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A review by dr_dumpling
En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule by Édouard Louis
4.0
*I read the French version
En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule, or The End of Eddy, is a dark, graphic coming-of-age novel that portrays a brutal childhood. Split into two different sections and an epilogue, it's an eye-opening look into the socioeconomic struggles of growing up in a small French village. Set in Hallencourt, Picardy (100 miles away from where I lived last year as a teaching assistant) during the 1990s-2000s, the novel moves seamlessly from past to present, from his childhood under an alcoholic father to his being bullied for being gay. Poverty rules the people, and racism, homophobia, and sexism infiltrate all aspects of life--unfortunate already, but even more so if you happen to be gay like Eddy. Dental hygiene and education all take a back seat to gender roles, and
put simply, this is a novel about how toxic masculinity kills--literally. It sent men spiraling into alcoholism and trapped Eddy in self-deprecation so deep that he killed off Bellegueule and became Édouard Louis.
En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule, or The End of Eddy, is a dark, graphic coming-of-age novel that portrays a brutal childhood. Split into two different sections and an epilogue, it's an eye-opening look into the socioeconomic struggles of growing up in a small French village. Set in Hallencourt, Picardy (100 miles away from where I lived last year as a teaching assistant) during the 1990s-2000s, the novel moves seamlessly from past to present, from his childhood under an alcoholic father to his being bullied for being gay. Poverty rules the people, and racism, homophobia, and sexism infiltrate all aspects of life--unfortunate already, but even more so if you happen to be gay like Eddy. Dental hygiene and education all take a back seat to gender roles, and
put simply, this is a novel about how toxic masculinity kills--literally. It sent men spiraling into alcoholism and trapped Eddy in self-deprecation so deep that he killed off Bellegueule and became Édouard Louis.