Sophia C. reviewed on + 289 more book reviews
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.
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