The Elegance of the Hedgehog

I just finished this book. I'm still processing my feelings on it, but I thought it was infinitely interesting, and I wanted to write down some of said thoughts.

The most interesting parts of this book were by far in the second half. The first half is mostly about the two main characters, Paloma, and Renée, living their separate lives in Paris, France. They are not very exciting lives. I know this is a majority of the point, that they live simply, yet are both incredibly intelligent. The author talks a lot about how intelligent the little girl, Paloma, is. (Indeed, you're pretty much beaten over the head with it.) Renée simply proves her intelligence by constantly discussing philosophy. For these reasons, it was pretty hard for me to get into it. I like philosophy, it's just hard for me to read because I really have to concentrate very hard to understand abstract ideas. My mind tends to wander. 

Paloma Josse immediately became my favorite character. The chapters written in her voice were very easy to read, but profound. She's smart, but she's also very real. She lives in a real family, with real personalities, and real problems. Her writing was enjoyable and frank. She's 12, her family is very wealthy, they live in a very expensive apartment building in France, and she has decided that based on her observations, there is no point to life, that everyone is fake and it all ends in nothing anyway. So she has decided to end her life before her 13th birthday (some months away). Renée Michel is the concierge at the apartment building, who is also very intelligent, but diligently tries not to show it. In her experience, trying to cross social lines ends in a lot of pain and destruction for everyone. So she is a widow who lives alone with her cat. She watches a lot of films and reads a lot of books. She writes a majority of the book, and most of it is analysis of literature and art. And I'll say it; it's dry. 

Fortunately for them, a Japanese man named Kakuro Ozu moves into the building and befriends them both, with no regard to social class or age. It turns out well for them, to have this man in their lives. They all form a friendship between them. I won't mention what else happens, but there are a few thoughts in here that I want to discuss. 

First, Renée being wary of crossing social lines. Paloma, too, is disheartened by her family and the other families in the building. She feels that they are all completely self-centered and ignorant of any real human suffering. Renée has a different reason. Her reasoning includes mostly social injustices, such as the middle working class doing the majority of the work, paying the majority of the taxes, and getting none of the respect or advantages. The misuse of the poor by the rich is a great injustice. I agree, of course, with Renée. But reading this book gave me a better appreciation of being an American. While I understand that there are social classes in this society, as there are in any, they are not as rigid as they are in other societies. No one's being beheaded for loving a servant girl, or running away with the footman. Even Jane Austen's time, though no one was actually dying for love, was still very intolerant. Social class structures were rigid, and crossing them was a real issue. And while people could cross them (Darcy, marrying Elizabeth Bennet), it was extremely frowned upon and everyone whispered about it for ever, and in most cases, the person of the lower class was excluded as much as possible. It's not the same now. I could go out and marry the wealthiest guy in the world, and it's perfectly acceptable. If it was obvious I didn't love him, sure, people would talk, and say that I had married him for his money. And most likely, they'd be right (if I didn't love him). But no one would be executed or punished or excommunicated or lose their inheritance irrevocably because they'd married someone of a lower class. It happens all the time. I'm grateful for this lessening of social lines. I'm happy that, though not entirely gone, these social constructs don't (necessarily) inhibit love or friendship.

The second thought I have is for Paloma, and her epitome about the beauty of life. (Sorry I gave that away, but I'm pretty sure you knew it was coming, just from the description.) I often think about the poem Suicide Song by Tony Hoagland, when I hear about people taking their own life. I'll post it here for you, because it says my thoughts better than I can. Just to warn you, it has a swear word in it. I apologize.

Suicide Song

But now I am afraid I know too much to kill myself

Though I would still like to jump off a high bridge

At midnight, or paddle a kayak out to sea

Until I turn into a speck, or wear a necktie made of knotted rope

But people would squirm, it would hurt them in some way,

And I am too knowledgeable now to hurt people imprecisely.

No longer do I live by the law of me,

No longer having the excuse of youth or craziness,

And dying you know shows a serious ingratitude

For sunsets and beehive hairdos and the precious green corrugated

Pickles they place at the edge of your plate.

Killing yourself is wasteful, like spilling oil

At sea or not recycling all the kisses you've been given

And anyway, who has clothes nice enough to be caught dead in?

Not me. You stay alive you stupid asshole

Because you haven't been excused,

You haven't finished, though it takes a mulish stubbornness

To chew this food.

It is a stone, it is an inconvenience, it is an innocence,

And I turn against it like a record

Turn against the needle

That makes it play.

Now, I understand that some people who are severely depressed are not in their right mind and can't be blamed for their actions. But for the rest of us (Paloma included), I love how the author urges the reader to realize that life is full of small joys. We can find meaning in life by understanding we are part of a great whole, and that our existence is just as important to the balance as any living being is. We are already rich with life. I appreciate Paloma's struggle with this in the book.

It's worth a read. Stick with it, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.