The Life of Elves by Muriel Barbery

 

 Clara and Maria are gifted with the talents of empathy, intuition, clairvoyance and creative expression. They share an intimate communication and connection with the natural world that surrounds them. Maria lives in Burgundy, France; Clara lives in Italy. She is originally from the Abruzzo.

 Even though the girls live away from each other the communication between them goes beyond the realm of words…

  I appreciate the delicate style through which Barbery describes her characters. For example, I will offer a glimpse into the character of Maria from page 86:

 “And yet Maria was close to the religion of poetry every day, whenever she climbed a tree or listened to the song of the branches and foliage. Very early on she had understood that other people went about the countryside as if they were blind and deaf, and the symphonies she heard and the tableaux she embraced were, to them, mere sounds of nature and mute landscapes. When she wandered through her fields and woods she was in constant contact with a material tide in the form of intangible but visible lines which enabled her to know the movement and radiation of things, and if in winter she liked to go to the oak trees in the combe in the neighboring field, it was because the three trees liked winter too, and made vibrant sketches whose strokes and curves she could see as if they were an engraving embodied in the air by a master’s hand. Moreover, Maria conversed not only with matter, but also with the creatures of the land.”

  How can the enhanced perceptions and sensitivities of their human souls help them face the threat of war? What role do they play in the fight between oppression and freedom?

 The Life of Elves is a tribute to the bond between art, empathy and Nature. I appreciate the mystical quality of the prose.

  Metaphors and descriptions paint dream-like scenes that become timeless and intriguing to the reader. Unlike The Elegance of the Hedgehog, this story contains elements of fantasy. 

  The author offers an introspective outlook about some of the characters. Muriel Barbery unearths the gems that are concealed under the superficial façade of everyday life, and she does so with artistry. She did this in The Elegance of the Hedgehog and she conveys a similar message in The Life of Elves. For example, read the description of Leonora Acciavalti and draw your own conclusions about it:

  “… while the guests dined, their gazes followed the network of curving lines embraced by her gestures, and when they left they took away with them some of Leonora’s grace: she may not have been beautiful, but they found her sublime…”

Muriel Barbery describes Leonora as a “world unto herself.”

 “Her caste had betrothed her to the role of bored heiress, but fate had made a daydreamer of her, gifted with otherworldly power, to such good effect that in her presence you felt as if a window onto infinity had been opened, and you understood that it was by delving into yourself that you escaped imprisonment.”

    There is a story buried in a world of dream-like descriptions, metaphors and introspective reflections. However, the conflict and plot do not appear well-defined. The plot rolls on  subtle waves of undertones. It is blurred by the poetical prose and the ramblings, which become monotonous at times. It takes patience and attention to remember the endless list of characters, both elves and humans.

  Some features of the story irritated me as a reader. Why are some of the characters always drinking wine? I do not see the significance of this or the need to incorporate it. The author appears to be obsessed with the act of drinking wine and with hunting. I think these obsessions tainted the beauty of the story and appeared to be at odds with the essence of the tale. There were times when I wanted to quit the read, but I kept reading. I was hopeful that something important would happen, but it never did. 

  The unique descriptions of some of the characters and the reflections the author threads into the narrative aroused my curiosity, but the story did not deliver its full potential. It did not satisfy my expectations.

  I recommend the story to poetry lovers with the patience and time to lose themselves in the lyrical narrative, the epiphanies and perceptions. Reading this book is a personal journey, and it may require more than one read to gain a deep exploration and understanding of it. It may illuminate something inside your own conscience or it may not. It may awaken something to which you have been indifferent, or it may simply not be for you. I reveled in the magical nature of the descriptions, but I was left asking for more…

 

 The photographs of the landscapes are from unsplash.com

 

 

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

 

      Have you met the characters of “The Elegance of the Hedgehog”? They are misfits who feel forced to hide their true identities. They are both afraid of revealing too much about themselves. We learn all about their intimate thoughts from the journals they write. Hence, the story, written in first person, is very compelling.

   Renée is a fifty-four year old widow, a concierge who lives with her cat. Like her cat, she avoids all social gatherings. She describes herself as ugly, short and plump; polite, but not friendly. She never went to college, but she probably read more books than any college graduate. She is an autodidact who devours art, philosophy, music and movies. Above all, she loves literature. How refreshing it is to read her words when she introduces herself and slaps the readers with this comment:

 “Let me explain it: if, thus far, you have imagined that the ugliness of ageing and conciergely widowhood have made a pitiful wretch of me, resigned to the lowliness of her fate—then you are truly lacking in imagination. I have withdrawn, to be sure, and refuse to fight. But within the safety of my own mind, there is no challenge I cannot accept. I may be indigent in name, position, and appearance, but in my own mind I am an unrivalled goddess.”

   There is a gifted twelve year old girl, Paloma, who believes that life is absurd and harbors secret plans to commit suicide in the future. Before that happens, however, she intends to write the most profound thoughts. Beware of the fact that some of her ramblings will annoy some readers: "In my opinion, the cat is a modern totem. Say what you want, do what you will with all those fine speeches on evolution, civilization and a ton of other '-tion' words, mankind has not progressed very far from its origins: people still believe they're not here by chance, and that there are gods, kindly for the most part, who are watching over their fate."

  These two delightful characters live in the same building in Paris. They are clearly introverted people. Renée (Madame Michel) will meet a Japanese gentleman, a new tenant, who happens to have two cats, Kitty and Levin, named after the characters of Leo Tolstoy’s novel, Anna Karenina. Renée, on the other hand, named her cat Leo because she loves reading Leo Tolstoy. Kakuro makes this discovery.

     This is a book that finds beauty in sadness, pleasure in solitude; you will find yourself chuckling at simple scenes that happen in everyday life. It is not the kind of book for readers who seek action. It is, however, the story for those who revel in character development and a gentle load of reflections and irony. It encourages the readers to seek below the surface, to discover what shines beyond appearances for those who care to look further, to avoid following the collective mindset and the common prejudices. It suggests that most people are blind to the secret gifts of others.

    This is not to say that the main characters are perfect. Some reviewers out there complained that both Renée and Paloma are arrogant. I disagree. Even if they did have an arrogant side, it would not taint the novel or the theme. (Why are these reviewers expecting perfect characters?) In my opinion, their main weakness is that, in some cases, Renée and Paloma also fall prey to the claws of social prejudice. Why do I say this? Because they sometimes label people and forget to see what is beyond their appearances. I could give you examples of this, but I won’t. Read it and reach your own conclusions.

    “What does Art do for us? It gives shape to our emotions, makes them visible and, in so doing, places a seal of eternity upon them, a seal representing all those works that, by means of a particular form, have incarnated the universal nature of human emotions.”