Alvernas liv

Maria & Clara #1

by Muriel Barbery, Marianne Öjerskog (translator)

”Flickans händer var finlemmade och graciösa, kanske ovanligt stora för ett barn som hade fyllt tio år så sent som i november, men extremt böjliga. Hon höll dem, som sig bör, ovanför tangenterna innan hon skulle börja spela sitt stycke, lät dem vila i luften ännu ett ögonblick då de båda männen fick en känsla av att en egendomlig vindpust svepte genom kyrkan. Så sänkte hon händerna. Då kom stormen …”

Två flickor är de sagolika hjältarna i Muriel Barberys nya roman. När vi lär känna Clara och Maria är de i tioårsåldern. Clara växer upp i en italiensk bergsby, Maria på landsbygden i Bourgogne, men deras verkliga ursprung är okänt. Båda två har speciella förmågor; Maria står i sällsam förbindelse med naturen och Clara visar sig vara ett musikaliskt underbarn. Det blir snart uppenbart att det finns ett mystiskt samband mellan de båda flickorna, och att de begåvats med sina övernaturliga förmågor av en anledning. Tillsammans måste Clara och Maria kämpa mot de mörka krafter som hotar människorna.

Muriel Barbery har skrivit en storslagen berättelse som vibrerar av poesi, musik, konst och magi. Alvernas liv är den första boken i en serie om två. Sedan tidigare finns två av Muriel Barberys romaner översatta till svenska, däribland bästsäljaren Igelkottens elegans.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, France, Magic, Magical Realism, Unfinished, Novels

320 pages, Danskt band

First published March 11, 2015

About the author

Muriel Barbery is a French novelist and professor of philosophy. Barbery entered the École Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud in 1990 and obtained her agrégation in philosophy in 1993. She then taught philosophy at the Université de Bourgogne, in a lycée, and at the Saint-Lô IUFM.
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La timide et très discrète Muriel Barbery ne s’imaginait sans doute pas faire l’objet de l’engouement qu’elle suscite aujourd’hui, bien malgré elle.

Ce succès, elle le connaît grâce à ses deux livres : Une Gourmandise et surtout L'élégance du hérisson.

Née au Maroc, à Casablanca en 1969, Muriel Barbery regagne la France, le Calvados plus précisément, pour se consacrer à ses études. Elle s’inscrit à l’Ecole Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud et y fait des études en philosophie. Elle obtient alors un DEA, qui lui permet de devenir professeur.

Habitant les environs de Bayeux, toujours en Basse Normandie, elle enseigne d’abord dans un lycée, à Saint-Lô.

Muriel Barbery plonge dans bon nombre d’ouvrages, mais confie volontiers que, plus que tous les autres, Guerre et Paix du romancier russe Léon Tolstoï , la fascine encore aujourd’hui.

Sa manière d’écrire insolite, et qu’elle qualifie elle-même de désordonnée, ne lui fait pas penser qu’elle se lancerait un jour dans la fabuleuse aventure qu'est la sienne.

Pourtant, en 2000, Stéphane, son époux qui a été pour beaucoup dans sa réussite, l’encourage à écrire et à publier son premier roman, qu’elle intitule Une Gourmandise (éditions Gallimard). Le succès est énorme, et la surprend elle-même. Traduit en 12 langues et vendu à 200 000 exemplaires, ce livre raconte l’histoire du plus grand des critiques gastronomiques, qui, ayant appris qu’il vivait ses derniers jours, part à la recherche d’une saveur bien particulière mais insaisissable qui le replonge dans son enfance.

Mais c’est en 2006 que Muriel Barbery vit ses plus grands moments de gloire. En effet, c’est l’année où Gallimard publie L'élégance du Hérisson, qui la propulse littéralement parmi les meilleurs auteurs populaires. Elle se retrouve notamment classée dans les 10 romanciers les plus vendus en 2007. L’Élégance du Hérisson relate la vie de trois personnages. Renée, une concierge d’immeuble, avec tous les attributs que l’on prête habituellement aux concierges, qui est secrètement passionnée de philosophie. Paloma est une adolescente bourgeoise. Et le troisième est un riche amateur d’art japonais. Cette satire sociale sera vendue à plus d’un million d’exemplaires.

Suite à la parution de ce roman, Muriel Barbery reçoit deux belles distinctions : le Prix des Librairies et le Prix des Bibliothèques pour tous. Elle est aussi couronnée du Prix Georges Brassens et du Prix Rotary International.

Ce succès commercial lui permet de réaliser son rêve et d’assouvir sa passion pour le Japon, puisqu’elle décide de mettre sa vie de professeur de philosophie entre parenthèses pour s’installer à Kyoto pendant quelques temps.

http://www.elle.fr/Personnalites/Muri...

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 particular book. A sample would allow you to see that this 258-page book, which is nowhere said to be part one of two, requires a two-page "Index of Characters." Even with the index it's hard to keep some straight. And a sample would introduce you to Barbery's sometimes lyrical, mostly florid, over-the-top prose.

It's a strange book, ambitious and incoherent. The story, of two girls of odd birth (we don't find out exactly who they are until the end of the book, which I think was a bad choice) blessed with gifts. Clara in Italy has visions when she plays the piano. Maria in France (via Spain, for reasons not explained) has a deep connection to nature and can see the bridge between the human world and that of the elves. Each is surrounded by diverse adults, some of whom are intriguing but many of whom had me thumbing back to the index.. The backdrop is a battle for the earth with some elves versus humans; at stake is our natural world. Clara and Maria, being of both worlds, are needed to save the human world by using their gifts and bridging the gap. There are priests in both places who play important roles, and that's another odd element; priests and elves are not usually to be found in the same book, let alone conversing. Priests versus elves is just bizarre.

And then there's that florid prose. This is Muriel Barbery and her writing is naturally tender and beautiful but in "The Life of Elves" it almost always goes over the top and is often inscrutable. Thus this sample is too long by necessity, as it represents a typical passage in the book:

"The constant flow of guests in the family home had followed her to the house she shared with the Maestro, and she continued to receive her guests in the same singular manner as in her own home; no one walked behind her through the galleries but rather were arranged employing a geometry that knew nothing of straight lines: you adapted to the rolling and swaying of her movements; similarly, you didn't sit opposite her, you were seated around her according to geodesic coordinates which imprinted the contours of an invisible sphere upon the private space. Thus, while the guests dined, their gaze 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, something which, in this place of art, was highly unusual, because she was not a musician, nor did she paint or write, and she spent her days conversing with minds more brilliant than hers...

"...In every person, even those who have never been graced by caresses, there is a native awareness of love, and even those who have not yet loved will know of love from the consciousness of it that inhabits all bodies and all ages. Leonora did not walk, she glided, leaving behind her the wake of a riverboat, and with each gliding motion that broke down and reconstituted ambient air as silky as the sand on the riverbanks, Clara's heart came that bit closer to the knowledge it had always had of love."

I have cut some of this passage out as it goes on. And on. There were many times I didn't know what Barbery was trying to say and I don't think it's my failure to read it properly but rather, in this world of elves and priests and horses that are half boar or half rabbit, lies confusion not clarity, and the promise that even if you perfectly understand the meaning of it, and love it, you will be left with a cliffhanger and the hope that many mysteries are cleared up in the sequel.

[Arie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 the mists Barbery mentions so often, and I feel (I hope) that was intentional.

I still don't know if this is a terrible book or a beautiful one. I haven't felt this ambivalent towards anything in a long time.

[Weezelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 narrative properly because at no point in the 157 pages that I read did I actually understand what was going on. There were small moments of clarity that went something like 'ah, yes we are in Italy again now'. But then there would be a chapter featuring a hare and a wild boar and I would be perplexed once again. On the upside, at least there aren't any plot spoilers in this review.

In addition to the French/ Italian muddle of a plot, this is one of the most overwritten books I have read in a long time. The prose is florid and incredibly ornate. Every paragraph has too-long sentences, too many adjectives and unnecessary metaphors that at times actually made me wince.

'The memory of Eugenie took on another dimension, as if it had been multiplied to infinity, inscribed in unknown spaces and times which his spirit now probed through the prism of the old granny and a land as harsh and limpid as the skies of the beginning of time...He had never viewed the world from such an angle as on this day of Eugenie's funeral, an angle that was vaster and more open, imbued with the ruggedness of a terrain both barren and full of grace'.

I did try to give Barbery the benefit of the doubt and lay the blame at the feet of the translator, but I just don't think you could massacre a book to this extent in a translation exercise.

I'm really sorry Muriel, I tried.

[Linda Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 kitchen table tableau that, by moving 3 cloves of garlic, reveals sublime divinity. How art and music and nature and camaraderie transport us all between the worlds. Initiated into the Order of Invisible Reasons, as one tiny passage enlightens the reader. The book is a dream within a dream; and thus disjointed, inexplicably moving and confusing together. The overarching theme is that stories are what animate this life. Without story, music is dull and lifeless. Art is mere representation. And people are plodding inhabitants of whatever realm they're born into, rather than heroes, angels, shining beings bestowed with the blessing of stone and sky. Stories clear the mist of existence, reveal the blue sky of gratitude. Petrus, awake momentarily, acting as a one-man Greek Chorus for confused readers: "Indeed I would not be surprised if, in the end, we find out that we are all characters of some meticulous, but mad, novelist." Indeed. The word for this first book in the Maria/Clara story that kept coming to mind is evanescence. No clarity on why that's the word. Petrus, awake once again, counsels that there are only 2 moments in life when everything is possible - when one is drinking and when one makes up stories. Barbery is really good at making up stories.

[Zippergirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 hammock feel to them. Like endless summer.

There are others, there always are, who dismissed this book as all violets and snowflakes. It is that, too. You need to be patient with this tale, and let the dreamscapes and alpine plainsongs build its bridge to the other world.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

*You should probably also carry a small pouch of twinkling fairy dust.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

“…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. Two orphan girls grow up, unaware, initially, of each other, and of the integral role they will play in the battle of good versus evil.

Clara is raised in a secluded Italian mountain village by a priest and his ageing housekeeper until her prodigious musical talent sees her taken to study with the Maestro in Rome.

Maria grows up in a remote French farming village, surrounded by loving parents, elderly aunts and cousins. Not until a major battle looms do they begin to realise how important they are to the future of humankind.

Readers familiar with The Gourmet (aka Gourmet Rhapsody) and The Elegance of the Hedgehog should be aware that this book is a major departure in style from Barbery’s earlier works.

This book, too, has some beautiful descriptive prose, but, whereas her earlier novels abound with quirky characters, witty dialogue and gems of wisdom, this one is more plot-driven and involves the realm of fantasy (perhaps obvious from the title).

Prose like “…while the people of this land might be sculpted into jagged rock by wind and snow, they are also fashioned by the poetry of their landscape, which makes shepherds compose rhymes in the icy fog of the high pastures, and storms give birth to hamlets that dangle from the web of the sky” is de riguer for this story.

Major themes of this book include the importance of the connection between humankind and the Earth, nature, and the arts. Flawlessly translated into English by Alison Anderson, the book also provides a very useful index of characters at the beginning. Readers who enjoy this novel will be pleased to know that Barbery is working on a sequel. Something quite different from Muriel Barbery.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

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??? this is like bad poetry. how is love transparent? this is like writing something that sounds good but actually means nothing.

"no matter how he pronounced the italian, his mouth filled with the same taste of clear water and moist violets and before his eyes he had the same vision of cheerful ripples on a green lake". this is what I mean by synesthetic. sounds induce visions and tastes quite literally. I don't know if the author herself has synesthesia; if she does, it would be nice if she didn't use it as an impenetrable short cut in her writing. do moist violets taste different from dry violets? are they moist because of their companionship with the water? I am telling you, violets are a huge theme. they are always growing up in huge miraculous fields and scenting and tasting all over the place.

"at last the world was clear again and her trouble was eased by violets and leaves" there they are again.

"yes, the song had been even more crystalline, more heartrending and expansive, and this warning, accompanied by patience, had opened a diagonal insight that was both magnificent and terrible". THE WHOLE BOOK IS WRITTEN LIKE THIS. it's like reading nonsense half the time. what the hell is a diagonal insight? how is something both crystalline and expansive? and yet the adjectives manage to be trite at the same time.

here is the only bit I really liked, I think because it was inadvertently hilarious (the book sorely lacks a sense of humor). "what do you elves like to do during the day?" "a lot of things, of course, a lot of things. poetry, calligraphy, walks in the woods, stone gardens, fine pottery, music. we celebrate twilights and mists. we drink tea. rivers of tea." this final remark seemed to fill him with sadness. "I cannot tell you how much tea we drink," he concluded, drowning in melancholy.

well, I guess it sucks to be an elf then. you sound like a dull personal ad, then you are just completely bored and sit around drinking tea.

so this is apparently the first of two novels in this set. it's about elves who live sort of parallel to humans and I guess some elves want to get rid of humanity and some want to collaborate with it because only humans can create original art.

the whole first 3/4 of the book is claptrap about these two girls who are sort of like messiahs to the elves. they are orphans, but completely surrounded by people who treasure and cherish them and never do them harm. one of them is in a french village, where everyone is freaking perfect (in the end of the book she keeps going on about how poor they are? but they just live in the village and they're always feasting and drinking wine. they're farmers, they labor, but I don't really see the poverty angle, because they don't really leave the village and everyone in the village seems to have enough.) they are perfect, full of wisdom, etc. the other girl is a piano prodigy and everything she plays is miraculous and magical. and it just goes on and on in its nonsensical overblown way without actually doing the work of world building. it's just blah blah blah perfect villagers french girl terroir, then blah blah blah italian piano prodigy perfect elegant graceful woman, maestro. and then suddenly they're connected by the piano playing and the italians can see the french from a distance and then the naughty elves or whoever attack the village with weather and archers. a few people die and all the roofs cave in but it's fine because french girl is WAY more powerful than the enemies and a touch on the shoulder here, a piano tune there, and poof, elven reinforcements come and the first battle is won when she conjures warm snow.

snow is as bad as violets. there's always snow. instant snow cover, immediate melting, warm snow, storms.

I mean, a book about two girls and the parallel elven world? I've read tons and tons of fantasy stuff like this. but none of it sucked like this, because all of it actually bothered to do some world building instead of faffing around with bloated prose that is practically meaningless and super super annoying to read. awful. the perfection of the villagers annoyed me. the way they all loved each other and didn't seem to have any of the usual gripes and dislikes that arise in insular communities annoyed me. the safety of the orphan girls seemed incredibly unrealistic. there was a severe laziness to the writing. it felt like the author had something in mind that she couldn't capture in words. and that makes the book a failure. oh, she's playing piano and it's heartrending and expansive and crystalline and magical and you're tasting violets and snow.

the overall theme seems to be: nature is amazing and music is amazing and they're related in some deep elven way that gives soul to humanity. bleah.

[Vonia · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 evident in her other novels, she has a talent for exposing intricate details in a beautiful way. But rather than use this in her favor, her descriptions and vignettes in this novel do not end. They go on endlessly, reaching a point of incomprehensibility. It has taken me so long to read this because eighty percent of the time I had to immediately reread because I did not understand what was being described, what supposedly happened. Barbery lapses into abstraction and obscurity without notice and the reader is left even more lost. Much of this is further complicated by the suspension of disbelief inherently required by fantasy stories. Most of the universe is not very well explained; rather, the ways of the elfin world are set in place and discussed already expecting a reader's full understanding.

The most significant error I feel that was made was Barbery's choice to use an omniscient third person point of view. This "omniscience" did not make anything less puzzling. What it did do was removed the possibility of really getting to know either of the girls. Readers will find it difficult to connect to any of the characters. Barbery writes in a manner that is shrouded in mystery, leaving one feeling detached from the story; as if watching from a long distance, struggling to decipher images and words.

A second point that I feel should be made far more clear to readers before they begin reading is that this is only Part I/II. Note that this is not like other series where each book can stand alone. "The Life of Elves" is not a book with a beginning, middle, and end. In fact, the end is a beginning. So if you are looking to read this, be prepared to read the second title (forthcoming?). Otherwise, you will be left with an incomplete story.

It requires a two page cast of characters, and readers will likely spend most of their time only vaguely understanding what is going on, even with constant references to this list. Our heroines are two girls, born at the same time, one in France, one Italy. Both are impossibilities and therefore deemed to have been born for the purpose of fighting the imminent war of the worlds, the war of good and evil, the war of the humans and the elves, the humans against nature. Clara Centi is the daughter of a human and her elfin lover. Not even The Inner Elfin Council knows this, for all other marriages between humans and elves have been sterile. She is a musical prodigy, playing masterpieces on the piano with an innate, effortless talent. She also has the ability to see into the elfin world (particularly from Maria's perspective). Her visions are very strong, descriptive, and when "shared" with others can have outstanding influence. Maria Faure is an elf child who was inexplicably born looking exactly like a human. She has great powers to communicate with nature and to heal. It seems no one knows how powerful she is; all they know is that they are great and need to be nurtured and not underestimated. These two girls, not yet thirteen years old, are to be our saviors.

Various other characters, all coming into play here and there, confusingly. The Governor of Rome works for Aelius, leader of the enemy forces. Their purpose? To end our kind. In the fight against them are a dozen random characters, led by The Maestro (an elf having crossed over into the human world), who is instructing Clara's piano playing and lessons on clairvoyance in France; and André, Maria's adoptive father.

The battle scenes in this war are confusing to say the least. Barbery uses phrases like "the mists", "unseen forces", the sky opening up to give messages that are "not in French or Italian but the language of stories and dreams", images and detailed messages being translated through touch, mystical creatures appearing from thin air.

Added to the omniscient third person choice, the overall confusing and incomprehensible nature of the writing, the fact that there is a necessary Part II, I would be amiss not to mention the significant theme and number of references to religion. Not my thing.

Barbery's masterful user of language and picturesque prose makes this all a little more bearable. I am really sad to have to give such a mediocre rating to one of my (hitherto?) favorite authors, but this novel really seems like something she may have written before her other novels? Something that was not good enough to be published then, but had new potential following the success?

This might be my first time saying this: I want a film to be made of this book. And with the right direction, I am confident It will be better. Things like not knowing whose perspective we are seeing things from would not be a problem. I could see the battle scenes being something epic, but difficult to interpret from Barbery's writing. I imagine something like The Lord of the Rings with a touch of Hayao Miyazaki. Elves, unicorns, talking to nature; snow and rain, mists and wind personified. Music as a character; shadows, dreams, supernatural powers. Good and bad, other worlds. It is all here. But thrown together and disorganized, beautiful, lyrical language wasted because readers can hardly grasp what is going on.

Alas, I was not aware of the necessary Part II before I began this. Yes, I will read it. With excitement? Probably not. But I do still have respect and admiration for Muriel Barbery for her other two novels and will therefore be more forgiving. I have to express, again, how disappointing this was. I implore you, Muriel, to write a different novel as soon as possible. Something closer in style and genre to "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" and"Gourmet Rhapsody" this time if at all possible?

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5/5 Stars

If 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.

[Amy McLay Paterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

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. Honestly, I think the only people who would really like this are people who have been yearning to read real fantasy but maybe don't know it.

[Darcy]

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?

[Sandra Deaconu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Am apucat să citesc doar vreo 50 de pagini până am aflat că nu poate fi citită separat de continuare. Ar fi fost drăguț ca editura să scrie undeva că e parte din serie, dar asta a devenit o modă între timp. Parcă e mai puțin grav decât ce face Litera, totuși, care reeditează un titlu cu alt titlu, ca să păcălească oamenii. În fine, simt că nu am pierdut nimic renunțând la carte. Descrieri foarte frumoase, dar restul este o învălmășeală de fantasmagorii plictisitoare.

,,Și mai plutea în aer ca o melancolie blândă, ca un suspin leneș, o încredere tihnită că lucrurile nuse vor schimba niciodată, iar oamenii munceau așa cum erau obișnuiți, fără răgaz și fără să se plângă, și se bucurau tainic de această toamnă nesfârșită care le spunea să nu uite să iubească.''

,, Dar ce se poate vedea în interiorul vieții? Se văd copaci, pădure, zăpadă, poate și o punte, și priveliști care se perindă fără ca ochiul să apuce să le retină. Se văd munca și zefirul, anotimpurile și necazurile, iar fiecare vede imaginile care sunt doar ale inimii lui, o curea de piele într-o cutie de tinichea, un petic de câmp înțesat cu măceși, fața brăzdată de riduri a unei femei dragi și zâmbetul micuței care spune o istorioară cu brotaci.''

