The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a novel by writer Muriel Barbery and was my 30th of 2021 and 4th on Kindle. 

In this novel the way chapters are arranged is interesting.  

• Preamble, Marx: Chapters 1-2 and Profound Thought No. 1
•  Part 1, Camellias: Chapters 1-4, Journal of the Movement No. 1 and Profound Thought No. 2
•  Part 1, Camellias: Chapters 5-10, Journal of the Movement of the World No. 2 and Profound Thoughts Nos. 3-5
•  Part 1, Camellias: Chapters 11-18, Journal of the Movement of the World No. 3 and Profound Thoughts Nos. 6-8
•  Part 2, On Grammar: Chapters 1-6 and Profound Thought Nos. 9-11
•  Part 3, Summer Rain: Chapters 1-7, Journal of the Movement of the World No. 4 and Profound Thought No. 12
•  Part 3, Summer Rain: Chapters 8-18, Journal of the Movement of the World Nos. 5-6 and Profound Thought No. 13
•  Part 4, Paloma: Chapters 1-10, Journal of the Movement of the World No.7 and Profound Thoughts No. 14
•  Part 4, Paloma: Chapters 11-23, Profound Thought No. 15 and One Last Profound Thought

Renee Michel is a concierge who believes that every concierge is perceived as unintelligent by those for whom they work. For this reason, Renee goes to great lengths to hide the fact that she often spends her days reading Marx and Tolstoy. It is not until Renee meets new tenant, Kakuro Ozu, that she finally finds a person with whom she can truly be herself. At the same time, Paloma Josse is struggling with the same sort of identity crisis. She is a highly intelligent girl who feels she must hide her real thoughts from those who do not understand her. In befriending both Renee and Kakuro, Paloma finds a way to relate to the outer world and find pleasure in life. The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a novel of personal identity that will inspire the reader to face life head on, rather than hiding behind masks that are designed to deceive not only the outside world, but ourselves as well.

When Renee's husband was alive, it was easy for her to hide her intelligence through his common habits, but after his death, Renee has found it more difficult to hide her lack of interest in television and her love of Marx and Tolstoy. However, Renee has found that the wealthy prefer to ignore what is right in front of their eyes and instead believe in what they perceive to be true. In this way, Renee has been able to hide just under the radar for more than twenty years. At the start of the story her only life companions are a Portuguese maid, Manuela, who works for many of the apartment owners, a cat, and Culture.

In the building where Renee works, there is a twelve-year-old girl who has decided to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. Paloma Josse, the daughter of a diplomat and his bored wife, feels as though no one ever sees the true her. Paloma has decided that it would be easier to end her life than to continue fighting for some kind of recognition from her parents, sister, and peers. Therefore Paloma has chosen to end her life after setting fire to her parents' apartment and consuming the sleeping  pills  she is gradually  hiding in an attempt to force her family to see beyond their great wealth. Meanwhile  she decides to  write  'The Jounal of the Movement  of the World" and there are chapters  on Profound  thoughts.

After the death of a tenant in the building, the widow decides to sell the apartment. This creates a great deal of excitement because there has not been a new tenant in the building in more than two decades. When Renee is introduced to the new tenant, Kakuro Ozu, she makes an offhand comment that alerts Kakuro to her love of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Kakuro is intrigued and later invites Renee to dinner in his apartment. At the same time, Kakuro befriends Paloma after learning that she is studying Japanese in school.

Renee and Kakuro become great friends. Renee is relieved to finally have a friend with whom she can be completely herself and who understands and shares her interests in literature, art, and philosophy. However, Renee struggles to reconcile herself with this relationship because her past has taught her that the social classes cannot mix without leading to some kind of disaster. Therefore, when Kakuro asks Renee to dinner at a restaurant to celebrate his birthday, she turns him down.

Paloma, who has begun coming to Renee's apartment to escape the chaos of her own home, forces Renee to share her reasons for refusing Kakuro's invitation. When Renee relates the story of how her sister died after being used and deserted by a rich man, Paloma goes to Kakuro with the information. Much to Renee's surprise, Kakuro assures Renee that she is not her sister and he has no plans to use and abuse her. Renee suddenly finds herself looking forward to the future for the first time. However, Renee's future is cut short when she is hit by a truck. Paloma, filled with grief by Renee's death, promises not to take her life, but to learn from Renee's experiences and live a fullfilling life.

"At times like this you desperately need art. You seek to reconnect with your spiritual illusion, and you wish fervently that something might rescue you from your biological destiny, so that all poetry and grandeur will not be cast out from the world." (page 98).  

Renee is speaking in this passage, after describing the necessities of succeeding in the social system.  She then begins the above passage, delving into the ultimate reason for Art.  The book contains many allusions to works of fiction, philosophy, movies, and artwork.  However this is contrasted with the preconceived notions which Renee and Paloma are so concerned with.  This passage highlights an important part and message of the book in the universality of Art.  We often simply think of the way others perceive us, how we perceive them.  This is constantly changing and evolving as well, and we must keep up with it, adjust our ideas to the whims of others.  However, when we view Art, we are all taking in the same material.  Whether we enjoy it or not is irrelevant, it is simply about the experience we share in being aware of the brilliance which is the concept of Art.  Art sits in front of us, unflinching in its proclamation.  "I am here, this is all I am, do what you will with me".  This vulnerability has a great distinction from the views of Renee and Paloma.

"Don't worry Renee, I won't commit suicide and I won't burn a thing. Because from now on, for you, I'll be searching for those moments of always within never.  Beauty, in this world." (325)

This last passage of the book is coming from Paloma and illuminating a major change in attitude in opinion about the state of the world.  As she stands listening to classical music being played on a piano, she thinks of how the recently deceased Renee would have so enjoyed it.  She then explains the moment as an, "always within never," as in the stretching beauty of a perfect moment which feels as if it will last for always, but never will.  These are the moments she finally proclaims to be worth living for.  Not only does this passage display the immense impact that the friendships she develops have on Paloma, but it also displays the unique and beautiful writing style of Barbery.  Often the various characters proclaim the beauty of language, the intricacies which shape a simple sentence into a work of Art.  The placement of the comment in this last line completely transforms its meaning and our understanding of Paloma's thoughts.  It is a sentence Renee would ponder with an intensity which few would apply to four words.

True novelty is that which does not grow old, despite the passage  of time.  End of Chapter 13 on Eternity,  realization  of Japanese  philosophy  from Ozu film

“Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.” Though not in book, is what the 11th Thesis of Marx say, which is the title of the preamble of the book. 

The hedgehog is an obvious metaphor for both Paloma and Reneé, a rough exterior concealing a thing of inner beauty. Reneé's camellias represent beauty. When the former drug-addict tenant Jean Arthens returns to pay Reneé a visit, he tells her that envisioning her camellias in his mind helped cure him of his addiction.