More about the ‘Hedgehog’
Posted by: Kaite Stover
One of the things I like best about reading this blog is the different perspectives our book groups will have when discussing the same books.
Last August, Misha’s group gathered to chat about The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the French bestseller from Muriel Barbery. Recently, one of my groups did the same and as I re-read Misha’s post, I was pleased to note how dissimilar our discussions were.
My group was taken in by the amount of humor in Elegance. On the whole they loved the characters and their pointed and realistic observations on the people around them and their own situations. One reader pointed out how the humor can hide the sadder parts of the characters and the story.
There was quite a bit of discussion surrounding the ending of the novel. One reader felt it was too sudden and that the author didn’t know where the book was supposed to be going, thus killing off a character. Another reader didn’t care for the ending, but said she understood the importance of it. She also said that she had a sense of foreboding as she read the book that “something horrible was coming.”
One reader made sure that the group knew the audio version of the book was fantastic with the two narrators. She said that listening to the two voices of the characters made her feel a little more sympathetic to Renee and Paloma.
Any book group that hasn’t chosen The Elegance of the Hedgehog yet will find plenty of discussable material just from the posts alone. Then post your own group’s thoughts. I’m certain it will be completely different from my group and Misha’s.
December 2nd, 2010 at 12:57 pm
I loved this post, Kaite, because you are absolutely right–two groups discussing the same book could have totally different discussions focusing on different themes or aspects of a book. Everyone reads a different book. And book groups are so much about the different compositions of people in them. That’s the wonder of it all!