[Mai Laakso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lämminhenkisen Siilin eleganssin kirjoittaja ranskalainen Muriel Barbery on aloittanut uuden kenties kokonaisen fantasiakirjasarjan kirjalla Haltiaelämää. Kirjan nimestä voi jo päätellä, että kirjassa tapahtuu yliluonnollisia asioita ja tapahtumia. Kirjan päähenkilöt ovat kaksi tyttöä, Maria ja Clara, jotka on viety syntymänsä jälkeen eri maihin, ja molemmat saivat rakastavat perheet luonnon keskeltä.
Tässä fantasiakirjassa kohtaavat sekä hyvä että paha. Kirja on alkusoittoa todella voimakkaalle pahuudelle. Molemmilla tytöillä on omat erityistaitonsa ja -lahjansa, joiden avulla he tulevat vastustamaan pahuutta kirjojen kuvioissa. Voin nähdä kirjan kuvina silmissäni kuin katsoisin elokuvaa. Suosittelen kirjaa fantasiakirjojen ystäville ja nuorille. He tulevat rakastamaan tätä kirjaa.

[Edwin Lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muriel Barbery’s The Life of the Elves is a very difficult read. It is challenging at every level. In this book the author is philosopher, dreamer, shinnichi – especially of the Japanese gardens – and naturalist. She strikes me as a woman of the future, a person that the present needs so we can have a future. Reading this book reminded me of a memorable incident when I (with my beloved and fortunately oblivious, Molly, a Border collie / Australian cross) came upon a small owl hovering at shoulder height, slightly less than an arms-length from the path we were on over a spot below it which probably housed a small critter, perhaps a field mouse. The owl was hovering motionless except with its wings beating fast like a hummingbird’s. I walked by doubt if it had been aware of my existence and proximity. It was not the first time I felt close to nature, that I was not its enemy, not this little owl’s enemy, but rather seemed to fit in quite harmoniously. That was the sense I had in reading Muriel Barbery’s book; that she believes that such harmony is possible and desirable and maybe is something each of us should seek.

There was also some mystery about a monstrous, deeply ominous and formidable and destructive black cloud that accompanied a villain, Aelius, and his forces, which advanced and enveloped the horizon as a battle began and progressed midway in the story. At the height of the battle Muriel Barbery suddenly has, in Maria’s presence, the menace dissipate, became immediately non-threatening and then simply vanish. What? Later though I found myself equating this destructive monstrosity to the power that ideas can have over us, and that the Cloud was less a physical force than an idea. My take on the power of ideas is that each of us at some time in our life has faced some idea that darkened our very existence, whether it was something or some person that we found oppressive, or depressive or even obsessive; caught in its tentacles as surely as Hugo’s Gilliat had been caught by the octopus; but, one day, seemingly miraculously and instantaneously, it stops being oppressive, depressive or obsessive: the shade has simply lost its power to haunt our imagination and our life.

I suspect I’m doing Muriel Barbery a great disservice - perhaps I can blame it on my having just read Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si – but I think the Black cloud in The Life of the Elves is capitalism, our economic system which rewards too richly some but also those who kill an elephant simply for its tusks. I think it is probably fair to say we now are beginning to recognize our economic system for the enemy that it is, that it is amoral, rapacious, and let to wander freely on its own in laissez-faire style that it destroys as capably as the Darkness described in Muriel Barbery’s book: people, their minds, livelihoods, our communities, the earth, possibly the future and our sense of humanity and community. And as Muriel Barbery has a character say about the dark villain Aelius: he simply wants to destroy humanity.

Whether we readers are with little Maria growing on the farm and in her small French community or on the battlefield there was always the sense of family, of togetherness, that we are one; and similarly with Clara in the Italian countryside and then Rome, one has the sense that she likewise is always in the company of a supportive community, and loved. In Muriel’s The Life of the Elves there may have been disagreement but never a discord that was fatal, and when it did exist it could be readily healed. When Maria confronted the dark force it immediately disappears - it was like she did a reset, flicked a light switch on or off. I had the sense in Muriel Barbery’s writing the fundamental idea is an alternative to the one that presents itself to us daily – making money, and preferably much more of it if we can, regardless of cost – that she is reminding us what wonderful beings we humans are, that we are not cogs in some nameless machine but that each of is made for greatness, and the world around us is beautiful and worth admiring, savouring and maintaining.
It’s like Muriel Barbery herself is standing in front of the Dark Cloud of our existence where everything’s measured in terms of economic worth and saying ‘Go away now, Darkness, out of our sight villainous idea’.

There is something in Muriel Barbery's use of language that is obscure and frustrating on one hand and really beautiful on the other. I felt that she felt at liberty to say what she wanted the way she wanted and the overall effect was that I felt like I was reading a complex book of poetry. She mentions once ‘the religion of poetry’, and it seemed to reflect something that a poet and writer, Una-Melina, seemed to say too. Thorton Wilder said that only saints and poets understand the nature of death and eternity and I had the sense that in Muriel Barbery’s The Life of the Elves, as had the little owl hovering oblivious to my presence, awake only to his supper below, that we were dealing with the profoundest of things possible.

Muriel Barbery seems also to understand what philosophy means and its value; she is a dreamer who gives free rein to the possibility of life and imagination being a source of enchantment; and as a shinnichi - a lover of the Japanese and especially of the Japanese gardens which because they are so intricate and beautiful imagines that elves have built and maintain them - so thus Muriel Barbery seems very much a woman of the future, a person that the present needs so we can have a future envisioned by Pope Francis’ in Laudato Si where he says it is imperative for us to get our heads on straight, to fix things between us and fix our relationship with and to heal the world before it is too late. To dream of a life that is not simply about money, that there is a sacred in the seemingly ordinary.

