The Elegance of The Hedgehog

Strangely, or perhaps not considering my profession, I love browsing the tables of "Summer Reading" in bookstores.  Not, of course, the tables of the latest beach reads, but the tables of books that teachers have lovingly picked with which to torture their hapless students over the summer.

 Frequently I find myself wondering why in the world someone would choose THAT novel for summer reading (case in point: Beowulf.  I have a difficult time imagining any middle/high school student successfully navigating Beowulf on their own and coming out the other side with something other than utter and profound relief to have put that experience behind them.  Such a waste, when a month in the classroom can have your students coming in one day to inform you that they "ruined the movie with all that sex and violence.")  Other times I find suggestions to include on my own school reading lists, summer or otherwise.  And occasionally I find myself inspired to either pick up a book entirely new to me or finally read that novel that has been nagging me for years.

Enter The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.  It is no surprise that I missed the publication of this novel, for if anything happens in the world of books during a school year, I am almost guaranteed to miss it (must. not. start. new. books.).  But I picked it up on a whim, after reading the first page, and then devoured it in my usual 24 hour fashion.

So what did I think?  The honest answer? I'm not sure.  Of course, I could not put it down, which always says something.  However, the ending struck me as startling and unnecessary, which definitely colored my reading experience.  In addition, there were small details which disrupted my reading, such as the almost-too-perfect entrance of Monsieur Ozu and the camellias (a pale imitation of Proust's hawthorns).  On the other hand, the language was delightful, which can carry me far in a novel.

Without question the story and the language have both stayed on my mind, which again speaks for itself.  I think I am adding this to the list of books I think I enjoyed but could not recommend to others, a category which is only lately revealing itself in my life.

And now back to history reading!