Helpful Score: 17
What a stunning, gorgeously-written book! I've placed it on my All-Time Top 5 List without hesitation. The narrative perspective switches back and forth between a cranky, secretly-erudite Concierge at a high-end French luxury building and the genius-but-equally-cranky 12-year-old daughter of one of the residents, a Socialist member of the French government. With equal parts Ignatius J. Reilly'esque laugh-out-loud outrage at the world & people's stupidity mixed with a survey of modern literature and key philosophical ideas, this elegant book covers everything from profound ideas to the profound ways that people hide - from each other and themselves. The sudden ending actually made me cry, which was when I realized how invested I had become in the characters.
Helpful Score: 8
I really liked this one, although I did skip over a few of the more "abstract" of the tiny chapters. Paloma, the younger co-protagonist did come off as a tad too precocious at times, so I could understand folks disliking her for that reason; Renee, the other main character, wasn't nearly as over-the-top. Moreover, the supporting characters carry their own weight, not just two-dimensional props.
The book has been described as a "fable", but I'd say it's as much a parody, though there's a moral to the story.
Definitely recommended.
The book has been described as a "fable", but I'd say it's as much a parody, though there's a moral to the story.
Definitely recommended.
Helpful Score: 7
This book takes a little reading before you are drawn into it, but I can't encourage you enough to keep reading. The characters are well developed in their own idiosyncratic ways. The plot is slow, because the plot isn't really what the book is about. And yet by the end, I found myself rooting for the two main characters. While occasionally the dialog of the 12-yr old girl may at times seem unbelievable for a youngster, I decided to read those segments instead as a interlude between chapters to reflect upon some aspect of life. And the child in the girl does come out, eventually. As do the hopes and dreams of the stifled concierge. This book is about so much more than the story line itself - even the title speaks to the metaphors and morals the story has to give.
Helpful Score: 6
Reading this book is sometimes hard going, but deeply satisfying. For anyone who has struggled with the meaning of life and death (and who has not?), it provides moments of strain and pain, and times of rare joy. Be sure to read it all the way through.
Helpful Score: 5
This novel takes place in Paris, where a concierge of an apartment complex for wealthy patrons, a thirteen-year old girl, and a new Japanese resident intersect each other's lives--and their hearts. Rife with witty, often funny, musings about life, death, and art, this book drew me in slowly, making me care for Paloma, the thirteen-year old, Renee, the concierge and secretly self educated woman, and the gentle Kazuro, who sees through them both, becoming Paloma's friend...and drawing Renee into the light of life and love.
It was wonderful, heartbreaking, beautiful, and funny. Rread this book, and you won't forget it.
It was wonderful, heartbreaking, beautiful, and funny. Rread this book, and you won't forget it.
Helpful Score: 4
Wow. This is one beautiful, lyrical, deep, moving book. I liked it quite a bit at first, hit a rough patch that seemed too well-crafted, then hit a spot that turned it to page-turning amazing. I found the point at which the logic for the book title becomes clear was pivotal. There are so many quotable lines, some of which practically took my breath away. I understand those who found it to drag or be a slog at times, but please give this book a chance. It's one of the few I'll be keeping and re-reading. Magical.
Helpful Score: 3
I just finished this book and am at a loss for words. I don't know how to put it, so I will say it simply. It is the most beautiful book I have ever read.
Helpful Score: 3
This is by no means an easy read. The two main characters' monologues can, at times, cure severe insomnia. I was two thirds through the book wondering to myself what was the point of this story. BUT WAIT, it all comes together in the last third of the book and it is well worth it. Patience and perseverance pay off with this one, stick with it!
Helpful Score: 3
I hated this book. At the beginning. I didn't understand the fuss about Barbery, who seemed an arrogant and superior Iris Murdoch. I couldn't relate to the prickly, self-absorbed, haughty characters as they dispensed wisdom to the reader, taking great pains to keep their knowledge clandestine to the outside world.
This novel is simply amazing. Barbery transforms these characters without altering who they are or changing anything about them. Alternatively, Barbery changes the reader.
