rue de Grenelle, and Paloma Josse, the twelve-year old daughter of one of the wealthy families living in one of the apartments in the house.
To the residents, Renée is an ideal concierge: honest, reliable, discreet and insignificant. Renée is so insignificant that, for the tenants, she has no existence beyond her concierge role. Behind this carefully constructed facade, she is passionate about culture and the arts, but doesn't want anyone to know this: `I correspond so very well to what social prejudice has collectively construed to be a typical French concierge'. And, it seems, that a typical French concierge cannot adore Tolstoy, listen to Mahler and enjoy Japanese cinema.
Paloma Josse is the daughter of one of the most bourgeois families in the house. Paloma is making plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday in order to avoid the predictably bourgeois future laid out for her.
Renée and Paloma are drawn together after the death of a celebrated restaurant critic results in the sale of his apartment. The apartment is bought by a cultured Japanese man, Kakuro Ozu. Kakuro Ozu and Paloma are both fascinated by Renée, and decide that she has: `the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary - and terribly elegant.'
This novel invites the reader to think about a number of different things including: aspects of society; philosophy; constructs of beauty; and the components of self - both true and false.
Are hedgehogs elegant? I'd not really thought much about this but somehow the image is appropriate for Renée as the reader comes to know her. I enjoyed this novel, although aspects of it did not work completely for me: a bit like life itself, really.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith