A 'beguiling fairytale', as quoted by the NYT, should be everything I dream of reading and more. Well frankly I wish I had read the full review before starting because the review goes on to pretty much say over written and confusing which is what I found this book to be also. The start is intriguing, then it all gets a bit too wordy and what starts off as magical magical realism turned into a bit of a nightmare for me as it went on. By then end I was furious with myself for not giving up half wa...

1.5/5 StarsIf you're looking for a lyrical novel, then this is perfect for you. But unfortunately other than that there's little to this story that kept me interested or entertained. I was always waiting for something more to happen and overall I was feeling pretty disappointed with the story. It's such a shame since years ago I remember liking this author's other book, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, very much.

“…she looked up at him with her eyes as blue as the torrents from the glacier, with a gaze in which the angels of mystery sang. And life flowed down the slopes of the Sasso with the slowness and intensity of those places where everything requires effort but also takes its time, in the current of a bygone dream where humankind knew languor interwoven with the bitterness of the world”The Life of Elves is the third novel by prize-winning French novelist and professor of philosophy, Muriel Barbery.

Warning: Your tolerance level for airy-fairy prose must be: . . . to enjoy The Life of Elves.*I loved this book. I never read the "Hedgehog" book, which makes me one of a small minority on Goodreads. I chose this book because, well, I've always been an Elvish fan.I also loved John Crowley's Little Big and Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale. I was mesmerized by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, another French to English translation. They all have that dreamy, sunny afternoon lazing in a ham...

It seems unanimous that Muriel Barbery shocked us all with this new novel, which is already set as a first in a series of two books. A deviation from her first two beloved books; so much so that most of us can hardly believe it is from the same woman. I have not found anyone declaring this better than her first two novels; barely anyone that does not hint toward it being worse. The story is magical, whimsical, confusing, mysterious, otherworldly. Barbery's prose is lyrical, poetic. As was eviden...

I'm still not sure what to make of this book.I've read Muriel Barbery's "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" and "Gourmet Rhapsody" and absolutely loved them, but struggled to finish this book. Is it a fairy tale? A fantasy? An allegory? None of the above?Two little girls are born on the same day and hour. One is adopted in France the other one in Italy. We later find out that they were taken to this countries to protect them. One is half elf half human and the other is an elf, but with human characte...

I really wanted to love this!! And it looked and sounded like a book that I'd normally dive into and feel immediately swept up along in.... but that didn't happen and that makes me feel sad!It focuses on 2 little girls - one brought up in Spain, the other in Italy. And they both have a great role to play in the battle between good and evil in very different ways. There are glimpses of what this book was trying to get across, and the way it was written was beautiful in parts but for a lot of the

This book opened my heart to the bridges between the mundane world and the ethereal community of faith along the shared road that passes over the bridge. Can we move easily from one realm to the other? Not without war, whether fought under the overturned sky, or within. I think that's what Barbery is letting us have a peek at: the struggle to merge the misty awareness of joy in the riches of each day with personal and shared history, struggle, pain, loss of everyday life. The simplicity of a kit...

I felt I owed it to Muriel Barbery to finish this one because I enjoyed The Elegance of the Hedgehog so much. It was hard to finish though. The language is very pretty and sometimes I would get swept up but it was just so darn confusing. I was a little relieved to check out some newspaper reviews after I was done and find out it really is just confusing and not some amazing theme that was over my head. If you really need to 'get it' then this might not be a great choice. Time period? Literal or

Such a disappointment. "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" is one of my favorite books. It doesn't seem possible that the same author has written "The Life of Elves." It doesn't seem possible that I'm giving Muriel Barbery one star but I have to.First off, this book should come with a warning that it is part one of a two-part series. Having pre-ordered it I had no idea. As I write this I see it is not possible for you to read a sample of the book, which is unfortunate; a sample is essential for this

I so enjoyed this book! It is so poetic and whimsical, it spoke to me very deeply. I loved how important nature is to the story. It was simply a joy to dive into the language of the book and be swept away by magic and dreams. As for the plot, it was a little hazy and not quite concrete. The whimsy made for an illogical story telling that was hard to follow. It was pretty vague and took a long time to tell. But I didn't mind because everything was wonderful.The characters were very important and

I loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Anyone I've ever talked to about The Elegance of the Hedgehog loved it too. And yet, Muriel Barbery's third novel The Life of Elves is a literary calamity.I am two-thirds through this book but I realised this weekend that the avoidance techniques I've employed to not finish this book ('hmm... I'll just read this real estate magazine again') have won out. The Life of Elves will go back to the bookshelf unfinished (Book I Forsook #2).I can't even critique the

As posted on Zezee with Books.I've found a new writer to admire.My thoughts:“Indeed, I would not be surprised if, in the end, we find out that we are all the characters of some meticulous but mad novelist.”I’m in love with Barbery’s writing. The entire time I read, I was wrapped up in her prose: I admired how she structured her sentences, the words she used, and the descriptions she weaved throughout. It’s all beautiful.The story is about two girls who must strengthen their powers before an impe...

This is a strange, strange little creation.I really don't know if I loved it or hated it. I don't know if the florid prose is beautiful and meditative, or eye-rollingly overwrought and ridiculous. I don't know what happened in the plot, but somehow I understand the emotion behind it, or something similar.Things make no sense for entire chapters and it doesn't matter, as they snap into focus for brief seconds later. I think that's a good thing. (I think.)Reading this is like trying to see through...

This is a fantasy novel that feels like it has been written by someone who has never read a fantasy novel but all the same assumes that she and her readers all share the same general conception of what one should be. Everything is drawn in the broadest of strokes with very little effort into world-building, and there's magic and good and evil and some sort of battle but characterizations of either side are hazy at best. There are 2 little girls who I guess are elves, but it doesn't really matter...

Two girls are born at the same moment in time, both with mysterious links to the elven world. That world is in trouble, so the two girls are carefully placed into the human world, Maria in a poor little village in France, Clara in a little village in Italy, with good people who will raise them safely and well. As they grow they discover something of their own powers, eve though they have no idea who or what they are. Some of their human caretakers - the sensitive and creative ones, the ones with...

I sadly could not finish this book... I SO wanted to having loved her earlier book The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I had high hopes for this book and truly some of the prose was simply stunning. The story... lost me and found me and lost me again. I gave a concerted effort, returning to the ring again and again. But a book shouldn't be like a boxing match, right?

ugh. I loathed this book. I read her "the elegance of the hedgehog" and do not remember one thing about it, which means it was better than this. granted, this has been translated from the french, but I don't think that can possibly account for the sloppy, overblown, synesthetic writing. I have examples:"dawn shooting its rosy fingers into skies more transparent than love" - first of all, leave the rosy-fingered dawn to virgil. not exactly original. and WTF does "more transparent than love" mean?...

Much to say about this book. I adored The Elegance of the Hedgehog and I still find myself thinking about its characters many years after having read it. I had high expectations for Barbery's most recent novel - because of my love of her earlier works and because ELVES - and was dismayed to see such terrible reviews accumulating. I emerged from the other end of this book amazed and confused by the harshness of those reviews. I'm not sure how to judge the quality of Barbery's writing or the story...

Beautiful use of words. Story could be better itself. Very slow beginning. It was like reading a poem.