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The Elegance of the hedgehog

 

“Like a storyteller transforming life into a shimmering river where trouble and boredom vanish far below the water…”

… when the connection of kindred spirits produces a tapestry of philosophy, art, music, tea, food and friendship!

 

A quiet, 50-ish widowed concierge, an intelligent 12-year-old and a cultured Japanese man – on one level this can appear like a random, contrived combination, but it didn’t feel that way to me.  I saw it as the quiet unveiling of the hidden self – of Renee, mainly, but the inner selves of the other characters also emerge gradually.  It takes the child moving under everyone’s radar and the gentle foreigner to draw Renee out from her self-designed hiding place.  Special mention for Manuela, with whom she shares a different kind of friendship.


I read comments that this book is pretentious and rambling with all its intellectualising.  I didn’t think this of it.  I found it an attractive work of art.  I didn’t think it was too improbable for a concierge to be artsy and well-read either.  Why not?  More people love the arts than we are aware of.

 

 “Beauty, in this world.”  

Renee is the main character of the story but the star for me is Paloma.  I also read comments consigning Paloma into the narcissistic, entitled rich kid pigeonhole.  No, I didn’t think this of her.  To me, she is a thought-ful, over-sensitive girl, largely ignored by her family.  Consequently, she thinks and feels in her own world, but that’s why she can relate so easily with Renee and Kakuro.  Her depth shows up more strongly when Renee dies. (and why does Renee have to die so unexpectedly??)  I don’t suppose readers really expect Paloma to kill herself (which she says she will very early on, on page 21) and the story nicely rounds off with her appreciating better the value of life.  Friendship, understanding and love save this girl. 

 

She writes:

"Don’t worry , Renee, I won’t commit suicide and I won’t burn a thing.

 

            Because from now on, for you, I’ll be searching for those moments of always within never.

            Beauty, in this world."


This was my first translated French novel and it certainly isn’t like a typical English novel.  I enjoyed its subtle humour and nuanced blend of characters.  

 

“Like any form of Art, literature’s mission is to make the fulfilment of our essential duties more memorable.”

Couldn’t agree more.

 

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

by Muriel Barbery

translated by Alison Anderson

(Gallic, 2006)


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