Share Escape :)

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Wednesday, 4th July, 2012 - The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (translated by Alison Anderson), chosen by Su






  • Elegant
  • Quirky
  • Witty
  • Philosophy plus-plus

Well, it definitely feels as if we have moved into the second half of the year now.  The weather has turned cool and we have had some really wet days with thunder-storms and strong winds too.

This month, 8 of us were present at the discussion. Some read the book, others listened to the audio-book, some did both, while a couple ran out of time and could not get to the end. On the whole, the ones who tried both formats, recommend the Audio book, though some say that it is best to also have the book on hand to refer to,  in case needed.  It was not an easy book to read therefore having the audio enhanced the whole experience. The version we listened had two narrators, Barbara Rosenblat and Cassandra Morris.





What was Discussed


  • Author - Muriel Barbery - also noting that she is a Professor in Philosophy
  • Publication Statistics showing that the book was well received around the world - an unexpected and wonderful surprise for the author
  • The movie - some of us are planning to watch it, now that we've read the book
  • the use of the "hedgehog" in the book
  • special phrases and quotes that stood out for us
  • The setting
  • The book had two narrators - Did we have a favourite? (Mixed answers for this one)
  • Main characters
  • Our reactions to the ending





Interesting Links




Muriel Barbery - Quotes  (on Goodreads)

East Side Readers  (We stumbled upon the East Side Readers from Florida, while researching the book. They have some interesting links to explore so do check out their blog!)


Discussion Questions  (BookBrowse)

Library Thing



No 7 Rue De Grenelle


The setting of the hotel in the book is actually happens to be the location of a Prada store in Paris.  The author chose the address because of the area, but only later found out that the Prada store was on the ground level of the building. 











No comments: