The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery

During my brief (but wonderful) stint as a bookseller, I grilled my customers about what they were reading. The Elegance of the Hedgehog (an arguably bizarre title yet still a summer favorite) fared as such: About 75% of the people I talked to just couldn’t get over it and came in asking for Gourmet Rhapsody, pre-release date.

BUT about 25% just couldn’t get through it at all. Unfortunately (now fortunately) I had already bought it when the naysayers came in, so I stuck it out. And this Parisian rendezvous proved a delight although, quite frankly, heart-wrenching as well.

It fulfills the best French stereotypes while acknowledging (mockingly) the worst. It is indulgent but not frivolous. It is intelligent but not pompous. It is philosophical but not condescending. It’s 300+ pages go as quickly and smoothly as a 3-hour lunch with your very best friend over wine and madelines (with a lovely bouquet of Madame Michel's camellias to boot).

Admittedly there is a lot of philosophy that could bog down the book. But press on through it. It works best as a way into the topsy-turvy brains of the duo of narrators rather than the ramblings of dear Ms. Barbery.

And finally, it features three characters whom I just do not want to let go: Madame Michel, a stout, lit-and-film loving concierge; Paloma, a 13-year-old in the most extreme teenage angst I have ever read; and finally, Kakuro Ozu, the new Japanese tenant who introduces much needed zen into both their lives while also learning from them. In fact, I have so enjoyed their company that I’m holding off a bit before I start my next literary endeavor so that they can linger in my imagination just a little longer, unfettered and unbothered.

(P.S. What, you ask, is this so-called "elegance of the hedgehog'? Relax, dear reader. It is answered for you: "Madame Michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside, she's covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that on the inside, she has the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary - and terribly elegant.")

[Jillian]