As Pope Francis appeals to us in terms theology Muriel Barbery seems to seek to enchant us out of our lethargy using philosophy and literature as her weapons. So I liked the book and think it is an important and good book. It is a really tough read though but worthwhile in the context of the new chapter we might be opening as humans where we live and work and make decisions based principally on the respect and empathy we have for one another and for our earth.

Edwin

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 deeply thoughtful. We didn't get a backstory on all of them. But I enjoyed the stories of those we did. Barbery only wrote good, wholesome people, besides the bad guys. She gave them life and made you want to know all of them.
I need the next book but I can't find anything about it. This book was definitely only the beginning and there is so much more to the story as we didn't get a resolve on the war that is coming for the characters.

[Karen Mace · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 time it just seemed to overcomplicate everything - the plot, the characters, the messages.... and I spent a lot of my time reading going backwards and forwards wondering if I'd missed something as it just wasn't always making sense!

Maybe it is one of those books I need to come back to and try reading again at another time to see if it makes anymore sense 2nd time around!

I'm being generous with the 3 stars too! More like a 2.5!

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 as a whole, but I really enjoyed the experience of reading The Life of Elves. I copied pages and pages of descriptions that sparkled and moved me. I reread passages that stirred up childhood memories of long, lazy days in the woods, chasing magic in creek beds and whispering to deer. It may be over-written, but maybe I like over-written?

Looking forward to the second half of this tale. Until then, I will be thinking fondly about Maria and Clara and Petrus and his moscato.

[Ana-Maria Negrilă · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ce se întâmplă când un autor nu are chef de scris?
Cine dorește să afle poate citi Viața elfilor. Sigur că nu va afla nimic despre elfi, deși sunt pomeniți des în roman, și nici nu va avea parte de personaje sau acțiune. Ce se petrece în acestă carte ar fi încăput lejer într-o "batistă narativă" de 30 de pagini.
Povestea celor două fete este complet neinteresantă și redată în așa fel încât orice urmă de interes să fie omorâtă în fașă. Există câteva sclipiri, câteva personaje care par să promită, dar care sunt abandonate rapid de teamă să nu-l trezească pe cititor din somnul în care a căzut după primele pagini. Și pentru că nu era suficient, finalul vine abrupt, de tipul "și acum gata cu dânșii!"
Cu ce vă veți alege? Fraze frumoase și curgătoare, arhaisme, descrieri, câteva pasaje ce poposesc asupra artelor frumoase, câteva caracterizări de personaj. Rămâne să hotărâți dacă merită deranjul.

[Pauline von Dahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Halusin kovasti pitää kirjasta jo alusta alkaen, meitä ei kuitenkaan ollut tarkoitettu toisillemme. Kaunista kieltä ja maagista realismia, varmasti ihastuttava kirja Barberyn faneille. / Me and this book weren't meant for each other, sadly. I was pondering between 2 and 3 stars, decided finally to give 3 since it's so beautifully written.

[Zezee · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 impending war upends nature’s balance and possibly end the world and all humanity. Through them, Barbery’s beautiful writing leads us to admire simple enchantments in nature and to realize that great art can be cathartic. I don’t think it’s possible to walk away from this novel not wanting to immerse oneself in nature and art. Barbery brings a such strong awareness to them through her characters that I felt as if I’d never truly experienced either.

Since I first heard of this book, I wanted to read it though I’d never tried Barbery’s work or heard of her before. I was attracted to the title. I thought this would be a regular fantasy genre novel about elves. But what I got was a literary fantasy novel that has such a strong dream-like quality to it that I’m sure many will label it magical realism. (I’ve realized many readers tend to categorize quirky fantasy novels as magical realism.)

That dream quality sucked me into to the story, which held me as its captive until I was shaken awake by the overwhelming imagery. So, as much as I admired the writing, I’m unable to say I enjoyed reading the book. I love the descriptions and will treasure some of them, but sometimes the imagery would leave me confused and lost in a scene, unable to imagine what exactly is happening. This occurred often in the battle scene toward the end. So many things were included that it was hard to hold the images in my mind and make sense of what exactly was happening.

I also think this confusion may have occurred because the characters don’t have much substance. Despite their backstories and influence on other characters and events, they seem more like representatives for ideas and concepts. Which is why the story seems almost allegorical to me. The characters didn’t feel real and so didn’t stand out to me. I had to refer often to the character list at the beginning because it was easy to forget who’s who.

The events also didn’t stand out, other than the conversations between Petrus and Clara. I enjoyed those. Actually, the only thing that kept me reading was my admiration of Barbery’s writing and descriptions. When the focus was more on what’s happening rather than the writing, I’d get bored, and there were times when I considered giving up on the story since I wasn’t invested in the characters or the plot. But it’s such a short book that I figured I might as well complete it. I’m glad I did.

“‘The universe is a gigantic story,’ said Petrus. ‘And everyone has their own story, radiating somewhere in the firmament of fictions and leading somewhere into the sky of prophecies and dreams.'”

Overall: ★★☆☆☆ 1/2

Much as I love the writing, I did not enjoy reading this book and since I read to be entertained, I rate accordingly. Would I recommend this book? Yes. I recommend it for its lyrical prose and for the story, as well, which focuses on familial bonds and the strength of community, admiration of art and nature, and the battling forces of good and evil. I borrowed a copy from the library and would like to get my own copy just to return for a sample of Barbery’s writing every now and then.

