The Life of Elves
Muriel Barbery, 2015 (2016, US edition)
Europa Editions
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781609453152
Summary
A moving and deeply felt homage to the power of nature and art by one of the world's most beloved authors.
Maria lives in a remote village in Burgundy, where she learns that she has a gift for communicating with nature. Hundreds of miles away in Italy, Clara discovers that she possesses a stunning musical genius and is sent from the countryside to Rome to develop her preternatural abilities.
Barbery's The Life of Elves tells the story of two children whose extraordinary talents will bring them into contact with magical worlds and malevolent forces. If, against all odds, they can be brought together, their meeting may shape the course of history.
Seven years after the publication of her international bestseller, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery returns with a lyrical novel about the quest for enchantment in a world that seems to have forgotten such a thing ever existed.
With its cast of unforgettable characters, each fighting to preserve a sense of enchantment, The Life of Elves is a poetic meditation on art, nature, dreams, and the role of the imagination. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 28, 1969
• Where—Casablanca, Morocco
• Education—Ecole Normale Superieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud
• Currently—lives outside of Paris, France
Muriel Barbery is a French novelist and professor of philosophy.
She was born in Casablanca, Morocco, although her parents left when she was only two months old. She studied at the Lycee Lakanal (comparable to American high schools) in the outskirts of Paris and then entered the Ecole Normale Superieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud in 1990. In 1993 she obtained her agregation in philosophy (secondary teaching degree).
She then taught philosophy in a lycee (at the Universite de Bourgogne) and at the Saint-Lo IUFM (teacher training college). After she quit her job, she lived for two years in Japan (2008 and 2009). She currently lives in the countryside, south of Paris.
Barbery attained fame with her second novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog. The book topped the French best-seller lists for 30 consecutive weeks and was reprinted 50 times. By May 2008 it had sold more than a million copies and has been a bestseller in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, South Korea, and many other countries. The novel concerns the inhabitants of a small upper-class Paris apartment block, notably its autodidact concierge, Renee. In 2009 the book was adapted to film, titled The Hedgehog.
Her third novel, The Life of Elves, a fantastical fable in which elves serve as intermediaries between the human and natural worlds, is a departure from Barbery's normal realism. It was released in 2015 (2016 in the U.S.).
Books
2000 - Gourmet Rhapsody, Europa Editions (2009, Engl.)
2006 - The Elegance of the Hedgehog (2008, Engl.)
2015 - The Life of Elves (2016, Engl.)
(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 3/17/2016.)
Book Reviews
The Life of Elves fully delivers on its title. Ms. Barbery unleashes a complete magical menagerie, a kaleidoscopic cast that includes not only elves but also unicorns; a giant squirrel; a fantastical, shape-shifting wild boar; and an otter with a human face.... [The author delivers] an enigmatic and beguiling fairy tale, unicorns and all.
Alexandra Alter - New York Times
Obscurity may be [the book's] downfall, in both individual sentences and as a whole. Despite Alison Anderson’s skillful translation, Barbery’s images can unspool into incomprehensible abstraction.... At times, it’s simply hard to know what’s going on.... [Still, as] often as The Life of Elves confounds, in its many moments of weird lucidity it also beguiles. It’s then that Barbery explores the mystical connections between nature, art and the human heart with vividness and clarity.
Emily Barton - New York Times Book Review
As long as Barbery describes the concrete, known world of the villagers, her vision is clear, the details precise.... It’s when she tries to cross over to her other world, where an entity can have multiple essences...that Barbery’s uncertain language betrays an uncertainty of vision..... Try as I might, I could never quite believe in Barbery’s world of elves.... Sadly my all-too-frequent margin note was “What?!”
Pauline Holdstock - Toronto Globe and Mail
The Life of Elves is at once realistic and dreamlike. Barbery's poetic language and her endearing characters will direct readers.
La Vie (France)
Muriel Barbery has composed a hymn-and a call-to the ancient complicity of hands, minds, and nature.
Le Figaro
Nearly a decade ago, Muriel Barbery enchanted readers the world over with her novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog — and she’s back with a still-more twee tale of two children brought together by their almost supernatural connections to music and the natural world.
Huffington Post
Despite elven politics, Christianity, and war, the plot feels secondary and downplayed.... Just as battle is coming, readers are stopped by descriptions of the numerous participants, breaking the tension and typifying a reading experience in which the parts are greater than the whole.
Publishers Weekly
[A] gauzy, glimmering fantasy that has...drawn worldwide acclaim.... The magical frame and lush loveliness of the writing might be oversweet for some readers, but many fans of both Barbery and fantasy from writers like Alice Hoffman and Sarah Addison Allen will be enchanted.
Library Journal
Vivid imagery and a thread of mystery draw readers into the timeless and ethereal world of these young girls with a destiny to fulfill. Passionate and lyrical...a richly imagined tale full of enchanting characters whom readers will love.
Booklist
The conjoined powers of two magical children bring about a new alliance to thwart evil and unite the natural world in this fantastical novel.... Although possibly too abstract for children and too fey for some adults, this fervent, idiosyncratic fable is undeniable evidence of a richly lyrical imagination.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Life of Elves...then take off on your own:
1. Describe the world of the elves and the elves themselves. Why do they need Clara and Maria?
2. Talk about the two girls. What personal gifts or powers does each bring to bear upon the elfin world?
3. Talk about the upcoming battle of the elves. What is at stake?
4. Describe how everything—nature, elves, humans and art—are connected in Muriel Barbery's vision. What is the thematic message we are presented with in The Life of Elves? Is there a lesson Barbery is imparting?
5. Do you agree or disagree with the passage below? What does it mean?
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 (p. 56).
6. What does the elfin motto, "siempre mantendre" (always maintain) mean?
7. If you have read J.R.R. Tolkien, how do these elves compare with those in The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings series?
8. In what historical era do you believe the novel is set? What clues are you using to make your "guesstimate"? Why do you think Barbery isn't more specific in terms of when the action takes place? Does it matter?
9. Many reviewers have made much of Barbery's obscure and difficult language, saying that it gets in the way of understanding the story. Others, though, have found the writing lush and beautifully descriptive. What do you think?
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, feel free to use these online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)