Final Project - Fourth Entry MRojo

L'Élégance du hérisson by Muriel Barbery

L’Élégance du Hérisson (The Elegance of the Hedgehog) is one of the first novels I’ve read in French. This book was written by a French novelist named Muriel Barbery in 2006. She is a professor of philosophy in Paris, and her knowledge and studies in this subject helped her to write an optimistic novel about a twelve year old girl who wanted to commit suicide, an old concierge whose life was meaningless, and a Japanese who approached them both and whose philosophy of life was so positive that he managed to influence them and to change their fates.

The novel follows a particular structure, where each chapter is independent from one another, and in the end both stories convey into a single one. The setting and the mood are the same throughout the novel, however there are two narrators in the novel. The first one is the protagonist a concierge named Renée Michel, and the second one is the little girl Pamela Josse, who shares her deep thoughts through her personal journal.

Paloma Josse is the daughter of an important politician and she lives with her family in the apartment building where Renée works. She has a theory of life very deep and some sort of depressive because she thinks that life is a farce and she even compares humans like if we were fish inside a fishbowl. That is why she wants to commit suicide. What she likes the most is the Japanese culture; she enjoys reading haikus and Japanese comics. With all of this knowledge she created two journals, the first one is called Journal of the Movement of the World, with the purpose to discuss situations that she observes, and the second one is called Profound Thoughts, with this one she gives her opinion about art pieces, people, and herself.

On the other hand Renée the concierge is a unique person who enjoys art. Her two favorite authors are Tolstoy and Kent, and her favorite composers are Gustav Mahler and Henry Purcell. In spite of her knowledge she sees herself as a fat, ugly and dumb lady. Then Paloma starts to observe Renée and discovers her passions and true identity. In her personal journal she describes Renée as woman who has the elegance of a hedgehog.

At this point in the novel they both met their new neighbor in the apartment building, who is an old Japanese businessman. He also discovers the true identity of both characters and convinced Renée to take of her mask and to do the things that she like the most, and he influenced Paloma to see things with a different perspective so that she could enjoy life.

This book required from me to pay great attention to detail, because of its several references and allusion to music, films and books. It also includes several reflexions in first person. So at the beginning is confusing because the author presents two complex personalities and there's no a clear connection; however the author progressively links the two characters. I personally think that this is an excellent novel, but it needs lot of time to read it and to fully understand it.