The book is of average length at just 258 pages but the descriptions are plentiful so it takes time to wade through them. If you’re a fan of literary fiction and fantasy novels, you might like The Life of Elves.

Quotes from the book:

• “True faith, it is a well-known fact, has little regard for chapels, but it does believe in the communion of mysteries, and with its unworldly fusion of beliefs, it crushes any temptations that prove too intolerant.”

• “Clearly, no human being had ever managed to touch her soul the way the mountains had, and therefore the snow and the storms lived inside a heart that was still equally open both to happiness and to the sortileges of misfortune. And now, the further they went into the city, the more her heart bled. She was discovering not only a terrain that had surrendered to its interment under stone, but also what had been done to the stones themselves: they now rose to the sky in straight, dull walls, having ceased to breath beneath the onslaught that had defaced them forever. Thus as night fell upon the joyful crowds drunkenly celebrating the return of the warm breezes, Clara saw only a mass of dead stone and a cemetery where living people went willingly to be buried.”

• “…Without the land, one’s soul is empty, but without stories, the land is silent…”

• “‘Remember the stories,’ he said as he got to his feet. ‘They are the intelligence of the world — of this world, and of all the others.'”

• “…childhood is the dream that allows us to understand what we do not yet know.”

• “Love doesn’t save, it raises you up and makes you bigger, it lights you up from inside and carves out that light like wood in the forest. It nestles in the hollows of empty days, of thankless tasks, of useless hours, it doesn’t drift along on golden rafts or sparkling rivers, it doesn’t sing or shine and it never proclaims a thing. But at night, once the room’s been swept and the embers covered over and the children are asleep — at night, at last, when we’re weary of our meager lives and the trivialities of our insignificant existence, each of us becomes the well where the other can draw water, and we love each other and learn to love ourselves.”

[Jean-marcel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost want to challenge anybody to remember much about this book after they've finished it. it has an ethereal, dreamlike quality that I suspect was precisely the author's intent to convey, but this really works against the book, in my view. I spent the entirety of the journey feeling like I was shuffling through some kind of sleep fog. Characters utter things that are clearly supposed to be of great significance, but which meant nothing to me at all. There's lots of talk about "bridges", 'the War", and such, and, having some background in fantasy literature, I feel I can sort of envisage what Barbery was getting at, but it's just all so vague and wispy that a stiff breeze could blow the entire story away.

The story is supposed to take place hundreds of years ago, but there are anachronisms in the narration, purposefully placed there, no doubt, to illustrate that this is indeed some kind of dreamworld. There's a pretty turn of phrase and lyrical language from time to time (though I suspect a little was lost in the translation into English), but an equally prevalent tendency towards awkward and silly metaphors. Characters get introduced and then sometimes are the focus of a "background" chapter, only to disappear or to recede into nothing, and one wonders why they were considered important in the first place. The other characters in the book surely do consider these people to be important, but if you asked me why, I really couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you why elves don't have stories, even though they apparently have poetry and song. I couldn't tell you who "the enemy" is, or why he/they/it wants to bring an "end to all of the humankind". There are hints, plenty of hints, and portentous conversation with repeated phrases that one imagines the characters uttering in varying degrees of grave and wondering tones. I don't know. It's one of the strangest books I've read in a while, and because of that I can't really give it a mere single star. But I didn't enjoy it, and I suspect it will have a hard time finding an audience willing to sink fully into this shadowy world.

[Pia · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 characteristics. They will have to fight a terrible enemy that wants to destroy the elf world... or at least that's what I understood.

There is much description about the land and some of the characters, but then there are others that barely merit description and the stories are confusing. I read somewhere that this is the first part of a 2 book series, and maybe there will be a bigger explanation in the next book, but for now, all I can say that the elf world needs much more in depth description.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3, because even if it's a confusing book, Muriel Barbery is an amazing writer

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, at least this was short.

Many years ago, I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog and thought it was wonderful. This, on the other hand, was terrible.

I always worry when authors cross genres. Barbery's Hedgehog was a delightful, near-perfect little story, but definitely not of the fantasy genre. So I was skeptical at the outset of this book, but because I liked Hedgehog so much, I decided to give it a try anyway.

Turns out, this is definitely a don't quit your day job type of situation. I knew this wasn't going to work for me about 20 pages in, when I started skimming more than reading. The writing is pretty, but that wasn't worth much against a plot that made little sense, evoked no feelings whatsoever for the situation or its characters, and was filled with endless digressions that were boring and unimportant to the storyline.

Add to that the fact that this felt more like a bizarre religious parable than a fantastical story of elves, and my feelings that this book was a mistake were complete.

[Antonella · Rating 1 out of 5]

La vida de los elfos es una historia que me dejó totalmente indiferente. Llegué a la novela con muchas expectativas dado el renombre y las críticas positivas que tiene la autora. Si bien no había leído reseñas sobre esta novela, me atrajo la historia que proponía.
Desde las primeras páginas supe que esta novela no iba a ser de mis preferidas por el estilo de escritura de la autora. Su prosa es demasiado detallista y poética, ya que de manera permanente ahonda en descripciones de lugares, cosas y situaciones, lo que hace que la lectura de la historia se torne pesada y fragmentada.
A medida que avanzaba en la lectura tenía la sensación de estar en presencia de dos historias paralelas: la de los hechos concretos y la de las descripciones poéticas; esto hizo que mi actitud como lectora se mimetizara con el estilo y comenzara a leer solo para reconocer los aspectos generales de los hechos, dejando de lado el lirismo agotador.
Este es un libro que no disfruté y que solo continué por la curiosidad de saber como terminaba.

