Shop Blog > Recommendation > The Elegance of the Hedgehog
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The Elegance of the Hedgehog
- Europa Editions
- 2008-09-02
- 83Rank
- $15.00
- See details at Amazon
- Write an introduction
Stick around and wait for this book to bloom
The opening sections of "The Elegance of the Hedgehog", indeed the entire first half, is a bit of a slog due to its two central characters, 54-year old apartment building concierge Renee Michel and 12-year old tenant Paloma Josse, going on and on (in alternating chapters, in their own heads) in a dry, academic manner about art, music, philosophy, history, and the like, with nary a plot development or meaningful conversation in sight. But we soon see that the characters' closed-off musings, untouched by recent experience, have been presented to the reader quite intentionally in that manner. Each has- for her own reasons- sealed herself in a bubble, taking refuge in her own particular intelligence and worldview. It's only when developments in the apartment building bring Renee and Paloma together, and introduce a new friend who touches both their lives, that their intelligent but dry internal monologues become intelligent, emotional, and joyful monologues, full of life and hope. It's something to see, and worth doing the work in the early going to see. The closing pages are particularly moving, reveling in experience and emotion as strongly as the book's first half avoids these things. Alison Anderson's English translation of Muriel Barbery's original French work is smooth and engaging, mostly getting out of the way to let the reader absorb the story, yet doing appropriate service to the cathartic elements when the time comes.
