The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Muriel Barbery)

I knew that Elegance of the Hedgehog was a best-seller sensation, and like most folks, I'm drawn to books with such a reputation. And don't return the book to the library until I'm finished either, even if it is two weeks overdue. All to savor the sensation itself.

Apparently, the first printing was only 4000 books, and the demand in France soon skyrocketed. But what exactly is the appeal, I ask myself now, having finished every page.

Curious characters, perhaps? Two characters balance the narrative. A French concierge, Madame Renee Michel, who lives in a posh Parisian neighborhood, inconspicuous to the other tenants because she feigns the kind of personality an old, crotchety, not-well-off concierge would have. Her secret, however, is that she is a voracious reader of philosophy, literature, an art, music, and film affectionato, especially Japanese cinema. The other character is as much of an oddball. Paloma Josse is a 12-year old, unhappily living in the same building with her family, whom she regards as shallow. Resigned to this fate, she believes, Josse decides that on her 13th birthday, she will burn the apartment and commit suicide with the sleeping pills she has been sneaking from her mother. What upsets the isolation of these two is the moving in of a wealthy Japanese businessman, Monsieur Kakuro Ozo. He sees right through their disguises.

Or is the allure the drip-dropping of famous Japanese directors, philosophic musings, allusions to Tolstoy--both Michel and Ozo's cats are named after Tolstoy characters? Perhaps not surprising is that the author trained in and then taught philosophy. And that she currently lives in Japan with her husband. Take a look at her own blog: http://muriel.barbery.net/. I adore the pictures and the reflections--short and deep. So perhaps now I am merely in awe of the author, hoping some of her talent rubs off on me.

But why oh why end the book in the way it does? Take away the quills of Michel's porcupine self, which in more ways than one, are the weapons to protect her. For me, the wrap up is too tidy, too neat. And just plain disappointing. That's all I can say, as I cannot be a spoiler, and thus I trust you will read the novel and come to your own conclusions.

The Beggar Maid (Alice Munroe)

A series of short stories follows Rose and her not-quite-ever-broken ties to her stepmother Flo in Hanratty, Ontario, an economically impoverished town. It is these ties that bind, entwine, and squeeze too tight that become a running theme through each story. The ties that become a tug-of-war between the real self she tries to leave behind in Hanratty and the imagined self she presents to others, such as to Patrick Blanford, heir to a chain of department store. And yet he does the same; he falls in love with the idea of Rose as a beggar maid, the innocent, ragged imp he hopes to fashion into someone refined and glamorous. And Rose, liking the attention and possession he feels, lets herself be taken in. Neither in marriage nor in the go-nowhere affairs does she find satisfaction or fulfillment, the latter marked by endless "watchpot thinking," waiting for hours and days, strangled by hope; "the waiting would be interspersed with such green and springlike reveries." So characteristic, perhaps, of Rose who has in fact escaped the fate of others from her hometown, and yet never escaped. She becomes an actress and then a teacher of drama, play-acting for others and continually doubting herself. Perhaps not surprising is that she finds her closest connection with a classmate whom she briefly sat next to in class. It is with Ralph Gillespie--famous for the imitations of others he does--that she feels kinship. Munroe's book is not a quick read for the beach or for the plane, as the language she uses must be savored and swallowed slowly to be fully appreciated.

Book club books

The Beggar Maid (Alice Munroe)
Accordion Crimes (Annie Proulx)
Ireland (Frank Delaney)
Loving Frank (Nancy Horan)
The Gambler (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon)
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace (Greg Mortenson)
What is the What (Dave Eggers)
The Audacity of Hope (Barack Obama)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver)
An Artist of the Floating World (Kazuo Ishiguro)
Jane Austen, assorted
Stiff (Mary Roach)
Death of a Red Heroine (Qiu Xiaolong)
The Seven Sisters (Margaret Drabble)
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (Erik Larson)