A Woman's Story [Paperback]

Annie Ernaux (Author), Tanya Leslie (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1583225757 | ISBN-13: 978-1583225752 | Publication Date: August 5, 2003

A Woman’s Story is Annie Ernaux’s "deeply affecting account of mothers and daughters, youth and age, and dreams and reality" (Kirkus Reviews). Upon her mother’s death from Alzheimer’s, Ernaux embarks on a daunting journey back through time, as she seeks to "capture the real woman, the one who existed independently from me, born on the outskirts of a small Normandy town, and who died in the geriatric ward of a hospital in the suburbs of Paris." She explores the bond between mother and daughter, tenuous and unshakable at once, the alienating worlds that separate them, and the inescapable truth that we must lose the ones we love. In this quietly powerful tribute, Ernaux attempts to do her mother the greatest justice she can: to portray her as the individual she was. She writes, "I believe I am writing about my mother because it is my turn to bring her into the world."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This semi-autobiographical novel is a brief, aching requiem for the Prix Renaudot-winning author's mother, a victim of Alzheimer's disease. Ernaux's latest, A Man's Place , will be published in April by Four Walls Eight Windows.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Born into a working-class environment of pride and alcoholism, the woman of this story emerges strong-willed, ambitious, and full of human contradictions. She is Ernaux's mother, whose death after a harrowing decline into Alzheimer's disease compelled the best-selling French author to re-create her life. The result is a slender volume that, like its subject, discourages easy categorization. Ernaux describes it as a blend of literature, sociology, and history, but it is also a memoir, a tribute, and a healing exercise for the bereaved author-narrator. Ernaux's style shifts between detached, journalistic reportage and intimate self-analysis. Her poignant, personal novel may appeal more to readers of belles lettres--and of recovery literature--than to readers of popular fiction and biography. La Place , a companion work about Ernaux's father, is forthcoming from the publisher.
- Janet Ingraham, Spartan burg Cty.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press (August 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583225757
• ISBN-13: 978-1583225752
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.3 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #923,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #69 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > French
  • #72 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Authors

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The universal is in the details, August 12, 2000

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Woman's Story (Hardcover)

A Woman's Story is an account of Ernaux's mother from her beginnings on a Normandy farm, through working in a factory and running a store with her husband, to trying, as a widow, to live with her educated daughter and her family. Mother was a woman of thwarted ambition who hoped to fulfill her ambition through her daughter. Ernaux captured well the friction that arose between them both as a result of the ambition and the resulting class conflict its fulfillment brought. In contrast to Positions, Ernaux's portrayal of her father, this book spends more time on the relationships of her mother to her husband and daughter. As in most of Ernaux's work her ability to use a direct style and very specific details to reflect human nature as a whole is the prime reaason for reading the book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A daughter's story about her mother, October 18, 2008

By 

K. Campbell (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Woman's Story (Paperback)

Ernaux has fashioned a compelling tribute to her mother by telling the story through her eyes as a child but now filtered through her analysis as an adult. As children we experience life, especially the relationships of our parents, as they happen without much ability to synthesize the deeper meanings. As adults, sifting through the past, we can often see what those moments really meant. A deeper understanding can be gained by trying to inhabit our mother's shoes as we age and discovering not only what kind of person she was but what kind of person we are because of her influence of in spite of it.
Ernaux is first an honest writer adding no more words than are necessary to give the reader a full understanding of the events that shaped her life. She is second a writer of beautiful prose.