Reading response: The Elegance of the Hedgehog

  This book is about two people who live in a fancy hotel in Paris. One of these people is Renee. She is a concierge who is an art lover and has a cat named Leo. The other person is Paloma, who is a 12-year-old girl who is also a genius and she hides her intelligence from her family and her teachers. She also wants to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday, which is also the last day of school. They both have something in common, which is that they hide their true nature and that they are both very different from what everyone expects them to be. Then they meet a man named Ozu who changes their lives and is the reason why Paloma and Renee became friends as well.
  Throughout the book, the two main characters hide their true nature to the residents of the hotel because they thought that they wouldn't like them for their intelligence and talent, but when they meet Ozu, they realize that they each others unique personality and appreciate each other. They also slowly reveal themselves to the conceited community and accept themselves for who they are. In the book, both characters have many different reasons why they do not want to show others their talents. Paloma's was that if she shown her intelligence, her family would annoy her and she would never have time for herself. Renee's was that the hotel would be shocked and would be fired from her job and kicked out of the hotel. Ozu, who is the hotel's new tenant and who is also Japanese and cultural, shows them that it is the twentieth century, and that they should show the world who they really are. This book is mostly about people's expectations and that they can slow people down, like when Paloma was found hiding so that she could write in her Journal of the Movement of the World and her Profound Thoughts.
  Ozu also gains Paloma's trust and sees through Renee's worn disguise and her sad past. Another interesting thing about the book is that Paloma writes about what she thinks about the world and life, like grammar being a form of art instead of a trick that gets people into society. They learn that being different is good, even if they expect them not to be. For instance, when Renee went out to dinner with Ozu and was seen with some people who live in the apartment, they hardly recognized Renee. And when Paloma showed the therapist her intelligence, he was shocked. Paloma also showed a bit of her talent to her sister, Colombe, she was also shocked because that she made herself believe that Paloma was dumb, that she almost believed in it.
  I also think that the book is about life itself and the theories about adulthood and childhood that shows the true meaning of life. One example is that in the book, Paloma wrote that the purpose of life is that "...so we can track down those moments that are dying." All in all, the characters in the book learn to show who they really are and their thoughts about the world.