This neutral way of writing comes to me naturally, it is the very same style I used when I wrote home telling my parents the latest news.' No lyrical reminiscences, no triumphant displays of irony. I shall collate my father's words, tastes and mannerisms, the main events of his life, all the external evidence of his existence, an existence which I too shared. 'In order to tell the story of a life governed by necessity, I have no right to adopt an artistic approach, or attempt to produce something 'moving' or 'gripping'. She shares all the thoughts that went through her mind while writing this book Annie calls her writing style a neutral way of writing. This book though short, tells us a lot about the family life of hardworking people in France. It is difficult to write about our loved ones after their death during the time of grief as we will have to relive our memories which will make us happy and sad at the same time. Ernaux also talks about this therapeutic writing beautifully in her other book, A Woman's Story. But this book is something different as it belongs to the category of therapeutic writing. Algunas citas interesantes aquí y allá, pero nada que vaya a quedar en la memoria, al menos para mí.Ī book written by an author about her father after his death will always be an emotional one. Pero al menos las de Ernaux son muy cortas. También debo notar que las memorias nunca fueron lo mío, y esta no fue la excepción. Sin embargo, yo por mi parte necesito emoción en mis lecturas, ya sea amor u odio, pero algo al menos, de otra forma tal vez me sienta más inclinado en leer en su lugar un panfleto de tendencia en mueblería.

Hay que admirar la habilidad de Ernaux para escribir de una manera tan alejada y sin emoción, como un reportero transmitiendo las noticias. Y en el proceso, dividiéndolo en pedazos, descubrimos todo lo que lo hizo ser, partes de padres que tal vez reconozcamos, en los nuestros. Desde la niñez hasta la vejez, tratando de encontrar un lugar en una sociedad a la que pertenece y no. Īnnie Ernaux, hija, estudiante, aspirante a escritora y madre, disecciona la personalidad de su padre, esa entrañable y aterradora figura que muchos tuvimos y que algún día tal vez seremos. Some interesting quotes here and there, but nothing memorable that will truly stay, at least for me. Still, I for one need to have emotion in my readings, either be love or hate, but something at least, otherwise I might as well feel more inclined to read a pamphlet of trending furniture instead.Īlso I must note memoirs have never been my thing. You have to admire Ernaux skill to write in a so detached and emotionless way, like an anchor reporting the news. And in doing so, taking him part by part, we discover everything that made him be, parent’s parts we may even recognize, in ours. From childhood to old age, trying to find a place in a society he belongs and doesn’t. Īnnie Ernaux, daughter, student, aspiring author and mother, dissects the personality of her father, that loving and scary figure many of us had and someday might even become. A Man's Place is the companion book to her critically acclaimed memoir about her mother, A Woman's Story. Over the course of the book, Ernaux grows up to become the uncompromising observer now familiar to the world, while her father matures into old age with a staid appreciation for life as it is and for a daughter he cautiously, even reluctantly admires. She scrutinizes the importance he attributed to manners and language that came so unnaturally to him as he struggled to provide for his family with a grocery store and cafe in rural France. Narrating his slow ascent towards material comfort, Ernaux's cold observation reveals the shame that haunted her father throughout his life. Barely educated and valued since childhood strictly for his labor, Ernaux's father had grown into a hard, practical man who showed his family little affection. WINNER OF THE 2022 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATUREĪnnie Ernaux's father died exactly two months after she passed her practical examination for a teaching certificate.

Mas o menos in french