Reviews
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER INDIEBOUND TOP TEN BESTSELLER A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A BARNES AND NOBLE BET BOOK OF THE YEAR A CHICAGO SUN-TIMES FAVORITE BOOK OF THE YEAR Praise for The Elegance of the Hedgehog "Gently satirical, exceptionally winning and inevitably bitersweet." --Michael Dirda, The Washington Post " The Elegance of the Hedgehog is about love. But not the sappy, head-over-heels variety. Rather, it's about the love of one's friends. It's about the love you can experience when you connect with strangers. And it's about the possibility--but just that--of romantic love." -- The Huffington Post "Both [of the book's protagonists] create eloquent little essays on time, beauty and the meaning of life, Rene with the erudition and Paloma with adolescent brio." --The New York Times "Astute social satire and abstruse German philosophy are rarely found together, but here they are in this ingenious work of fiction." --The Boston Globe "In this supple novel of ideas, a best-seller in France...two autodidacts share an allergy to grammatical errors (the concierge considers a misplaced comma an 'underhanded attack') and a love of tea and moments of ineffable beauty. Barbery's sly wit, which bestows lightness on the most ponderous cogitations, keeps her tale aloft." --The New Yorker "This fable of love, frienship and the beauty of art not only gives innocence a voice, but also shows what a powerful novel can do: transport, educate and, ultimately, console." -- The Toronto Star " The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a high-wire performance." -- Los Angeles Times "[ The Elegance of the Hedgehog tells] a beautiful story with a large cast of fascinating, complicated characters whose behavior is delightfully unpredictable...No idea is too big or small to find a home in the Parisian apartment building where most of the characters live." --The Wall Street Journal "This dark but redemptive novel, an international bestseller, marks the English debut of Normandy philosophy professor Barbery...By turns very funny (particularly in Paloma's sections) and heartbreaking, Barbery never allows either of her dour narrators to get too cerebral or too sentimental. Her simple plot and sudden denouement add up to a great deal more than the sum of their parts." --Publishers Weekly " Hedgehog is really an international book, focused as it is on universal topics of childhood, philosophy, love, and art." -- The Daily Beast "This story, like all great tales, will break your heart, but it will also make you realize--or remember--that sometimes the pain is worth it." --Chicago Sun-Times, “The formula that made more than half a million readers in France fall in love with this book has, among other ingredients: intelligent humor, fine sentiments, an excellent literary and philosophical backdrop, good taste, sophistication and substance.â€� — La Repubblica “Enthusiastically recommended for anyone who loves books that grow quietly and then blossom suddenly.â€� — Marie Claire (France) “An exquisite book in the form of a philosophical fable that has enchanted hundreds of thousands of readers.â€� — Elle (Italy) “Nobody ever imagined that this tender, funny book with a philosophical vein would have enjoyed such incredible success. For some, it is part Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder, part Monsieur Malaussene by Daniel Pennac. While for others it resembles a written version of the film Amelie. Either way, readers are responding in vast numbers.â€� — Le Monde, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER INDIEBOUND TOP TEN BESTSELLER A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A BARNES AND NOBLE BET BOOK OF THE YEAR A CHICAGO SUN-TIMES FAVORITE BOOK OF THE YEAR Praise for The Elegance of the Hedgehog "Gently satirical, exceptionally winning and inevitably bitersweet." --Michael Dirda, The Washington Post " The Elegance of the Hedgehog is about love. But not the sappy, head-over-heels variety. Rather, it's about the love of one's friends. It's about the love you can experience when you connect with strangers. And it's about the possibility--but just that--of romantic love." -- The Huffington Post "Both [of the book's protagonists] create eloquent little essays on time, beauty and the meaning of life, Renée with the erudition and Paloma with adolescent brio." --The New York Times "Astute social satire and abstruse German philosophy are rarely found together, but here they are in this ingenious work of fiction." --The Boston Globe "In this supple novel of ideas, a best-seller in France...two autodidacts share an allergy to grammatical errors (the concierge considers a misplaced comma an 'underhanded attack') and a love of tea and moments of ineffable beauty. Barbery's sly wit, which bestows lightness on the most ponderous cogitations, keeps