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A review by michaelontheplanet
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
3.0
Mrs Tiggywinkle n’est pas là: this being a French novel, wears its stylish disdain for life and the reader (you are far too petit bourgeois for this) like a great big Gallic shrug. Gérard Depardieu is disappointed in your poor life choices. A poodle glances at you with thinly-disguised contempt: if you think I’m eating that, you can think again. A lady on the Métro eyes your shopping bag with suspicion. You have lost the key to your AirBnB in the troisième arondissement and il commence à pleuvoir.
The plot, such as it is, concerns a middle aged concierge with ideas above her gare, and an annoying child who by rights should be drowned in a bucket of calvados. What turns it is the increasing warmth and humour, and the growing affection of Renée for M. Kakuro and Japanese culture in general, something she shares with Paloma, who suddenly discovers she doesn’t want to indulge in hara kiri on hitting puberty after all.
I’m not sure what Beatrix Potter would have made of it, indeed I’m not sure what I make of it, but dare not ask in case an elegant French person stares at me with disbelief and makes a pfffft sound.
Thank you Sarah (Stevie out of Miranda) Hadland for the suggestion on A Good Read. It’s been bizarre.
The plot, such as it is, concerns a middle aged concierge with ideas above her gare, and an annoying child who by rights should be drowned in a bucket of calvados. What turns it is the increasing warmth and humour, and the growing affection of Renée for M. Kakuro and Japanese culture in general, something she shares with Paloma, who suddenly discovers she doesn’t want to indulge in hara kiri on hitting puberty after all.
I’m not sure what Beatrix Potter would have made of it, indeed I’m not sure what I make of it, but dare not ask in case an elegant French person stares at me with disbelief and makes a pfffft sound.
Thank you Sarah (Stevie out of Miranda) Hadland for the suggestion on A Good Read. It’s been bizarre.