Renee initially struck me as the most splintered character, so class-obsessed that everything in her life was in terms of the working poor and the bourgeois, so overly-philosophical that she turned phenomenology into a nearly consumptive neurosis. Then, she ranted about simple grammar and I found myself chuckling and cringing along with her. Slowly, I began to appreciate Renee's economical and urbane vocabularythis was truly an enlightened woman. So, at the point in which Renee revealed her past, I felt I understood her completely; I felt that in an alternate universe, I could even be her. I sat baffled at how Barbery managed that.
Paloma needled me from the start; precocious was far too kind a word for that arrogant and narcissistic child. I thought her suicidal tendencies were cursory at best. But, by the end of the novel, I understood her. I liked her. I ached for her. Her final observation was no less short of brilliant.
How did Barbery change *me* by reading this? The characters each grew and had their respective revelations, as is expected in any good work of literaturebut I found myself the most changed of all. I feel both unsettled and elated at this thought. This book will give you much to think about for a very long length of time.
This novel is simply amazing. Barbery transforms these characters without altering who they are or changing anything about them. Alternatively, Barbery changes the reader.
Renee initially struck me as the most splintered character, so class-obsessed that everything in her life was in terms of the working poor and the bourgeois, so overly-philosophical that she turned phenomenology into a nearly consumptive neurosis. Then, she ranted about simple grammar and I found myself chuckling and cringing along with her. Slowly, I began to appreciate Renee's economical and urbane vocabularythis was truly an enlightened woman. So, at the point in which Renee revealed her past, I felt I understood her completely; I felt that in an alternate universe, I could even be her. I sat baffled at how Barbery managed that.
Paloma needled me from the start; precocious was far too kind a word for that arrogant and narcissistic child. I thought her suicidal tendencies were cursory at best. But, by the end of the novel, I understood her. I liked her. I ached for her. Her final observation was no less short of brilliant.
How did Barbery change *me* by reading this? The characters each grew and had their respective revelations, as is expected in any good work of literaturebut I found myself the most changed of all. I feel both unsettled and elated at this thought. This book will give you much to think about for a very long length of time.
Helpful Score: 3
It's easy to see why Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog was included in the 2010 revision of the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. It is full of elements literary critics love--intelligent, elegant turns of phrase; opinionated, fleshed-out characters; and profound thoughts on Important Things such as Beauty, Art, Life and Death (a concise explanation and critique of phenomenology, anyone?). But there's plenty for the reader to love as well.
Renee Michel is the frumpy, middle-aged, and widowed concierge at 7, rue de Grenelle, a posh building in central Paris. She carefully cultivates her image to fit everyone's expectations of the concierge, while subversively hiding her ferocious intellect and self-education. Paloma Joss, the precocious twelve-year-old who lives on the fifth floor, has concluded that life will be an absurd existence in the great fishbowl of the world, and thus secretly plans to kill herself and burn her house down on her next birthday. In the meantime, she jots down her thoughts in the Journal of the Movement of the World and numbered Profound Thoughts, accompanied by haikus. Life changes when a new resident -- Kakuro Ozu -- arrives and sees beyond both of their facades and befriends them both.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog isn't for you if you need a fast moving, intricate plot. It's instead an unrushed exploration of lonely souls who are ignited by a kindred spirit, with quiet support for the triumph of the inconspicuous, that reminds us to occasionally imagine the world in a different light. The end comes abruptly, but true to form, in this novel about the power of having someone who reaches out to you.
Renee Michel is the frumpy, middle-aged, and widowed concierge at 7, rue de Grenelle, a posh building in central Paris. She carefully cultivates her image to fit everyone's expectations of the concierge, while subversively hiding her ferocious intellect and self-education. Paloma Joss, the precocious twelve-year-old who lives on the fifth floor, has concluded that life will be an absurd existence in the great fishbowl of the world, and thus secretly plans to kill herself and burn her house down on her next birthday. In the meantime, she jots down her thoughts in the Journal of the Movement of the World and numbered Profound Thoughts, accompanied by haikus. Life changes when a new resident -- Kakuro Ozu -- arrives and sees beyond both of their facades and befriends them both.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog isn't for you if you need a fast moving, intricate plot. It's instead an unrushed exploration of lonely souls who are ignited by a kindred spirit, with quiet support for the triumph of the inconspicuous, that reminds us to occasionally imagine the world in a different light. The end comes abruptly, but true to form, in this novel about the power of having someone who reaches out to you.
