A review by heelturn2
The Years by Annie Ernaux

reflective medium-paced

4.5

beautiful flowing prose (& great translation) - i dislike reading aloud but i read some of this to my partner & it was really enjoyable to speak the words on the page/hear it spoken. so evocative of time & place & especially collective mindset in a way that was fascinating and very recognizable to me. the way events happen & you feel yourself experiencing them with others, experiencing events the same way at the same time with others like you - the way certain elections and protests are described here draws up moments i’ve experienced in this collective way, the panic surrounding the 2016 us elections, excitement & possibility around police brutality protests during covid lockdown, horror watching the siege on gaza from afar… idk. one of those pieces of art that conveys its highly specific thing so well and so clearly that it gives you sense of shared human experience, rather than that of an outsider looking in.