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A review by archetypewriter
Look at the Lights, My Love by Annie Ernaux
4.0
Perhaps a 3.5. As short as it is, I feel it might have been stronger if it was a bit shorter. The redundancy does make sense given its notes/journal format and timespan. Ernaux immerses herself in one French big-box store, interviewing employees, learning about new-to-her tech, and observing behavior by and between customers and workers. I appreciated the times she clocks sexism, such as the way she was treated when she wanted to buy a usb flash drive. She also sagely observes the paltry two hard plastic chairs on the second floor would be an encouragement to keep shopping. She doesn't note the ableism of not providing chairs in other areas (or of possibly making the ones they did provide difficult for disabled people to use.) The book was published in 2014, but disability awareness existed before then.
I enjoyed reading about many of Ernaux's observations. She writes of the reality of couples making their first shopping trips to decide what to cook together, of choosing what to donate as though shopping for herself, (including looking for bargains), of the stress of using a self-checkout while under both a line of fellow customers and the "robot" checkout monitor you for mistakes. Some of the book is relatable and some is not. Some is amusing and some is poignant. Much is interesting.
I enjoyed reading about many of Ernaux's observations. She writes of the reality of couples making their first shopping trips to decide what to cook together, of choosing what to donate as though shopping for herself, (including looking for bargains), of the stress of using a self-checkout while under both a line of fellow customers and the "robot" checkout monitor you for mistakes. Some of the book is relatable and some is not. Some is amusing and some is poignant. Much is interesting.