Helpful Score: 2
I loved this book. I ignored my children and husband. I read by the light of streetlamps going 60 miles per hour. I really enjoyed it. There are some interesting philosophical discussions, nice story plots and twists..it was happy and sad, and made me reflect a quite deal. I loved the descriptions. Great book!
Helpful Score: 2
This was very good. A very solitary concierge in a building full of very rich people works hard to present an image of stupidity and to conform to the residents' stereotpyes of the lower class, all the while she is a voracious reader, lover of films, and very intelligent, deep thinker (who also quotes Eminem songs on occasion, which made me laugh really, really hard). Among the rich families who live in her buildings is a very smart, but sad 12-year-old girl who has decided to commit suicide on her 13th birthday because she just doesn't see any purpose in her life. An interesting, charming Japanese man moves into their building and befriends them both, changing all of their lives in the process. It's a very beautiful book which ponders a lot of subjects (mainly beauty, intelligence, and truth) which would usually have me rolling my eyes, but it manages to do it in a way that's interesting and entertaining. I also think the woman who translated it from the original French did an excellent job. Given the a lot of the subject matter, that couldn't have been easy.
Helpful Score: 2
This is a difficult book to get into, but once you do, the rewards are great. Kakuro Ozu is a character who will stay with the reader for a long time!
Helpful Score: 2
I chose this book as our book club read last month. The reviews were spectacular but I found this book difficult to read at best. Unlike other reviewers, I didn't find the characters engaging in the least as well as snobby, whiny and pretentious. I usually devour this type of book but this is one of the very few I couldn't even finish reading it. Of our eight book club members, nobody enjoyed the read and few wanted to finish it. Perhaps we're simply not refined or educated enough, but half a star is already too generous in my opinion.
Helpful Score: 2
This is the first review I am writing for paperbackswap.com, I just had to review it. I really didn't like this book. I am floored that it is a NYTimes best seller- it just didn't draw me in at all- the plot is almost non-existent, and the book is just too "high and haughty" with its lofty philosopical ponderings and weighty vocabulary. I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could start on a new book- (I never stop a book without finishing it to the end) :0)
Helpful Score: 2
Because of all the hype surrounding this book, I think I expected to be blown away by it. It wasn't a page-turner for me, but I did enjoy it very much. Very sweet, thought provoking story that makes one consider how we view/treat each other.
Helpful Score: 2
the first few pages of the book caused me to raise my eyebrows and wonder if I should continue, but I did and found it well worth the read. It goes fast, as the chapters are short, and there is a lot of depth between the covers.
Helpful Score: 2
The juice wasn't worth the squeze. I plowed through this book because of the glowing reviews, but the series of 'eloquent little essays' quickly turned into a boring exercise into looking over the shoulders of two who had not that much to 'essay'. Mr. Ozu's arrival adds dimension to these two characters, and some traction to the story, but for me, his mid-book arrival is entirely too late to have saved the reading experience.
Helpful Score: 1
I'll have to be the wet blanket. I struggled to get through this book. About halfway through, I thought "life is too short to make myself read a book I don't like," so I gave up. I didn't find anything interesting or useful. Nothing much happens. There's quite a bit of philosophical wondering. There's really no plot as such. I tried to like the story because it has such good reviews, but it wasn't for me. If you are interested in a story about modern Parisian life where nothing much happens, this is for you.
