Welcome to Litsy!

A frozen woman: frozen in time and in life. A life that consists of being a mother and a wife. No longer a woman, nor a professional. I loved Ernaux‘ The Young Man but this autobiographical story of her life is rather boring in my opinion. Her childhood, teens, meeting her future husband, it‘s all very recognizable but not that interesting.
Also the nagging about motherhood annoys me for she‘s enduring it without trying to improve her situation.

#WeeklyForecast 06/23

I am almost finished with The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store for #LitsyToB24 and fortunately I am liking it a lot! Next will be another Annie Ernaux. I discovered her last year and loved the book I read by her. For #ReadingOceania24 and #FoodAndLit I‘ll read Pet, of which I have read so many good reviews.

YES!!!! Welcome to another edition of “be glad your mother volunteers in a used bookstore.”

This book is extraordinary. Ernaux talks through a life (I assume it‘s hers) from childhood into adulthood, slowly revealing the ludicrous and painful reality of being a woman, the expectations piled on women, and the lack of interest society seems to have for what we actually want. It doesn‘t seem like much at first, but as the book goes on, the weight becomes more and more apparent. This is searing.

This is my second book by this author, after reading The Place. I wasn't totally convinced by it so I decided to give it a second chance. I guess there must be something that gets lost in the translation from French because I seem to be inmune to Ernaux"s writing. Her writing seems devoid of feeling, just a succession of events or thoughts. This book in particular seemed to be a list of complaints about motherhood.

This book by the inimitable Annie Ernaux, credited with the invention of autofiction, is a devastating portrait of a young woman‘s marriage to a man whom she had thought would support equality in their roles but who gets caught up in the patriarchal system with all its expectations for him and for her. She portrays the ambiguities of motherhood with a deft and nuanced hand, and mourns the identity she must sacrifice to his privilege.