Branom's Book Blog

The Elegance of a Hedgehog is by Muriel Barbery, a French author and professor of philosophy. Her degree and teachings in this area would explain why The Elegance of a Hedgehog is so full of philosophical arguments and thoughts. This fiction novel topped the French best seller list for 30 weeks, and has sold over one million copies. It is the story of two, seemingly drab characters that turn out to be rather intellectual. There is Renee, the washed up concierge, and Paloma, the suicidal twelve-year-old on the third floor. Both girls hide their true potential behind a mask of mediocrity. Its not until an old Japanese man moves in do they realize that they have no reason to hide their true selves. This story takes place in the center of Paris, France in an elegant apartment building. Throughout this novel there is an ongoing theme of “you can’t judge a book by its cover.” This is because both girl’s look very mediocre and plain on the outside, but on the inside they are very smart and intelligent. I think that this book is good in the end, but hard to read. It’s set up to go back and forth between Renee’s story and Paloma’s, so you must switch gears almost every other chapter. It’s hard to keep them straight and its confusing because at the beginning the two stories don’t correspond at all. Its written in very short chapters usually about a thought or epiphany of Renee or Paloma. They are interesting but the chapters don’t really flow (at least at the beginning).

The storyline does not really start until the second half of the book. Since it’s mostly about the girl’s thoughts its written rather informally and opinionated with little actual dialogue in the beginning. However, even though it’s written rather informally, it still exercises a rather large vocabulary. Renee once explains herself like this; “…If thus far you have imagined that the ugliness of aging and the conciergely widowhood have made a pitiful wretch of me, resigned to the lowliness of her fate-then you are truly lacking imagination. I have withdrawn, to be sure, and refuse to fight. But within the safety of my own mind, there is no challenge I cannot accept. I may be indignant in name, position, and appearance, but in my own mind I am an unrivaled goddess”(Barbery, 54). In this we see her creative use of adjectives in describing herself as well as the theme of “you can’t judge a book by its cover.” The title of the book also directly correlates to the theme. A hedgehog is not really considered to be elegant they are just spiky. The elegance of a hedgehog is within. Just like Renee and Paloma’s beauty and intellect is within despite their appearances.

This book is interesting to read but not my favorite. I could relate to some of the girl’s epiphanies, and some emotions but the majority of it was about existentialism and different philosophies. Many common beliefs are challenged thorough the examination of existentialism. The book is humorous at sometimes, but it is a very deep read. I enjoyed it in the end but getting there was rather long and boring. I personally didn’t enjoy all the random anecdotes and epiphanies, I would rather follow a set storyline.

Its not a cliff anger, or a fast paced storyline, but if you have the time to leisurely read, and you want to expand your philosophical knowledge, this would be a good choice. I enjoyed it, and I hope you will as well!