Literal rather than instinctive, it is uneven, inelegant and at times painfully infantilising' - Heather Thompson, New Statesman Sadly, but not fatally, Alison Anderson's English translation mislays much of the poetry of the original. He, more than anything else, demonstrates how Barbery's charm and cleverness allow for certain cultural and narrative simplifications that might otherwise prove to be insufferable. (.) Kakuro embodies a sort of rose-tinted eastern answer to western wretchedness. 'She underpins her writing with an infectious, if occasionally unsubtle, didactic ardour.'Le silence est la splendeur des pauvres et ce roman, une efficace fantaisie pédagogique sur un thème à la mode: la revanche des petits sur les gros.' - Philippe Lançon, Libération.But I doubt that she could have done much to make it a saleable proposition on this side of the Channel.' - Robert Hanks, The Independent Matters aren't helped much by Alison Anderson's translation, which too often mimics the structure of French sentences, and slips into translatorese, the English dialect in which all colloquial phrases are equally appropriate. (.) The book flatters the reader, offering reassurance that untutored instinct is truer than the opinions of so-called experts. 'Though Barbery adopts the hedgehog as her governing metaphor, the book is a hedgehog turned inside out – superficially warm and cuddly, but with some nasty barbs within.Its charm will make you say yes.' - Ian Sansom, The Guardian You might as well buy it before someone recommends it for your book group.

(.) Resistance is futile: you're probably going to end up reading it. There is also much broad humour and musing on the meaning of life. 'It's essentially a feel-good book with philosophical aspirations, a cast of charmingly eccentric characters, and a European city-break setting - private courtyards, restaurants, mysterious strangers.Everything falls back into place.' - Michèle Roberts, Financial Times This novel consoles, finally, rather than unsettles. Épater la bourgeoisie ? No, the politics of May 1968 no longer apply. 'In France, this book is a bestseller.It’s a quiet, placid-moving book that takes time out to discuss the theory of phenomenology, the function of literature in life, the barrenness of a certain kind of scholarship.' - Yvonne Zipp, Christian Science Monitor Palfrey at the Claremont, with its sense of renewal near the end of a life and a celebration of the beauty of small moments. ' The Elegance of the Hedgehog reminded me of Mrs.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog was made into a film in 2009, The Hedgehog, directed by Mona Achache and starring Josiane Balasko and Garance Le Guillermicī : has some appeal, but annoyingly simplistic and reductive.General information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery

L'eleganza del riccio by Muriel Barbery