Helpful Score: 1
Found it difficult to get into this book in the beginning because it took me awhile to sort out the characters. Different individuals discuss their lives, feelings, emotions and philosophy of life. However, I grew to really like Renee Michel, the concierge, and Paloma Josse, the highly intelligent 12-year-old who becomes her friend. Best of all for me was Paloma's last statement: "...for you (Renee), I'll be searching for those moments of always within never. Beauty, in this world."
Helpful Score: 1
i really enjoyed this book once i got past an initial confusion with the plot, early on. it is a cleaver and heart warming story.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved the connections that were made between the characters in the book.
I read a review of "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" that used the word "exquisite". I can find no better word to describe this beautifully written, poignant and often witty story. The two characters are unique and unforgettable and the story of a young girl and a middle-aged concierege is deceptively simple. I will keep it so that I can read it again.
Helpful Score: 1
This is an extraordinary book. Filled with observations and insights that challenge, delight, or simply validate truths we hardly know we believe.
Helpful Score: 1
The essays by Renee were thought provoking. Though the characters were obviously in pain, the story is filled with with and humor.
Helpful Score: 1
I think I probably missed some of the subtleties related to the discussions of philosophy (it's been a long time since I read Kant, and I'm not certain I "got it" the first time around) but I very much enjoyed the characters and their interactions in this book. If you're looking for something slow and thoughtful with moments of beauty, a critique of the upper middle-class, and a love of literature this would be a good selection.
Helpful Score: 1
A wonderful book - and the movie is even better, in my opinion.
Helpful Score: 1
I found this book to be a beautiful well-written fable-like story. It was very unusual but at the same time clever and witty. The main characters are two intellectuals. Renee Michel is a 54 year-old concierge in a Parisian apartment house. She decides to become what society expects her to be. Paloma Jesse is a 12 year-old resident who merely wants to be average but she decides she's going to commit suicide on her 13th birthday because she thinks life is meaningless. When Kakuro Ono, a Japanese businessman, moves in their 3-way friendship causes Renee and Paloma to see life differently.
The book is mainly about relationships and having people in our lives that make us feel comfortable to be ourselves and not what other people expect us to be. It also teaches us to find those special moments that give us a reason to live. I found myself really enjoying the ending and would have to say that looking back on the book it was very thought provoking. I would highly recommend this novel to those who love books that make you think about the meaning of life.
The book is mainly about relationships and having people in our lives that make us feel comfortable to be ourselves and not what other people expect us to be. It also teaches us to find those special moments that give us a reason to live. I found myself really enjoying the ending and would have to say that looking back on the book it was very thought provoking. I would highly recommend this novel to those who love books that make you think about the meaning of life.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a brilliant piece of writing in which the author explores through her characters such topics as the meaning of life and the function of art with erudition and occasional humor. But overall the book fell flat for me - I found it to be all mind and very little heart.
Helpful Score: 1
Beautiful, hilarious, and thought-provoking.
This was not one of my favorite "reads" although it was entertaining in parts. The author won many prizes for this and so I believe it was written well. The girl who is the main character learns many things about the dynamics of life and family.
Beautifully written with a sweeping story, it was hard for me to get into at first, but I ended up enjoying it.
Good book - interesting read.
It was slow to take hold of me, but the ending I will remember forever.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog had me laughing out loud and crying. This is just such a beautiful story told from two points of view. One of the narrators is Renee, a concierge working in a very exclusive apartment building in France. The other is Paloma, a 12 year old girl and one of the tenants in the apartment building. Paloma has declared, at least to the reader that on her thirteenth birthday she will set fire to her family's apartment and then commit suicide. They are like bookends and between them are their volumes of knowledge and philosophy that they share with the reader. Of course Renee's contribution is larger since she is a 54 year old widow, who has lived longer and done a tremendous amount of studying. Their stories are similar because they are both trying to hide who they are for their own personal reasons, and reach the same conclusions when they are brought together by a new tenant. The writing is just so beautiful and that alone would make this an incredible book to read, but the characters and their idiosyncrasies make them come off the page and make you want to know more about them.
