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The Elegance of the Hedgehog
by Muriel Barbery, Alison Anderson
by Muriel Barbery, Alison Anderson
This is a New York Times best-seller? Granted, you can go down an entire shelf of the fiction books at Barnes n Nobles and have every single one be a New York Times best-seller. Just looking at the best-seller list now, we have Hardcover Fiction, Hardcover Non-fiction, Paperback Trade Fiction, Paperback Mass-market Fiction, Paperback Nonfiction, Hardcover Advice, etc., etc. and this list is updated weekly as far as I know.
Still, I have rather digressed, not to mention that NY Times Best-seller provides a great selling boost to new authors. But still, my point is that I no longer put much stock in a NY Times best-seller label. Damn near everyone's got one.
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This book is, in two words, a philosophy blog. The two main characters - a 52 year old concierge of an upperclass French apartment/condo/hotel place and a 12 year old resident of said building - essentially function as mouthpieces of the author. If you want to read an author indulge herself in random philosophical musings, then you will surely love Elegance! If you like books with 2-dimensional characters, or even 1-dimensional characters, then you will surely love this! If you like books that are almost entirely expository, you will love this!
I made it 60 pages and I found this to be quite beyond me. Not because it was somehow above my intelligence, but because I couldn't be bothered to care one way or another what they were talking about. Certainly there were some interesting tidbits, but they tend to get buried beneath so many other "profound thoughts" (and yes profound thought #_ are actually chapter names). If I wanted Kant, I'd read about Kant. If I wanted Marx, I'd read Marx.
This book is like reading about someone reading cool books, which is about as fun as watching someone watch television.
--
In short, if you are heavy into philosophy and such things, give it a whirl. If not, avoid!
Still, I have rather digressed, not to mention that NY Times Best-seller provides a great selling boost to new authors. But still, my point is that I no longer put much stock in a NY Times best-seller label. Damn near everyone's got one.
--
This book is, in two words, a philosophy blog. The two main characters - a 52 year old concierge of an upperclass French apartment/condo/hotel place and a 12 year old resident of said building - essentially function as mouthpieces of the author. If you want to read an author indulge herself in random philosophical musings, then you will surely love Elegance! If you like books with 2-dimensional characters, or even 1-dimensional characters, then you will surely love this! If you like books that are almost entirely expository, you will love this!
I made it 60 pages and I found this to be quite beyond me. Not because it was somehow above my intelligence, but because I couldn't be bothered to care one way or another what they were talking about. Certainly there were some interesting tidbits, but they tend to get buried beneath so many other "profound thoughts" (and yes profound thought #_ are actually chapter names). If I wanted Kant, I'd read about Kant. If I wanted Marx, I'd read Marx.
This book is like reading about someone reading cool books, which is about as fun as watching someone watch television.
--
In short, if you are heavy into philosophy and such things, give it a whirl. If not, avoid!
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MissSusie
(last edited Jan 28, 2010 01:32pm)
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Jan 28, 2010 01:24pm
This was recommended to me by a patron at my library,I am listening to it on audio I am on disc 3 and feel as if I've been listening to it for months and just want it to end.Your review is excactly how I'm feeling!I may just say forget it!Thanks for the review.
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"If you want to read an author indulge herself in random philosophical musings, then you will surely love Elegance! If you like books with 2-dimensional characters, or even 1-dimensional characters, then you will surely love this! If you like books that are almost entirely expository, you will love this! " Totally agree, those are the main reasons why I loved the book. I'm not into philosophy so I took it as if one of my teachers was rambling about those topics. Thank you for your review, now I now why I loved it.
