Scan barcode
A review by libraryofshamsie
Happening by Annie Ernaux
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.75
4.8 stars* filled with emotion unlike and unimaginable to what she was actually experiencing, or "steady flow of unhappiness", happening by annie ernaux turns her happening to writing then that writing becomes happening (as said by michel leiris). ernaux's voice is deep and sharp, while still writing a memoir that draws the line on her emotions. as she recounts the time before, during, and after her abortion in a time when it was illegal, her writing presents a different experience that rarely speaks on her feelings. ernaux writes, "the distress I experienced on recalling certain images and on hearing certain words is beyond comparison with what I felt at the time: these are merely literary emotions; in other words, they generate the act of writing and justify it's veracity." and yet, the unhappiness and anger and pain that still presents in this work is still felt, and at times it felt even more amplified because of the fact that it drags through its entirety.
4.8/5 ✩ happening is my first ernaux, and i must say she exceeded my expectations. the writing made me feel detached yet so entwined with this time of annie ernaux's life. it was a frustrating and melancholic experience to read this; to imagine living through this is scary. i can hear and feel the anger and pain, even though it's not explicitly stated nor is it written. it's a moving, yet short, true experience on a woman who's paging through her past to learn how a certain moment shaped her present and future self.
"I want to become immersed in that part of my life once again and learn what can be found there. This investigation must be seen in the context of a narrative, the only genre able to transcribe an event that was nothing but time flowing inside and outside of me."
4.8/5 ✩ happening is my first ernaux, and i must say she exceeded my expectations. the writing made me feel detached yet so entwined with this time of annie ernaux's life. it was a frustrating and melancholic experience to read this; to imagine living through this is scary. i can hear and feel the anger and pain, even though it's not explicitly stated nor is it written. it's a moving, yet short, true experience on a woman who's paging through her past to learn how a certain moment shaped her present and future self.
"I want to become immersed in that part of my life once again and learn what can be found there. This investigation must be seen in the context of a narrative, the only genre able to transcribe an event that was nothing but time flowing inside and outside of me."