The Elegance of the Hedgehog (original 2006; edition 2008)

Absolutely wonderful Don't miss it! ( )

I have been eager to listen to this book, partly because of the large range of opinions from people who have checked this one out. I've seen people only get through a few cds before giving up on it and people who have loved it so much that they've read/listened to the book multiple times. After finishing it, I can understand why. The Elegance of the Hedgehog is the story of 2 characters who live in an apartment building in Paris. Paloma, a 12 year old resident of the apartment is bright and inquisitive and has decided that rather than become a vacuous member of the bourgeois (like the other residents), she will commit suicide on her 13th birthday. The other main character is Renee, the concierge of the apartment, who outwardly behaves just as a concierge should - is brusque and overweight, dresses in frumpy clothes and watches daytime television all day long. But, underneath this disguise is a self-educated Renaissance woman who appreciates art, music and Leo Tolstoy.

The book starts out VERY slowly changing narrations between the 2 characters. Chapter after chapter is filled with their musings on life and living in the apartment. This is the point that many people decide to give up on this book. But, my advice is 'Stick With it'. About a third of the way into the book, the story picks up and the characters really begin to shine. The audio narration is perfect. Barbara Rosenblat is the voice of Renee, the crabby 'hedgehog'-like concierge. Even without following all of her long philosophical diatribes, I began to really like this complex character. The voice of Paloma is performed by Cassandra Morris who is spot on with her innocent child-like voice.

Now I want to listen one more time and really pay attention to the beginning - definitely a winner. ( )

This review by Jennifer absolutely nails my thoughts about this book, and is a wonderfully written review besides:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40013774 ( )

Renée and Paloma, two intellectually gifted inhabitants of a Paris apartment building, each take great pains to hide their intelligence. Renée, the building's concierge, tries to blend into the background in keeping with her image of a concierge. Paloma is marking time until her 13th birthday, when she plans to kill herself. Both Renée and Paloma are drawn to aspects of Japanese culture. When a new Japanese resident moves into the building, he becomes a catalyst for change in both of their lives.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***
I loved this book right up to the ending. Most of the action is internal, alternating between Renée's and Paloma's viewpoints. They ponder weighty subjects like philosophy, literature, music, and religion. The end just seemed wrong to me. Paloma and Mr. Ozu discover that Renée's personality resembles a hedgehog because she's afraid that if she aspires to live above her class she'll die just as her sister did. They convince Renée that her fear is irrational, she ventures outside her self-prescribed limits, and what happens next? She dies! Seems like her fear wasn't so irrational after all. And what does this do to Paloma, who is already suicidal? Is she wracked with guilt for talking Renée into taking this step? Does it push her over the edge? Not at all! It makes her decide she really doesn't want to kill herself. I don't think this was the right place to end the book. It's strange to feel this way about a book with a tragic ending, but it feels like the author wrapped up the story a little too neatly. ( )

SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Elegance of the Hedgehog is both entertaining and insufferable. One initially annoying character gets better (especially if you skim, or even skip, as I eventually did, the pompous philosophy and haiku chapters, which were just too too pretentiously French.)
Moreover the author got herself in an unfortunate bind: although the book could be a nice chick-lit fantasy with the idealistic message that appearances are deceiving (the story is a delightful, if improbable, cross-cultural, cross-class, older-people romance based on a “meeting of true minds”) the author can’t bring herself to actually consummate the romance, and, rather petulantly, kills her main character off and ends the book. It’s as if she decided that “sad ending” equals “art” (especially if you name-drop a bunch of philosophers and artists, including, naturally, a knowledge of pop culture) and couldn’t accept that her well written novel is an amusing and sentimental popular entertainment. More regrettably, her hasty ending sadly and completely undermines the very message she’s ostensibly selling us about the unimportance of background and class in the "true" connections between people. By its refusal to delve seriously into these issues (through, for instance, character development within a simple, unpretentious story of an unlikely friendship, rather than tedious warmed-over socio-literary digressions) the book comes off as rather inconsequential with a somewhat unpleasant snobby aftertaste. ( )