The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Muriel Barbery

There is much to find irritating here; the cutesy title, the cod philosophising, the odd view of French society as anti-intellectual. It’s a blatant pitch for the Short History of Tractors In Ukrainian/book club market and hence unavoidably middle-brow in a bad way, but there are a few pleasurable moments along the way.

There’s a lovely bit about Ozu movies and open doors which made me smile.