Welcome to Litsy!

Édouard Louis wrote this autobiographical text when he was 21! It could be read as a story about accepting one own's queerness, about domestic violence, about racism, homophobia, poverty and so many other things, but for me it is mainly a text about class issues. About what it means to be of a (post)working class or a bourgeois origin in contemporary France, as well in many other countries.

New day and new book for #24b4monday Happy reading and stay safe❣️

Eddy Bellegueule is a child born to below-the-poverty line parents in rural northern France in 1992.
He is too effeminate, a trait seen as a disease by his family. In consequence, he is verbally and physically abused.
It was a difficult read, because of the violence in some passages.

This book was BLEAK. All the trigger warnings I can think of, it is the semi-autobiographical story of a young gay boy coming of age in an extremely LGBTQ-unfriendly, poor village in northern France. This is my book for the author who is new to you category for #booked2019 and #LetterL for #LitsyAtoZ (in translation)

A really harrowing difficult book to read so it would be weird to say I ‘enjoyed it‘ but it was beautifully written, I loved how stark without being cold it was. I‘d recommend if you have a cuddly sweet book to read afterwards.

Few minutes before meeting a friend means a bit of squeezed in reading time

Still working my way through a massive library stack, it could be weeks before I read a book from my actual tbr shelves. It seems like all my holds have arrived all at once! A friend who studied french at uni recommended me this and said it was one of her fave recent french novels, and I trust her recommendations a lot so I‘m looking forward to it a lot 😊

My last review of the night and this was another incredibly disheartening read about prejudice. Eddy grows up in a small french town in picardy where masculinity is violent and any weakness is picked upon. Eddy who as a child is struggling with his sexuality is bullied and abused and some scenes just felt very sad to read. A short book but worth reading.

Eddy must win! I know a lot of people loved Dear Cyborgs (not me), but come on, Eddy deserves some luck don‘t you think?! #ToB

#ToB #2018 winners thus far. Currently reading The End of Eddy and Idaho.

Wow. The End of Eddy was a heartbreaker of a novel. After reading the commentary in the Tournament of Books, I had to read it, and its vivid detailing of the protagonist‘s (and perhaps the author‘s?) childhood made this almost a one-sitting read for me.

Go Eddy, go! I just finished this book in time for today‘s match in the #ToB. I haven‘t read Lucky Boy but I hope Eddy will win anyhow. The poor boy so deserves it...
Or doesn‘t it stand a chance against Lucky Boy?

#TournamentOfBooks

A visceral description of the fear and violence of the childhood of an impoverished, gay boy in rural France. This is poverty on a scale most of us are fortunate enough to not even be able to imagine, and yet Eddy's family still manages to find some even less fortunate to criticize in order to mask the shame they feel about their own circumstances. Because these descriptions are so searingly clear, this was a difficult read, but worth the effort.

Eddy is bullied and beaten, because he is 'different'. The boy grows up in a stifling environment full of alcoholism, unemployment and crime. A village where the houses are non-isolated and the tv is on eight hours a day. A village dominated by poverty, violence, racism and especially homophobia. Eddy is one of them, but yet not, and that's why he has to flee. A painful but striking sociological portrait of an unknown France in current times. #ToB

Last-minute #tob18 reading continues.

I didn't really care for this one, but I'm interested to talk it out. There were so many strange sentence constructions and syntax choices; I'm not sure whether they're awkward translation or an accurate reflection of the French text. (The author's also a philosopher so it COULD BE ANYTHING.)

That said, this passage floored me, because it puts a careful pin in something very adolescent and true. #queerbooks

This is a bleak, often hard to read account of a sensitive gay boy growing up in a brutal, working class village in northern France. It end on a note of hope, though, that redeems the rest of it.

This short book has snuck up on me. It‘s the story of a sensitive gay boy growing up in a rough, economically depressed village in northern France.

Our new cat, Homer, is getting comfortable in our house, with all the kids, cats and one very large dog.

Whew. This book was so visceral, I felt like I was there. But it also felt a little disjointed and bitter. It was definitely an interesting look at growing up gay in a small, homophobic and alcoholic village and how poverty shapes world views. I think it‘ll make for some good discussions in the Tournament of Books. #tob18

My current audiobook. I‘m super invested in Eddy‘s story. #tob18

#RiotGrams--day2--#CurrentlyReading--I'm starting this book today. It's one of the books shortlisted for The Morning News's Tournament of Books #ToB18.

Halfway through #TOB18 book #11. It feels more like a memoir than a novel. Not exactly an easy read.

