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A review by marryd
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
5.0
Renee is the concierge at an apartment building for rich families in Paris. She has been widowed for 12 years and lives with her cat. She hides her intelligence and self education from the tenants due to her contempt for them. 12 year old Paloma lives in an apartment upstairs. She is planning suicide on her 13th birthday unless she can find a good reason to continue living. She too is filled with contempt for those around her. Mr Ozu moves into the apartment building and becomes a catalyst for change.
The book is written in two voices, that of Renee and Paloma, illustrated with different fonts and I found this structure very effective. It does take quite a long time for Mr Ozu to arrive.
I initially struggled with this book - for the first hundred pages or so - in spite of the beautiful writing and the wonderful exploration of ideas. The hilarious exploration of phenomenology is worth the price of the book. Still, it felt unrelenting in its negativity. Unlike the protagonists I thought change would come so I persevered. I stopped on numerous occasions to chase down allusions and references that were no familiar to me and this worked for me.
I can see that I will read this again more than once and it will reward me. It's absolutely worth the read. I'd love to be part of a book discussion with this book.
The book is written in two voices, that of Renee and Paloma, illustrated with different fonts and I found this structure very effective. It does take quite a long time for Mr Ozu to arrive.
I initially struggled with this book - for the first hundred pages or so - in spite of the beautiful writing and the wonderful exploration of ideas. The hilarious exploration of phenomenology is worth the price of the book. Still, it felt unrelenting in its negativity. Unlike the protagonists I thought change would come so I persevered. I stopped on numerous occasions to chase down allusions and references that were no familiar to me and this worked for me.
I can see that I will read this again more than once and it will reward me. It's absolutely worth the read. I'd love to be part of a book discussion with this book.