The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. Just finished it last night.

Enjoyed it and will pass it on to a friend. Not sure, however, that I will ever re-read it. Some books are keepers to be enjoyed over and over; some are marvellous once and then experienced again vicariously in conversation afterward, when read by friends. This book is in that second category.

I would call it quintessentially French. Not a pejorative appellation, by any means, just an observation. The first half of the book (in my opinion, longer than it needed to be) is filled with the angst of an intellectual mind trapped in an unattractive mind and low class occupation. And the angst of a brilliant preadult trying to find herself.

The second half introduces a wise, patient, perceptive character, Ozu. I liked him instantly. He's the kind of person (I've known a few) who, just by being in their company, bring out the inner identity, the hidden soul. As he does in this novel.

The comments on French elite society are scathing and witty.

I am bilingual in French and English (or is French my third language; I forget) and the translation bothered me in two or three places. By reverse engineering I think I know what the French original said, and I would posit that the translator was seduced by an English analogue, when a descriptive phrase (or another word) would have given the meaning of the author. Example: a voracious cake.

However, that's a quibble and a few slips in translation do not detract much from an overall very worthwhile experience.