The Life of Elves by Muriel Barbery couldn’t be more different than her book The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and if you loved one, you most likely will not like the other.

The Life of Elves is a highly lyrical, often esoteric fable about two young girls Maria and Clara, one living in a small village in France, the other in Italy, united by their strange otherworldly powers and ancient magic. Everything depends on them as a battle between dark and light approaches.

This is a parable about the powers of art and the natural world in which the veil between the world of men and that of elves and other magical beings draws thin. Barbery’s writing is at times so exquisite and so beautifully evocative I couldn’t put it down; and at other times it was filled with too many long meaningless passages and too many characters to keep track of it that it became hard to even care about the story. I felt this book was in desperate need of an editor and it would have been a much more enjoyable read. As it is, it is equal parts magical and exhausting.

Overall a disappointing read from a great writer.