“The Excellence of the Hedgehog” by Muriel Barbery

L'elegance_du_Herisson_161x240 Mon Dieu. To fluctuate between my passion for the written word and my passion for the story at large is to grow accustomed to a weekly barrage of, dare I say, potential malarky.

Will it be Twilight or Sartre? How can we know?

L’Elégance du Herisson has the appeal of the popular and the allure of the erudite. Ooh, that sounds snotty but it is so good.

It took me two weeks to keep my head clear enough to read this book.

I must admit, all pontificatory preconceptions aside, I am not bright enough to breeze over the ideas presented on most pages of this book. In fact, I felt rather moronic—an all too frequent occurrence lately—to even appreciate this book without putting it down way too often.

I loved it. I did not put it down because I did not want to keep reading. I put it down to think about it … why is Renée referred to as the Hedgehog?*

An aside: (Went to look this up at the suggestion of a poor man who mistakenly asked what I was currently reading.

“The Hedgehog and the Fox” is the title of an essay by Isaiah Berlin, regarding the Russian author Leo Tolstoy’s theory of history.

The title is a reference to a fragment attributed to the ancient Greek poet Archilochus: πόλλ’ οἶδ’ ἀλώπηξ, ἐχῖνος δ’ἓν μέγα (“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing”). Renée loves Tolstoy and, in fact names her cat Leo. Monsieur Ozo names his cats Kitty and Levin. It is feline homage to Anna Karenina.)

Where was I? Oh yes, my page by page questions … Why is Phenomenology so off-putting? How did I not fully appreciate Anna Karenina? Does a pricey education make the student better than others? Are the rich inherently better and more deserving or is grace God-given? What the hell is the point of playing Mozart as you pee?

Every page made me feel uneducated—and not in a bad way. I am very well educated, but this book, by nature of the self-proclaimed, autodidactic protagonists is a scream for more. I know nothing! I need to know more! It was a fabulous challenge rather than a trauma.

The plot, that of two quietly brilliant women (Renée and Paloma) hiding their true intellectual selves, brought together by a new tenant (Kakuro Ozu) in the building, is wonderful. Their stories alone would make an excellent book. Factoring in the format, that of dueling personal essays, takes it to truly excellent. Much like James Joyce’s Ulysses, wherein the format is half the story, The Elegance of The Hedgehog is so damned clever it appeals across the board.

I hesitate to mention that I have not even finished … I don’t know what I will do without it. I took it from the Library but will go buy it to peruse again at will …

Take a minute, or a month to appreciate this book for all of its worth. It won’t let you down.

* A father of a friend made reference to what I had previously failed to realized is a central thematic reference to the novel. Why am I always the last to realize I lecture sans platform? Don’t tell my kids….