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The Elegance of the Hedgehog
by: Muriel Barbery

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 843.92
EAN: 9781933372600
ISBN: 1933372605
Label: Europa Editions
Manufacturer: Europa Editions
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: September 02, 2008
Publisher: Europa Editions
Sales Rank: 821
Studio: Europa Editions

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
The enthralling international bestseller.

We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building’s tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence.

Then there’s Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.

Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma’s trust and to see through Renée’s timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Not a book for me.
I was interested in this book and the concept behind it however upon recieving the book and beginning to read it I found that I just was not interested in the characters or what happened to them. For the first time in a long time I just couldn't not be bothered to finish the book which is rare for me. Many times throughout the book I found myself questioning the point of the characters and their motives behind what they did. At other points I felt like the author was writing essays on topics and this was her way to let her opinion be known. I am quite sure for many people they might enjoy this book, but for me I just found it boring and on the depressing side.

Rating:

- High praise from my 11 year old!
My 11-year-old liked this so much that she has passed it along to her friends to read as well. From her, that is HIGH praise.

Rating:

- Enjoyable book!
This book is different than anything else I've read. It focuses on two characters that you want to know more and more about. I think anyone could enjoy this book.

Rating:

- Elegant and Exciting Reading
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery is a beautiful, moving, and occasionally very funny novel. It tells the story of an amazing woman and a startling young girl, and their parallel and eventually joined paths to recognition of beauty, in the self and in the world.

Renee is the concierge of a very upscale building in Paris, a supremely intelligent and grammatically exacting woman, and Paloma is one of her tenants , a 12-year old girl already fed up with the falseness of the adults around her and doubtful about life's possibilities. Renee is acutely aware and appreciative of life's moments of beauty and yet is unable to grasp the absolute beauty within herself. Paloma is a French, intelligent, and female prepubescent version of Holden Caulfield, a confused and disillusioned but still young and therefore reachable rebel. Her thoughts are presented to us through her two thoroughly engaging ... Read More

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