The Elegance of the Hedgehog By Muriel Barbery

This is a beautiful book written from the perspective of two intelligent yet introverted females; Renee, the concierge of an upscale Parisian apartment building, and Paloma, a young girl who lives with her family in the building. Each chapter takes the form of a themed journal entry. Renee hides her intelligence from the wealthy tenants of the building that she serves. Paloma tells us at the beginning of the book that she plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday.

The arrival of a wealthy Japanese gentleman in the building disrupts the lives of both Renee and Paloma. Monsieur Ozu befriends each and helps them to begin to reevaluate the way that they see the world. The author’s recurring topics include philosophy, art, culture and class.

I worry that I have lost more than I should have in reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog in English rather than French (not that I could have read it in its original French). Near the end of the novel, one of the heroine’s makes a comment about having called someone vous (you, formal) rather than tu (you, informal) for many years. Until this moment in the novel, I hadn’t realized that she was calling her friend vous. I used to speak some French in High School – this may be the motivation that I need to learn again.

It amazes me that even though there are so many books that keep telling us that our lives are only as good as the people that we share them with, there are still many people who haven’t gotten the message. I’m not familiar with all of the philosophers and artists that are mentioned in the book, but I think that Barbery is trying to show us that understanding these scholars can only take you so far. Knowing and loving fellow humans is really the only way to appreciate all that art and nature have to offer.