Do What They Say or Else
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature
Originally published in 1977, Do What They Say or Else is the second novel by French author Annie Ernaux. Set in a small town in Normandy, France, the novel tells the story of a fifteen-year-old girl named Anne, who lives with her working-class parents. The story, which takes place during the summer and fall of Anne’s transition from middle school to high school, is narrated in a stream-of-consciousness style from her point of view. Ernaux captures Anne’s adolescent voice, through which she expresses her keen observations in a highly colloquial style.
As the novel progresses and Anne’s feelings about her parents, her education, and her sexual encounters evolve, she grows into a more mature but also more conflicted and unhappy character, leaving behind the innocence of her middle school years. Not only must she navigate the often-confusing signals she receives from boys, but she also finds herself moving further and further away from her parents as she surpasses their educational level and worldview.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this unsettling novel from Ernaux (The Years), first published in France in 1977, a teenage girl has her first sexual experience on summer break. Anne, introverted and contemplative at 15, harbors a cool contempt for her working-class parents, especially her mother ("It had been a long time since she had said anything interesting to me"), and imagines living like the misanthropic protagonist of Camus's The Stranger. She vacillates between the intensities of her boredom ("I wanted something to happen, that was all, and nothing was happening") and curiosity about her secret-sharing girlfriends, a lecherous neighbor, and sex, which she believes will fundamentally alter her being and place in the world. It doesn't, as all she learns from losing her virginity to the older, politically engaged Mathieu is "the brutality of boys, their lack of tenderness." Nonetheless, Anne eludes the watchful gaze of her parents to pursue more sexual encounters, each a disillusionment that further increases her puzzlement. All the while, Ernaux renders a clear-eyed and pitiless depiction of Anne's dissatisfaction. It adds up to a powerful portrait of a searching adolescent.