A 4+ hour audio? So violating my rule to get “most hours for my money” but I want to get as many #TOB18 books in as possible, fast. Now to plan a few long walks with the dogs...

This book drew my attention because Rakesh Satyal tweeted about it saying, amongst other things, it‘s a book that can save lives. It‘s an autobiographical novel about growing up queer in a poor northern French village. So many thoughts about it—horrifying, heartbreaking, maddening, & inspiring. It isn‘t always an easy read, Eddy‘s childhood isn‘t easy, but I believe it‘s as important, powerful, & necessary as Satyal suggests. Highly recommended.

Rakesh Satyal, author of No One Can Pronounce My Name which was one of my favorite 2017 reads, recommended this book very passionately on Twitter. I‘m expecting a very powerful story.

It‘s impossible to have a meeting in a bookstore and not come home with some new books. Really, I‘ve tried. It‘s impossible. So, this is today‘s haul. I must confess only two of them for me...The third is for my son. Decided he needed a new book too since my daughter and husband are both deep into Iron Gold. It looks like a great weekend of reading for the whole family!

I understand this to be highly autobiographical (I wonder why he wrote it as a novel?) But it is a heartbreaking coming of age story of a young gay boy in a factory town, translated from the French. All I can keep thinking about is the boys that don't get out (I knew one growing up, who took his life before graduating high school so it's just about all I can see here. His family was just about as violent and he was called the same names.)

Heartbreaking, sad, disturbing, brutal, upsetting. This list could go on. @AceOnRoam compared this to A Little Life, and honestly, I found this harder to read. ALL was fiction, This is autobiographical. Jude at least had friends who loved and protected him, poor Eddy was on his own. I gave this 3.5 star, mostly because it was so difficult to read about. #ToB2018

One of the hardest books I have read since A Little Life, not an enjoyable read.

#ReadingOnRoam

"We are always playing roles and there is a certain truth to masks. The truth of my mask was this will to exist differently."

A relentlessly brutal coming-of-age novel of a young boy growing up in a small town trying to come to terms with his sexuality. This is autobiographical, and it's emotionally a huge investment, inspite of the length of the novel. Man, the lengths we go to just for a little affection from friends and family.

TFW you pick up a book just because an author you like was talking about it on social media. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Check out the nominees for the Albertine Prize: http://lithub.com/announcing-the-nominees-for-the-2018-albertine-prize/

This award is for French novels translated to English. I had only heard of the tagged book before seeing the short list, but now I want to read them all! I guess now I‘m planning a Francophilia filled January.

My daughter and I attended French novelist, Édouard Louis‘ session last night, whose story of experiencing violence because of his sexuality, is another mindblowing experience. “I just want my father to stop being ashamed of me. That was my dream.” #SWF2017.

Difficult book to read... the violence and the poverty gut punching.

Slowly making my way through this book... it's a rough read... lots of bullying, lots of poverty...

This debut novel—a memoir in all but name—by young French writer Édouard Louis is a raw account of the anguished, highly sexualized coming-out process that remains darned near universal for queer men everywhere. Some of the descriptions of his bigoted, dirt-poor family read like poverty porn, but all of it was thoroughly engrossing.

My interest in this book was flagging a bit, but this sentence struck me as one of the truest evocations of how pre- and adolescent gay male confusion and longing plays out verbally and socially that I have ever, ever come across!

A book shining the light on extreme poverty, violence, and self acceptance, The End of Eddy (En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule) is a small but heavy read that is so important to current times. It's poetic, unique, and devastating but you will always be rooting for Édouard in this autobiographical novel.

Summer TBR has officially started!

In French, 'collège' means boys' secondary school.

Such taunting was a big part of my childhood too. I am not in any need of cyber-hugs or anything, though, lovely people. I push myself to reflect as much on how I bullied—including homophobically—other kids whenever the pecking order rearranged itself so as to give me a temporary reprieve, as I reflect on being the victim. I was both/and, and need to give as many apologies as I'm owed.

‼️

I read an article about Hillbilly Elegy and it mentioned that this was the French equivalent. I'm not sure I agree other than both groups of people vote similarly- Trump/LePen. Dealing with class, violence, and sexuality, this moving autobiographical novel, broke my heart 💔. It is worthy of a read. Glad I ordered it from the U.K. (Not released in the US yet😢). Edouard Louis is a talented writer.

Look what just arrived: a newly translated French gay novel that, according to the dustjacket blurb, "has sparked debate on social inequality, sexuality and violence." Count me in!

The End of Eddy is a poignant new coming of age novel that explores social exclusion, sexuality & poverty.

A February 2017 autobiographical novel in translation about growing up gay in working class Picardy, France. Count me in!