The Elegance of the Hedgehog in Constant Reader

Dec 11, 2008 David rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2008, unexpectedly-terrific

Initial review: 12/11/2008 -

I may revisit the 5-star rating in a week or two, but after reading this book through all last night in a single sitting, it seems ungenerous to give it anything less.

Muriel Barbery walks the high-wire throughout - there were any number of places where things could have degenerated into mere sentimentality. Not to mention the assorted philosophical digressions. But the alternating narrators - Renee the dumpy concierge and Paloma the precocious 12-year old - are so ch Initial review: 12/11/2008 -

I may revisit the 5-star rating in a week or two, but after reading this book through all last night in a single sitting, it seems ungenerous to give it anything less.

Muriel Barbery walks the high-wire throughout - there were any number of places where things could have degenerated into mere sentimentality. Not to mention the assorted philosophical digressions. But the alternating narrators - Renee the dumpy concierge and Paloma the precocious 12-year old - are so charming that I just went with the flow. I granted Mme Barbery my willing suspension of disbelief, trusting that I was in good hands.

And Muriel, God bless her, delivered the goods. An enormously satisfying ending to a highly unusual book.

Now that the book has been translated into English, it seems highly likely that Oprah will pick it. It would be a shame to hold that against it.

Update 12/12/2008:

Well, the five stars didn't even last 24 hours. Although I was swept up enough by the book to read it in one sitting - which should be acknowledged as a major point in the book's favor, by the way - some of its weaknesses become evident upon reflection. Unlike some of the other reviewers, the fairly hefty dollop of implausibility attached to the two protagonists didn't bother me all that much - the author is constructing a kind of fable, after all. But it has to be said that the way Barbery plonks in whole pages of ponderous ruminations on art, philosophy, Japan-worship, just like that is (a) a completely intrusive artifice and (b) a huge structural weakness. Aren't authors suppose to show and not tell?

Then, too, my inner cynic has to cavil just a little bit at the unlikely perfection of the emotional harmonic convergence towards the book's ending. Mr Ozu seems more than a little too good to be true. And, for that matter, once you get away from the hypnotically, charmingly persuasive voices of the two narrators, the thought might cross your mind that maybe the other residents of the building aren't quite the shallow monsters they are made out to be throughout the book. Maybe the much maligned older sister, Colombe, deserves a break as well.

The moral of this story is that I should impose a 24-hour waiting period before assigning ratings. I still give "hedgehog" a strong recommendation, though. ...more

67 likes · Like · see review

Feb 28, 2009 Yulia rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-to-me-by-frank, i-thought-i-hated-you

Be warned: this book shows its potential only in flashing moments of insight steamrolled over by oppressively pretentious and irrelevant reflections on philosophy, art, and humanity--until 150 pages into the novel, when the main characters finally get a peek at one another. Even then, you must wade through more would-be lectures until the plot finally tumbles to a close in the exhilarating last 75 pages.

Internal monologues do not make for a novel. If only these soliloquies had been cut and the ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2009 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it liked it

Shelves: location-france, read2009, furman-link-bookclub

My basic problem with this books is that I just don't understand why anyone would ever want to portray themselves as less intelligent than they are. Why not surprise people and spend your energy elsewhere? But that is the motivation of the two main characters in this book - a 54 year old concierge in Paris, who doesn't want the people living in the apartments to think she has "airs," and a 12 year old who dumbs herself down in intentional ways but criticizes her sister for doing the same.

I hate ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2012 Kecia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1001-books, topshelf, france

"Wabi-sabi: the quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and imcomplete." - Loren Koren

"Pared down to its barest essence wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature, of accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death." - Robin Griggs Lawrence

So many reviewers here seem to think this book is very French. I disagree. It may be set in Paris but it is Japanese. It is a story of wabi-sabi. It is all abou ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2009 Gail rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2009

I loved the first 20 pages of this book, almost stopped reading during the next 20 pages, but then became really interested in the characters. The book has minimal plot, so the two narrators drive one's reading. I was moving right along, enjoying what is essentially a pleasant little way to pass the time, and then boom! Another of those dreadful Jodie Piccoult, Anita Shreve endings that make the reader want to throw the book down and swear a bit. Perhaps it's me, but I'm seeing more and more of ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 08, 2008 Rashida rated it did not like it

Shelves: disappointed

Is it possible to be convincing in maligning one class of people's intolerance of others by waxing philosophical about your own superiority for 150+ pages? The central premise of this book is that the two narrators are so much better people than those around them. Those around them are rich snobs who make negative assumptions about non-rich people, are disconnected from the problems that "real" folks experience, and are so subsumed by their own unrealities that their trivial domestic crises send ...more

Like · see review

Jun 30, 2009 Joyce rated it liked it

Grab a dictionary before you curl up with this novel which has big words to match the big thoughts coming from the main characters, Renee and Paloma. They are two smart people trying to hide their brilliance from those around them until eventually they find each other.

Like · see review