her tale aloft." --The New Yorker "This fable of love, frienship and the beauty of art not only gives innocence a voice, but also shows what a powerful novel can do: transport, educate and, ultimately, console." -- The Toronto Star " The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a high-wire performance." -- Los Angeles Times "[ The Elegance of the Hedgehog tells] a beautiful story with a large cast of fascinating, complicated characters whose behavior is delightfully unpredictable...No idea is too big or small to find a home in the Parisian apartment building where most of the characters live." --The Wall Street Journal "This dark but redemptive novel, an international bestseller, marks the English debut of Normandy philosophy professor Barbery...By turns very funny (particularly in Paloma's sections) and heartbreaking, Barbery never allows either of her dour narrators to get too cerebral or too sentimental. Her simple plot and sudden denouement add up to a great deal more than the sum of their parts." --Publishers Weekly " Hedgehog is really an international book, focused as it is on universal topics of childhood, philosophy, love, and art." -- The Daily Beast "This story, like all great tales, will break your heart, but it will also make you realize--or remember--that sometimes the pain is worth it." --Chicago Sun-Times, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER INDIEBOUND TOP TEN BESTSELLER A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A BARNES AND NOBLE BET BOOK OF THE YEAR A CHICAGO SUN-TIMES FAVORITE BOOK OF THE YEAR Praise for The Elegance of the Hedgehog "Gently satirical, exceptionally winning and inevitably bitersweet." --Michael Dirda, The Washington Post " The Elegance of the Hedgehog is about love. But not the sappy, head-over-heels variety. Rather, it's about the love of one's friends. It's about the love you can experience when you connect with strangers. And it's about the possibility--but just that--of romantic love." -- The Huffington Post "Both [of the book's protagonists] create eloquent little essays on time, beauty and the meaning of life, Rene with the erudition and Paloma with adolescent brio." --The New York Times "Astute social satire and abstruse German philosophy are rarely found together, but here they are in this ingenious work of fiction." --The Boston Globe "In this supple novel of ideas, a best-seller in France...two autodidacts share an allergy to grammatical errors (the concierge considers a misplaced comma an 'underhanded attack') and a love of tea and moments of ineffable beauty. Barbery's sly wit, which bestows lightness on the most ponderous cogitations, keeps her tale aloft." --The New Yorker "This fable of love, frienship and the beauty of art not only gives innocence a voice, but also shows what a powerful novel can do: transport, educate and, ultimately, console." -- The Toronto Star " The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a high-wire performance." -- Los Angeles Times "[ The Elegance of the Hedgehog tells] a beautiful story with a large cast of fascinating, complicated characters whose behavior is delightfully unpredictable...No idea is too big or small to find a home in the Parisian apartment building where most of the characters live." --The Wall Street Journal "This dark but redemptive novel, an international bestseller, marks the English debut of Normandy philosophy professor Barbery...By turns very funny (particularly in Paloma's sections) and heartbreaking, Barbery never allows either of her dour narrators to get too cerebral or too sentimental. Her simple plot and sudden denouement add up to a great deal more than the sum of their parts." --Publishers Weekly " Hedgehog is really an international book, focused as it is on universal topics of childhood, philosophy, love, and art." -- The Daily Beast "This story, like all great tales, will break your heart, but it will also make you realize--or remember--that sometimes the pain is worth it." --Chicago Sun-Times , "The formula that made more than half a million readers in France fall in love with this book has, among other ingredients: intelligent humor, fine sentiments, an excellent literary and philosophical backdrop, good taste, sophistication and substance." --La Repubblica "Enthusiastically recommended for anyone who loves books that grow quietly and then blossom suddenly." --Marie Claire(France) "An exquisite book in the form of a philosophical fable that has enchanted hundreds of thousands of readers." --Elle(Italy) "Nobody ever imagined that this tender, funny book with a philosophical vein would have enjoyed such incredible success. For some, it is part Sophie's Worldby Jostein Gaarder, part Monsieur Malausseneby Daniel Pennac. While for others it resembles a written version of the film Amelie. Either way, readers are responding in vast numbers." --Le Monde
