The elegance of the hedgehog
2008 • 322 pages
Ratings36
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings36
Average rating3.7
EA novel by the French professor of philosophy Muriel Barbery. The book centers on a working-class concierge of an upscale apartment building in Paris, Renee Michel. She is an auto-didact of immense learning who deliberately conceals her intelligence. Her secret is discovered by a young resident of the building named Paloma. The novel is narrated alternately by each of these two characters.
First released in August 2006 by Gallimard, the novel became a bestseller of over a million copies.
Reviews with the most likes.
I feel like a lot of the assumptions that the writer/the two narrators think you have about like, class don't apply in the same way in the U.S. In that way, the two voices in this book come off as kind of irritating.
Also, the two narrators are set in two different typefaces: Helvetica and Garamond. Just sayin'. Some people may find that obnoxious.
This book was stunning. Over the top at moments, slightly pretentious, but at the same time self-effacing, erudite, and class-conscious. Highly recommended to people who enjoy “thinking” or “contemplating life” as a past-time on Facebook, or to anyone who's interested in class culture.
I scanned over the little reviews on the inside pages of the book and got the impression that I was supposed to really connect with the two narrators and just be amazed by this book. I was amazed – that so many people enjoyed it. I found the narrators ridiculously stupid, particularly Renee. She's supposed to be brilliant, but pretends to be an idiot because... apparently a concierge is supposed to be an idiot and heaven forbid she fail to fulfill a stereotype that I'm not really sure exists. Paloma I found less irritating, but I can make a lot of concessions for a 12-year-old. The first part read like a philosophical wank-fest and the second part [which I admittedly only skimmed:] read like a bad Harlequin romance. On a more pleasant note, I like the cover design. Kudos to whoever did that.
It took me awhile to get into this book. The main character, Renee Michel, is not particularly endearing at first, much like how she is with the other characters in the book. There is a lot of philosophy discussion as well. But as Renee starts to open up to her new neighbor Kakuro and solemn Paloma, I started to like and appreciate her as well. I also really enjoyed the intermittent “profound thoughts” of Paloma; there were so many I wanted to stop and write down.