[Barbara McEwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 figurative or fantastical enemies? Differences between elves and humans? Bridges between worlds? Be really open minded if you pick this one up and be ready to come to your own conclusions.

[Ana Paola · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Stela · Rating 3 out of 5]

În primele pagini mi s-a părut că stilul lui Muriel Barbery e cam prea greu de metafore și comparații, că se folosește exagerat de sinestezii și că flutură cam multe vorbe mari. Încetul cu încetul însă, murmurul poveștii m-a fermecat, iar frazele nu mi-au mai sunat nici patetic, nici bombastic pe măsură ce înțelegeam că îmbulzeala tropilor nu era o slăbiciune pentru calofilie ci avea rolul de a crea o proză poetică de înalt nivel, în care curgerea maiestuoasă a cuvintelor să sugereze în același timp magia incantațiilor și ermetismul miturilor.

De aceea, poate, mi-a fost greu să izolez citate – rupte din context, ele par artificiale și stîngace (ca acesta, de pildă: „Iubirea nu salvează, ea înalță și mărește, poartă în noi tot ce este mai luminos și îl cioplește în lemnul pădurii.”) – opera e ca o țesătură fină pe care, dacă o sfîșii n-o mai poți repara.

Întreagă însă, Viața elfilor e luminoasă și mîngîietoare, nostalgică și utopică, fantastică și profund umană.

[Elena Druță · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tare frumos scrie Muriel Barbery. Povestea a fost una interesantă, plină de tot felul de imagini foarte pe gustul meu și o scriitură înflorată. Mi-a plăcut și abordarea autoarei în ceea ce privește elfii și esența acestora, dar și modul în care a introdus fantasticul în viața de zi cu zi.
Pe final m-a cam plictisit povestea, momentul culminant s-a simțit ca o coborâre pentru mine și faptul că volumul ăsta are o continuare a fost o surpriză. Deși mi-a plăcut în mare Viața elfilor, finalul nu m-a convins suficient de mult să vreau să continui seria.

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Along with 2 million other people, I loved Muriel Barbery's novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog, featuring memorable characters and set in a Paris apartment building (translated from the French), and so I was delighted to hear she had finally released another book - The Life of Elves. But unfortunately this is a completely different book and, if I was being harsh, an almost completely incomprehensible one. Part fantasy, part fairytale, the story features two girls, Clara (part human / part elf) and Maria (elfin girl who resembles a human), although this information was frustratingly slow to materialise. I admit I only read the first half of the book before my irritation and annoyance got the better of me, and then skimmed the last half, looking for any signs that it might get better / more interesting / more engaging. Unfortunately I found none. Indeed, the whole elf reference is not even mentioned until the second half of the novel (which is strange, given the title).
The book is set in France and Italy and a mystical place called The Pavillion of the Mists, and features two mythical horses (confusingly, one is also a hare and one a boar) and an evil Governor, and the plot concerns something about bridging the gap between the human and the elfin worlds.
There is no doubt that this tale is beautifully written. The one sentence that stood out for me and which seemed profound on many levels was this:
'Without the land, one's soul is empty, but without stories, the land is silent.'
I do think this says something about our cultural and historical connection to the land, and to the oral tradition of storytelling.
The prose generally sounds like fantastical poetry - actually, if she had released it as abstract poetry, she would probably have a huge following. But it is meant to be prose, with a narrative that you can follow and characters that you care about. After about halfway, I just gave up. The story was maddeningly confusing, and the language - while quite lovely in places - was so bewildering and perplexing that it was incredibly difficult to follow. It was hard enough trying to grasp the meaning of individual sentences and paragraphs, but to discern the threads of meaning throughout the story as a whole was almost impossible. It is quite possible this was a deliberate ploy on Barbery's part; perhaps she wanted to weed out all but the most committed readers. But while I can normally appreciate prose that may be somewhat obscure, I'm afraid I found this labyrinthine, convoluted and inexplicable. This obscurity can sometimes be excused by an appreciation of the author's powers of description, particurlarly around nature and food, and even physical descriptions of the characters, but was constantly over-ridden by the need to actively decipher the sentences, word by word. I think Barbery is trying to say something profound about human nature, the desires of the heart, the connections between the natural world and the supernatural one, and about the bonds between creatures of all ilks, but for the life of me, I couldn't work out what it was.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried to write a proper review for "The Life of Elves" but it seems that I can't, at least for the moment. While I understand the mixed reviews that this novel has received (it was confusing at times (the character list is VERY important) and it can come off a bit "preachy" for lack of a better word) I feel like it is extremely important for me to say that this novel changed me greatly for the better. So really I guess this review is more of a thank you to Muriel Barbery for giving me this gift of a story that I will definitely never forget. It is a insight into people, humanity, and nature that I very much needed at this point in my life. I only have one piece of advice: read this book slowly, absorb the beauty of each paragraph because I don't believe you will regret it if you do.