Book Review: The Years by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer
on Sheila Ash (India), 14/Dec/2022 22:59, 34 days ago
The YearsbyAnnie ErnauxTrans. by Alison L. StrayerMy rating:3 of 5 starsI'm not much of a Francophile and have never really holidayed
there and will admit to having never heard of this author prior to her
being shortlisted for this book for the International Booker in 2019 and
winning the Nobel for Literature in 2022 and my book club chose it for
its monthly read. Also I am not a fan of memoir or creative non-fiction.
The Booker folk must have thought there was enough fiction in this to
qualify but perhaps not enough to win. It has a very strange "we" voice
with occasional lapses and even when it enters the third person it it
referring to the girl , then young woman, in various photographs. This
creates a weird sense of collective and individual in which to look back
at their/her life experience from 1941 to the 21st century through a
very nostalgic lens voiced as lists of events, things encountered .
These lists of brand names, movies, music, politicians, historical
events, social upheavals etc one level provoke the reader to think of
the equivalents in their own lives, but after a while begin to feel like
a bad history lesson. I found this wallowing in nostalgia, with little
in the way of storyline or plot to be overwhelming. Combine this with
the remoteness of the main character which the voice and style of
writing creates I was just not engaged by the book. I persevered for
half of it then really could not go on. It may well appeal to readers of
memoirs and readers more in tune with all things French. Whereas brand
names can usually be transmuted into those from ones one country many
non-French readers may feel at a loss to relate to with regard to French
Politics of the De Gaulle era, the Algerian war. I'm left with the
feeling that the audience who will love this book is quite specific and
does not include me .View all my reviewsashramblings