Book Review

The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  “Outside she is covered in quills, a real fortress, but …inside she has the same simple refinement…, a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary - and terribly elegant.”  That is how twelve-year-old Paloma describes Madame Michele, the concierge of her apartment building.  

Paloma is the precocious child of wealthy aristocrats, much like the other families in the building.  Madame Michel –Renee - is a daughter of poverty and lower class.  But as they come to know each other, they discover their common secret: they are both hiding. 

What is being hid is their insightful intelligence.  For Madame Michel it is not appropriate to her station in life to be seen as intelligent.  She is uneducated, but self-taught in philosophy, art, and literature.  Paloma feels trapped by the banality of her parents and sister, and feels she must hide her true thoughts and the depth of her understanding. She sees her life as futile, absurd, and plans her suicide on her thirteenth birthday.

This is a book unlike any I have ever read.  There’s very little action.  All activity takes place in one location.  Description is minimal.  So why is it that I am so captivated?  How is it that I can read this book on my stationary bike and the ten miles and 45 minutes of drudgery can go by so quickly?

It’s because, besides the art and philosophy and literature, this is a book about language; language used beautifully to convey profound thinking.  Yes, nothing much happens, but those profound ideas float off the page like elegant butterflies, flitting almost too quickly to grasp, yet landing as in a nearby tree, only slightly removed from my mind, covering that tree like a thing of great beauty, to be smiled upon and enthralled by.

And it’s also about some wonderfully heartwarming characters. They don’t all survive.  And now that I have finished this book, I will be in mourning for a few days, missing these people I have come to love.