This book was REALLY hard to get interested in. Apparently the author is a philosopher, so the first 80-90 pages are fairly difficult to read. Luckily, I found that out by reading some amazon.com reviews, and stuck with it. The book does get more and more interesting, and becomes engrossing, fascinating, lovely, and then, surprising. It was worth the effort!
An excellent tale in language that is evocative and intelligent. Yes, it takes concentration to read. It is not a beach book. However, you will be richly rewarded with a story that delights and provokes thought. The characters are deep and well-developed. The plot original. Its sheer beauty requires that it be read aloud to whomever happens to be nearit simply must be acknowledged and shared. I think it should be mandatory reading.
The philosophical musings are wonderful and the prose is elegant. This book is a keeper for me. That is extremely rare.
Powerful, powerful book. For the first 35 pages or so you'll be a bit bored wondering what is this book supposed to be about? Then like a piledriver it starts hammering, and you begin to laugh, to see the light, discern the flow, love the characters, put it together, understand, and in the very end, just cry big wet happy tears. And what a perfect title.
I was a little skeptical at the beginning of this book. But as you get into it you really connect with the characters and I found myself very emotional at the end. A superbly written book!
It's not often there comes along a book whose denouement leaves the reader saddened, but not saddened, but this is one such book. It is an intriguing story of the inner lives of two persons, a 54-year-old widow who is the concierge of an apartment building in Paris, and a 12 and a half year old girl, the precocious daughter of one of the tenants. The concierge, Madame Michel, or Renee, has secluded herself from the larger world and its hypocrisies; the very intelligent pre-teen, Paloma, is secretly planning her rather dramatic suicide. Barbery uses interior monologues to acqaint us with the thoughts and feelings of the two. We also learn of the various tenants in the building, in particular, of the 'new' tenant, Monsieur Ozu, a highly cultured Japanese gentleman and scholar, who enters, briefly but significantly, the lives of both Renee and Paloma. Un livre charmant.
Maybe I was influenced by all the negative reviews I read for this book. I started off hating it and almost quit reading it 1/3 way through. However, I am glad I listened to one of the reviews I read that told me to stick with it until the end. I am so glad I did. I really started enjoying this book once the Japenese character moved into the building. Before that it seemed like just random thoughts put out by the author through the characters. After Ozo appears there seems to be more action and plot and I could picture this almost as a movie. The ending was a little sad and I wished it had been different but perhaps the ending is why the book is so memorable to me in the first place. This is a very original and well written book with a lot of interesting ideas. Stick with it all the way through and I'm sure you'll enjoy it too. I already want to go back and re-read since I feel I missed some things in the beginning sections since I was so determined to hate it.
I felt it was a slow read for about half the book but it finally grabbed me and I really enjoyed it after that.
This was a highly rated book, but I never quite go into it. Not what I would describe as a "page turner"
This book is good, but not one I'd read again. Over half of the book is slow reading, and I found it difficult to get into and stay engaged. The last few chapters held my attention fairly well, but the storyline itself is a bit far fetched in many places and includes details that don't add anything to the story. The moral is a good one but is one that can be found in other, well-written books.
Such a lovely book. It is insightful, thought-provoking, uplifting and heartbreaking, but not in that tragic way modern fiction has adopted just to be shocking. You come away from the book feeling better for having read it and not as though it has taken something from you. Recommend highly.
Although slow going at times, I kept with this one and enjoyed the 2nd half better than the first. The story of a middle-aged concierge with minimal formal education who reads books from various libraries to study philosophy, history, art, literature, and other things that interest her. Her story alternates with that of a 12 yr. old girl who lives in the building she manages. Both their lives are changed when a new tenant moves into the building.
This book is not for everyone, It was translated from French, and the main characters are very intelligent people, who love art and philosophy. I found Renee more enjoyable than our suicidal little snot who plans to burn down her apartment, and then kill herself with sleeping pills. She is unhappy cause life doesnt turn out happy for anyone, "you reach for the stars and end up in a gold fish" and everyone lies to their kids and doesnt tell them that life is Absurd. I liked Renee much more. But I didnt like either enough to wait for our Japanese character to come help them find themselves. I quit reading. I dont care if she burns down her house, or dies.
