Kayla Dai F. (kayladaila) reviewed on 1/4/2015 + 33 more book reviews

The Elegance of the Hedgehog had me laughing out loud and crying. This is just such a beautiful story told from two points of view. One of the narrators is Renee, a concierge working in a very exclusive apartment building in France. The other is Paloma, a 12 year old girl and one of the tenants in the apartment building. Paloma has declared, at least to the reader that on her thirteenth birthday she will set fire to her family's apartment and then commit suicide. They are like bookends and between them are their volumes of knowledge and philosophy that they share with the reader. Of course Renee's contribution is larger since she is a 54 year old widow, who has lived longer and done a tremendous amount of studying. Their stories are similar because they are both trying to hide who they are for their own personal reasons, and reach the same conclusions when they are brought together by a new tenant. The writing is just so beautiful and that alone would make this an incredible book to read, but the characters and their idiosyncrasies make them come off the page and make you want to know more about them.

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