The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Locations
Call Number: BOCD Fiction, Adult BOCD / Fiction / General / Barbery, Muriel
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	BOCD Fiction	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Fiction / General / Barbery, Muriel	4-week checkout	Due 05-08-2024

Compact discs.
Read by Barbara Rosenblat and Cassandra Morris.
The lives of 54-year-old concierge Reneé Michel and extremely bright, suicidal 12-year-old Paloma Josse are transformed by the arrival of a new tenant, Kakuro Ozu.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

pretentious and disappointing submitted by flora on July 27, 2010, 5:25pm I'm not sure why I was interested in reading this book. Perhaps it was because of its quirky title and cover, or because I like art and literature and the idea of two very different people finding joy and companionship in shared interests, or maybe because of all the attention it has been receiving. Whatever I was expecting, this definitely fell short.

This is not the story of two bibliophiles who come out of their shells and find in each other a kindred spirit. Rather, it is the pretentious musings of two snobs. Renee, a 54-year-old widow has educated herself in the areas of literature, philosophy, art, and other subjects she feels don’t befit her social status. Paloma is a 12-year-old brat intent on being ‘profound’ and determined to kill herself and torch her apartment on her 13th birthday—not because she is depressed or destructive, but because she finds everything around her so unworthy and pointless. The wonderful new neighbor, Kakuro Ozu, who brings the two ‘ladies’ together, does not play a significant role until far too late in the novel, and even then the ‘bringing together’ never really happens. Renee and Paloma hardly speak to each other, and the awful ending cuts short any opportunity to explore the relationship that this book purports to be about. (I won’t spoil the ending in case you still want to read this.) Furthermore, since the three primary characters enter each others lives so late and so briefly, the last few pages (or minutes in the case of the audiobook) seem quite improbable.

could not get into this book submitted by mickplu on June 18, 2017, 10:05am Maybe it's better in print (I read it on CD), maybe there's much lost in the translation, or maybe the book isn't worth reading...I could not get into this book. I really tried, but I found the language stilted to the point of continuous boredom. I no longer cared about any of the characters.