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The Elegance of the Hedgehog
 
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The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Hardcover)

by Muriel Barbery (Author), (Translated by Alison Anderson) (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 322 pages
  • Publisher: Gallic Books; UK First Edition; 1st printing. edition (1 Sep 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1906040168
  • ISBN-13: 978-1906040161
  • Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.6 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 59,524 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Nobody ever imagined that his tender, funny book with a philosophical vein would have enjoyed such incredible success. For some, it is part Sophie s World by Jostein Gaarder, part Monsieur Malaussene by Daniel Pennac. While for others it resembles a written version of the film Amélie. Either way, readers are responding in vast numbers. --Le Monde

The reader will be amused, surprised and moved by this philosophical tale: a user's guide to life which is a delight on every level. --Elle

Enthusiastically recommended for anyone who loves books that grow quietly and then blossom suddenly. --Marie Claire

Clever, informative and moving.....this is an admirable novel which deserves as wide a readership here as it had in France. --The Observer

The novel wins over its fans with a life-affirming message, a generous portion of heart and Barbery's frequently wicked sense of humour. --Time Magazine

Clever, informative and moving.....this is an admirable novel which deserves as wide a readership here as it had in France. --The Observer

The novel wins over its fans with a life-affirming message, a generous portion of heart and Barbery's frequently wicked sense of humour. --Time Magazine


Product Description

Renée is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building on the Left Bank. To the residents she is honest, reliable and uncultivated an ideal concierge. But Renée has a secret. Beneath this conventional façade she is passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers with their outwardly successful but emotionally void lives. Down in her lodge, Renée is resigned to living a lie, with only visits from her one friend Manuela to break the monotony. Meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the predictably bourgeois future laid out for her, and plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday. But before this happens, the death of one of their privileged neighbours will bring dramatic change to number 7, Rue de Grenelle, altering the course of both their lives forever. With sales of over a million copies in French, this funny, moving and wise novel is now an international publishing sensation.
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The Elegance of the Hedgehog
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The Elegance of the Hedgehog 3.6 out of 5 stars (113)
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Customer Reviews

113 Reviews
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (113 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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30 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A must read but not for the light reader!, 8 Oct 2008
By mcah "mcah" (Wimbledon) - See all my reviews
This is a really excellent novel. I read it in french and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It is written in two voices. The main voice is that of a physically challenged 54 year old concierge in a high class appartment block in Paris. Renee is a self taught intellectual of great intellignece who choses to conceal her knowledge and tastes from her upper class employer in the interest of 'keeping her place and hence leading a quiet life'. Her comments and observations on the residents are sharp and often hilarious and her search and analisys for the 'meaning and value of life' develops throughout the novel. In parallel, we have the deep thoughts of the 12 year old highly intelligent daughter of one of the resident families. She totally disillusioned by the meaninglessness of life, the triteness of her family and the world in general; so much so that she is planning her own suicide at the age of 13. Her musings and thoughts are equally sharp and amusing despite her continuous and bewildered search for meaning.

Their paths unite as a result of the death of a resident which precipitates a new arrival in the person of a wealthy japanese man with a very different perspective on life from the typical bourgeois inhabitants of the appartments. He quickly identifies the two (concierge and girl)for their intelligence and originality of thought and an unlikely friendship is formed. This friendship is the catalyst to the thoughts and musing of the concierge and the girl and brings each one to an equilibrium.

The novel has many highly amusing observations and the characters are highly appealing but it is not a novel in which the storyline forms the main purpose of the book. The main purpose is the philosophical search for meaning of the characters. As such it is not a book I would recommend for light reading. It requires a more than average level of both cultural and philosophical understanding. The language used is extremely rich and complex in places. I did find myself reaching for the dictionary on many occasions. It might be that in the english translation this is not such a problem but certainly in french (and I am a native speaker) it was very challenging parts.

It is because of this last point that I didnt award a full five stars. Having researched the words and then rebuilt the philosophical points in simpler language, I found on several occasion that the complex language dressed-up some interesting but not terribly deep philosophy which could have been said more simply. This is very french of course!

