Elegance of the Hedgehog

Something of a cult best seller immensely popular world wide ( translated in to 35 languages). Has been called a life transforming read and a life affirming book by various commentators and critics. Some of us were discouraged by the over lengthy, dense, obscure and at times pretentious philosophising in the first half of the book in particular but those of us who persevered were rewarded with what we unanimously felt was a great book and one we felt glad to have read. Made us think but also laugh out loud. How people can hide their true nature and how people can change.

Whilst some of the allusions and references were involved I really enjoyed it although it took a while to get into.

Pace and purpose picks up once Ozu moves into the apartment block. The ending? Inevitable?

Although it was at times involved the chapters were short and pacy and Paloma’s in particular, based on her diary entries and observations on her family and neighbours, were astute and the better philosophically speaking than Madame Renee’s trite, Reader’s Digest style analyses perhaps as a result of her being self taught, internal and as an autodidact. Paloma essentially a Buddhist. The alternating short chapters with differing type faces gave it a pace.

A book about nature, beauty, the soul, love, literature, art, film, music and philosophy.

Philosophy part of the curriculum in so many European countries - briefly taught here in our primary schools. Different schools of philosophy - French metaphysical, German structuralist etc

It was witty and laugh out loud but also profound and meaningful. A good translation.

Loved the comment on France - notable for soft cheese and 18th century language, whilst England famous for puddings, rugby, lawns, Habeas Corpus and the hat!!

A critique of class ridden French society

I kept writing down quotes from it and really enjoyed reading something so French

Found myself researching many of the references - quotes from Anna Karenina, Music ( Opera, Mozart) lyrics ( Eminem, Dido and Aeneas) , films - particularly Japanese Director Ozu and his films

Author is a philosophy lecturer and lives in Japan. Critical of the introspection of philosophy and the sterility of the academic, elitist approach to the subject rather than applying it to reality and life.

Loved the writing style - a real treat to read it

The film version? Mixed response from the 7 or so who had watched it. Some of us loved it - a great intro/taster for the book but others felt that an unlikely liaison became implausible , possibly due to the time constraints of compressing the book into a short film version.

Scores ranged from 7 to several 9s with a total of 86.5 so an average of 8.5

Very moving and well-observed account of a range of interesting and culturally different characters.
I thought the ending was a slight disappointment but this has some wonderful liones and some great momenys, especially the lingerie fight