If you are smart and fully understand Marx, Decartes, Kant and a myriad of other French artists, or philosophers you might love it and find some redeeming moral life lesson. I learned life is too short to read books that dont impress me.
If you are smart and fully understand Marx, Decartes, Kant and a myriad of other French artists, or philosophers you might love it and find some redeeming moral life lesson. I learned life is too short to read books that dont impress me.
This is the first review I've done on PBS. This book was chosen for our book club, so I felt like I had to read it. The first 90 pages were brutal and added nothing to the book. The last 50 pages were good. Everything in between, I had to make myself read. Would definitely skip this one. There are too many good books out there.
Tired very hard to finish reading this book, but finally decided it wasn't worth the occasional chuckle or insight. All the philosophizing was like mucking through quick sand to me. After 80 pgs I started reading another book at the same time to give it a rest, but finally gave up over 1/2 the way through. Sorry.
I like the authors' style. Very amusing. A quick read.
This book has made me question my toleration of hyper-intelligent narrators--especially children--in literature. First, this phenomenon, rather like amnesia, occurs much more frequently in fiction than in real life. I suppose this is so the author can use an "adult" voice to examine a child's world; this can be done well, if the child's underlying naivete offsets the intellect and big words (The Last Samurai). It is not done well here. I draw the line at a twelve year old girl waxing poetic on war and military service which she experienced, I can only guess, within the pages of War & Peace. For example: "Don't we deal with life the way we do our military service? Doing what we can, while we wait either to be demobbed or do battle?" (86). I found this world-weary voice off-putting, coming from a child's mouth. Just where does the "prodigy" voice end and the author's own self-absorbed elucidations on life begin? There is no child in this voice at all. It is not a good thing when the voices of our two narrators, a 54 year old "autodidact" concierge and the aforementioned nauseatingly precocious child, are so similar their POV must be indicated by different fonts.
A good story and well-drawn characters a reader cares about can still save a story; sadly, neither appeared in this book. The narrators are hypocritical, hateful people. They complain that the well-off people around them are stupid and unappreciative. I especially loved how the concierge Renee dismantles the argument of a philosophy student's thesis which she reads secretly, and attacks the study of theoretical concepts that do nothing to make society better. Meanwhile, she hides her own intellectual prowess for astoundingly stupid and outdated reasons, which are supposed to create the only "tension" and plot semblance of this novel. When a Japanese sensei-guru-stereotype character with no discernible flaws arrives on the scene, he does his best to draw out our two precocious intellects. By the time the narrators acknowledge that they still have the capacity to learn something new, I had stopped caring.
A good story and well-drawn characters a reader cares about can still save a story; sadly, neither appeared in this book. The narrators are hypocritical, hateful people. They complain that the well-off people around them are stupid and unappreciative. I especially loved how the concierge Renee dismantles the argument of a philosophy student's thesis which she reads secretly, and attacks the study of theoretical concepts that do nothing to make society better. Meanwhile, she hides her own intellectual prowess for astoundingly stupid and outdated reasons, which are supposed to create the only "tension" and plot semblance of this novel. When a Japanese sensei-guru-stereotype character with no discernible flaws arrives on the scene, he does his best to draw out our two precocious intellects. By the time the narrators acknowledge that they still have the capacity to learn something new, I had stopped caring.
Read the first chapters and Thought how much better my time could be spent. So I posted the book. Not a fan!!!
Good literature touches both the mind and the heart, which is evident in this absorbing novel. This is a book that I will re-read and give as a gift to people in my life who value well-written, thought-provoking prose. So many phrases struck a chord with me, but none more than this thought by Paloma: "...pity the poor in spirit who know neither the enchantment nor the beauty of language."
Really enjoyed it. Would love to read other works by this author. Very intelligent and beautiful writing, elegant actually. :)
I am listening to it in the car and haven't finished yet but really enjoying it. Friends say it is slow in the beginning to read so I am glad I am listening.