I thoroughly recommend this to anyone who is not phased by my comments in the last paragraph. It is a very good book but not one for those who dont want to use a dictionary or re-read a page now and then to sort out exactly what is being said. If you can cope,it is fun and very satisfying.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Hopeful Hedgehogs, 15 Aug 2009
By D. Elliott (Ulverston, Cumbria) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Paperback)
For most of `The Elegance of the Hedgehog' its two main characters remain apart, yet the thrust of the book is to explore similarities of people who may live in dissimilar worlds. Both hide themselves from the world around them and the `hedgehog' is a metaphor for externally prickly people being elegant within. Muriel Barbery relies on her two female protagonists taking separate short chapters and she uses font changes to ensure the story moves smoothly and to avoid misunderstandings over those involved. She manages skilfully to keep them apart as well as intertwining their lives, and she conveys hope as generations are spanned and class divisions become superfluous.

One reclusive character is middle-aged and appears outwardly dull, but this masks her in-depth knowledge and sincere appreciation of arts and culture. With much subtle humour and pathos she questions the meaning of life - incorporating continuing references to `Art' and `Beauty'. As she reflects on her past life she exposes schisms in society and she expounds on class prejudice. Feeling like an alien in her own family the other isolated narrator is a highly intelligent but suicidal young girl who muses over her `Profound Thoughts' and `Journal of the Movement of the World' - also with humour.- and relying on simplistic philosophy she also seeks to discover what life is about. Rather belatedly the two combine to give one another hope to change their fate, and the book's conclusion is uplifting - a most endearing aspect of what is a fascinating and thought-provoking book throughout. The story is elegantly told with wonderful use of language - a brilliant translation from the original French.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, hilarious, poignant, 14 Sep 2008
By Gabrielle O (London, UK) - See all my reviews
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
A fabulous novel that manages to successfully navigate the fine line between black comedy and tender, carefully-observed drama.

I didn't expect to like this novel so much but, from almost the very beginning, I found myself bemused by the quirky narrator (then both quirky narrators) and engaged by the plot. Neither narrator seems very endearing at first but the novel really drew me in. Not very much happens - and yet, so much! Thought-provoking, funny, sad, poignant.

Obviously not everyone will enjoy any one novel - this is certainly one for people who enjoy thinking while they read. I did skip some of the more more philosophical musings as I'm always impatient to find out what happens next! Would particularly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys Amelie Nothomb books: kooky, absorbing plot brimming with understated emotion and side-splittingly quirky black comedy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Pretentious tosh
I tried to read this book, I really tried, but I could not get beyond page 171. It seemed as if the author was trying to write a sort of Beauty and the Beast story, with the... Read more
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4.0 out of 5 stars So pleased I read this to the end
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Published 1 month ago by A. Peacock

5.0 out of 5 stars So good that I read it twice
This is the story of a concierge in Paris who is not at all what she appears to be. Worth the brain exercise needed for the 1st part of the book which refers to artists and... Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. Firth

1.0 out of 5 stars Please, no more!
I've made it half way through this book and simply can't go on any longer. I usually read a standard paperback in a matter of days and here I am after one week and still I... Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars A book to cherish
I loved this book so much. It gave me the feeling that I wanted to curl up and hold it to me (when I get this feeling it means that I shall keep the book and not give it to a... Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars A must
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4.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining
This a delightful fairy tale, fun to read with a highly moral centre: that you should not judge by appearances, that beauty and fulfilment are all around and that you should not... Read more
Published 2 months ago by in libris

3.0 out of 5 stars an intellectually veiled room 101
I can't decide whether this book is enjoyable and profound or pretentious and annoying in the extreme. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best novels I have read
I am a voracious reader and this is a fabulous book which I know I will read again. It is not lightweight reading but worth the effort. Read more
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3.0 out of 5 stars Requires the Reader to Work Hard
Muriel Barbery really makes the reader work hard with this book. Before you read this novel make sure you are armed with knowledge (incidentally I wasn't), of the following:... Read more
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