A review by adawada
The Years by Annie Ernaux

5.0

A memoir of Ernaux herself as well as a collective one of her generation, this book perfectly encapsulates the years from when she’s a small girl born in 1941 to the year 2006. It talks of what it is to be a woman, what it is to be French, what it is to grow up across all of the changes throughout the years following the Second World War. It talks a lot about memory—again—the personal and the collective. What moments we remember and those we don’t. 

I enjoyed this book a lot, despite not being able to relate to a lot of it, having been born in 1992 and not knowing a lot about French politics. Ernaux took such great care to include the experiences of many and her writing is so captivating that I’m sure everyone would find something in this book to take away with them. I will definitely be picking up her other works.