Rob's Reviews > The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Well, I finished this book yesterday and I'm still trying to decide whether to give it three stars or five. There are many elements that are preposterous, such as the characterisation - if there were a million Parises you still wouldn't find one Renee Michel; the ideas - a novel about class in a developed country in this age of globalisation is instantly redundant; and the plot, which is both ludicrous and predictable.

On the positive side, the writing is wonderfully light and very enjoyable. Both of the narrators dip their toes into serious thought in a way that leaves the reader feeling satisfied but not taxed. And this, I have decided even as I write, is why I shall give it three stars. There is a certain cynicism to the way the author performs this trick, of providing a veneer of cerebralism with the likes of Marx and Husserl without ever challenging the reader. It’s a cynicism which also drives the most basic appeal of the novel - the fact that apart from a very select few, most readers feel a bit like Renee Michel. We feel like our sensitive aesthetic dispositions are unvalued by our everyday lives, we imagine that we’re intellectual butterflies just waiting to emerge from our quotidian pupae. Mightn’t it be more interesting to have this belief challenged than to have it reinforced?

So, having said all of that, why did I give it any stars? Well, I was entertained by it. This book is an enjoyable read, provided you don't take the philosophical and aesthetic asides remotely seriously, but it just doesn’t have enough power or depth for four or five stars. I’d recommend it if you are going on holiday or to hospital or any other situation where entertainment is more important than challenge and it's OK that the kind of fun that comes from self-satisfaction triumphs over beauty or truth.