Hedgehog Elegance

The story revolves mainly around the characters of Rene Michelle and Paloma Joss, residents of the business class house. Building number 7, located on Rue de Grenelle , one of the most elegant streets in Paris, has a courtyard and garden and is divided into eight luxury apartments that are occupied by bourgeois families.

Widow Renee is a concierge. She is self-taught in literature and philosophy, but hides it in order to keep the job and avoid condemning the tenants of the building. She pretends to be a simple concierge, buying food typical of her profession and including low-grade television, but at the same time, in the back room, she eats good food, listens to opera and reads works by Leo Tolstoy and Edmund Husserl . Her fate is "to be poor, ugly and, moreover, intelligent condemns one, in our society, to a dark and disillusioned life, a condition one ought to accept at an early age." ^[one]

Twelve-year-old Paloma lives on the fifth floor with her parents and sister, whom she considers snobs. The girl is a child prodigy, but she hides her mind to avoid being expelled from school. Alarmed by the privileged people around her, Paloma decides that life is meaningless, and that if she cannot find what it is worth living outside of the "emptiness of bourgeois existence" ^[2] , she will commit suicide on June 16, on her thirteenth birthday. ^[3] Planning to burn the apartment before dying, Paloma also steals Mom's pills. She currently runs magazines with her observations of the outside world, including Renee.

Paloma is the only tenant who suspects the sophistication of Rene, they "intersect with each other, but do not see each other," according to the English. Elisabeth Vincentelli from Time Out. ^[4] Despite the fact that they share interests in philosophy and literature, nothing happens between them until the death of the famous restaurant critic who lived in their house. A Japanese businessman named Kakuro Ozu, with whom Rene and Paloma made friends, shares his impression of Rene with Paloma. According to the girl, the concierge is "as simple as a hedgehog, but exquisite inside" ( Eng. "Same simple refinement as the hedgehog" ^[5] ).

Towards the end of the novel, Rene emerges from his inner isolation. She dies just like Roland Bart - she is hit by a dry cleaning van. This devastates Paloma and Ozu. ^[five]

1. Rene Michelle , a 54-year-old woman, “a widow, ugly, fat, short,” dropped out of school at age 12 and began to work at home and in the field, married at 17. He has been working as a concierge for 20 years in an elite house at address No. 7 on Grenelle Street . Lives alone with a cat. Her only joy is reading. She literally swallows books.
   • Lucien - René's husband who died in 1990.
   • Leo - cat Rene, named after Leo Tolstoy .
2. Manuela is Rene's only friend. Worked for 20 years as a servant. He is also an anti-stereotypical hero, because he does not grumble at his fate and calmly does the work. Originally from Portugal, she married a mason at an early age, and soon left with him for France. Mother of four children, French by birth.
3. Zhenein is a homeless friend of Rene.
4. Tiber is a friend of Colomba Joss. Studying at the Faculty of Mathematics at Ekol Normal .
5. Residents of house number 7 on Grenelle street:
   1. De Broglie - 2nd floor.
   2. Merissa - 3rd floor.
      • Cornelia Meriss - old Madame Meriss, "pious, cold and arrogant." Died a year after Lucien.
      • Ann-Helen Meriss.
      • Athena - Merissov’s " funny " whipette.
   3. Roseny - 3rd floor.
   4. Saint-Nisy - 4th floor.
      • Olympia Saint-Nis is a 19-year-old girl. Her dream is to become a veterinarian and graduate from the Higher Veterinary School, but for now she is treating the animals of her neighbors.
   5. Badoise - 4th floor.
      • Diana Badoise is a young girl, studying at a law school at the university and arranging dog races.
      • Neptune is a dog owned by Mademoiselle Badoise. Red Cocker Spaniel.
   6. Artansy - 5th floor.
      • Pierre Artans is a gastronomic critic.
      • Jean is the youngest son of Pierre Artans, "a complete drug addict."
      • Laura is the youngest daughter of Pierre Artans. "Pretty sweet girl, rarely seen by anyone."
      • Clemence is the eldest daughter of Pierre Artans. “An unpleasant person, a walking gloom, a sanctuary, who considers it a duty to eat a husband and children until the end of her faded days, colorized only on Sunday masses, parish holidays and cross-stitching.”
      • Lotta - Granddaughter of Pierre, daughter Clemence.
      • Violetta Grellier - “Baroness”, housekeeper of the Artans family. Manages the staff of servants.
      • Bernard Grellier is the husband of Violetta Grellier. Runaway footman. Included in the state of Violetta.
      • Chabrot - Pierre Artans personal doctor.
   7. Zhossy - 6th floor.
      • Paloma Joss is a 12-year-old child prodigy from a wealthy family. He loves Japan , studies the language of this country and enjoys reading manga . She tries not to shine with her genius either at school or at home, because she believes that people simply do not understand this. He wants to commit suicide on his thirteenth birthday (June 16)
      • Paloma's father is a deputy who used to be a minister.
      • Solange Joss - mother of Paloma, doctor of philological sciences.
      • Colomba Joss is the sister of Paloma. Studying at Ecole Normal .
      • Grandmother Joss is the paternal grandmother of Paloma. Located in a nursing home in Chatou .
      • Constitution - Paloma cat.
      • Parliament - the cat of Paloma.
   8. Paleri is an old kind of bankers (7th floor).
      • Sabina Palher - the wife of an influential weapons master, has studied for two years at the Faculty of Political Sciences.
      • Antoine Paler - a young man, the son of Sabina, a student at a prestigious university.

The adapted novel was released on the screens under the name ( fr. "Le hérisson" ) in France in July 2009. The cast starred Josiane Balasco in the role of Rene and Guerence Le Guillémic in the role of Paloma. Togo Igawa was played by Kakuro Ozu. The music was created by Gabriel Yared . ^{[6] The} rights to the film were acquired by NeoClassics Film . The picture, positively received by critics, won 9 awards.

• Balzac, Honore de
• Bach, Johann Sebastian
• Bacon, Francis
• Vermeer, Jan
• Descartes, Renee
• Camus, Albert
• Kant, Immanuel
• Marx, Karl
• Matsuo Basho
• Proust, Marseille and his novel “ In Search of Lost Time ”
• Tolstoy, Lev Nikolaevich
• Flaubert, Gustave

• The writer Muriel Barberi is also a graduate of Ekol Normal , as are the heroes of Colomba Joss and her friend Tiber.