The Elegance of the Hedgehog |  | Author: Muriel Barbery
Creator: Alison Anderson
Publisher: Europa Editions
List Price: $15.00
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Rating:  287 reviews
Sales Rank: 90
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 1933372605
Dewey Decimal Number: 843.92
EAN: 9781933372600
ASIN: 1933372605
Publication Date: September 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9781933372600 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
The enthralling international bestseller.
We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the buildings tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence.
Then theres Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.
Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Palomas trust and to see through Renées timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 287
 On Friendship and Complicity March 17, 2010
Book Club Critter (Cincinnati, OH)
This is a story about unlikely friends, with nothing in common save their souls. It starts slowly with alternating narratives from its two protagonists and is a bit heavy on philosophy, but these characters will steal your heart. If you read one book this year, let this be it.
Great Novel March 15, 2010
Radha (Takoma Park , MD USA)
This novel is my all out favourite for 2009. The depth and humanity of the two female protagonists, and the delicacy of the philosophical exploration and growth they experience made me want to read it again, and again. In addition I really like the way Barbery has a really low tolerance for b/s in the Parisian society she examines which would transfer to basically any city worldwide.
some over the top content and ending prevent ***** March 13, 2010
T. Burket (Potomac, MD United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"What is the purpose of intelligence but to serve others?" says main character Renee at one point, an interesting credo she does not herself follow. The autodidact concierge keeps her talents hidden on purpose, due to her class origins and an event we eventually discover. She goes through life accomplishing little, while making her smug and superior comments about the elites. Some of those observations are insightful and often entertaining, and others miss their mark, although one can easily understand the wide range of reviewer comments from passionate pleasure to passionate disgust. To me, she should have distinguished more between the elite slackers and those who at least were trying, as with the authors and filmmakers she adored, and Mr. Ozu, whose arrival triggers the narrative drive that brings needed energy to the novel.
Young Paloma, contemplating suicide, also offers keen commentary, yet here the author was a bit over the top of believability. There's a limit to how far you can push a precocious 12-year-old's conclusions about the futility of life and other mature concepts, interesting as they may be.
The ideal Mr. Ozu arrives as a new tenant and quickly discovers that Renee and Paloma are not what they seem, with slight references to Anna Karenina among the triggers. Renee worries that her cover has been blown by the observant Mr. Ozu, whereas Paloma welcomes the fresh air. The unfolding of the new relationships, especially that of Mr. Ozu and Renee, forms the key stretch of the book.
As far as the ending, well, I don't know, waffling between considering it a dud and effective.
My advice to readers or listeners who find the first sections annoying and pretentious: keep going a bit longer until one of the minor characters dies and the (modest) action begins. If you really can't stand the idea of philosophical musing about class, knowledge, society, and such by a kid and a concierge, then bailing out might be the proper move. Even with Mr. Ozu around, we get sidebars on this and that.
Narrators Barbara Rosenblat (Renee) and Cassandra Wilson (Paloma) deserve their noticeable praise. Renee sounds American, except when pronouncing French words and phrases with precision, and the combination flow naturally.
A book for all seasons March 13, 2010
Mary L. Russell (NYC)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Elegance of a Hedgehog is an imaginative romp, a thoughtful read and a telling insight into the human condition.
Everything A Great Story Should Be March 12, 2010
Elisabeth S. Wang (Atlanta, GA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Smart is the best word I can come up with to describe Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog - however, funny and insightful aren't too far behind. And, I'm realizing I don't have an intro for this review that does this book justice, so here it is.
Set in present day Paris, The Elegance of the Hedgehog is about two females - one pre-teen and another middle-aged - who are both trying very hard to appear on the outside what on the inside they are not.
Paloma, a precocious 12 year-old, lives in an upscale Parisian apartment building with her socialist-diplomat father, psychoanalysis-addicted mother, and dim-witted bohemian sister. She has figured out that life as an adult is not worth living, that all teenagers want is to get to adulthood, and therefore, she plans to commit suicide on her 13th birthday. In addition, she feels being an intellectual is overrated, so she tries very hard not to appear as smart as she is so as to not elevate expectations.
Renee, the middle-aged concierge for the apartment building is also keenly aware of expectations. For example, as a concierge, her tenets do not expect her to read Tolstoy or appreciate Dutch Renaissance art, and so she also does her best to appear to be as common as her neighbors think she is.
Alternating between these two narrators, this novel is - in part - a satire of the wealthy bourgeoisie who toss around unintelligible phrases at dinner and murder the King's English (oops, this is Paris) in notes to one another. In addition, it is a coming-of-age story - that is much more complex than a girl deciding not to kill herself. Paloma and Renee's lives intersect when a wealthy Japanese man moves in and very quickly recognizes what the two have been hiding.
The reviews of this book have been astounding. In fact, I read where one person said they didn't want to read it because they hadn't heard anyone say anything bad about it. So what could make a book so great? On the surface, the story deals with friendship, class and status, and while the themes are universal, I don't think they are enough to earn such widespread favor.
As I was reading, I was trying to figure out what is so appealing about this book, and I think I know at least in part: I think that most people (women at least) believe that they are smarter than the world sees them to be. And so, somewhere in Paloma's and Renee's attempt to hide themselves, readers relate to the constant inner-dialogue commentary that reveals an untapped potential.
One disclaimer, it will have you reaching for your dictionary over and over and over. I can't remember when I read a book that contained so many words I didn't know. My mom and I were talking about this last night and wondering if this was due to its being a translation from French - perhaps the translator was being very particular to make sure every connotation was correct.
And, I'll echo other reviews I've read - the first 100 pages are not as enticing as the book is made out to be, but stick with it. It is well worth the read.
P.S. In reading over my review, I'm struck by the irony of my relating to the wit of the characters while continually being reminded through the language that my vocabulary isn't as polished as I thought. Hmmm...wonder if this is intentional?
Showing reviews 1-5 of 287
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