Annie Ernaux

"My father tried to kill my mother one Sunday in June, in the early afternoon," begins Shame, the probing story of the twelve-year-old girl who will become the author herself, and the single traumatic memory that will echo and resonate throughout her life. With the emotionally rich voice of great fiction and the diamond-sharp analytical eye of a scientist, Annie Ernaux provides a powerful reflection on experience and the power of violent memory to endure through time, to determine the course of a life.

Shame

Cindy Lieberman

“The worst thing about shame is that we imagine we are the only ones to experience it.” 

A short retelling of an incident in the author’s life when she was a schoolgirl and how it colored both her childhood and how she saw herself for decades. 

A strong reminder that we need to be tuned in to how children perceive themselves and their place in the world. Not talking about incidents is not the best option since children see and hear things they may not understand and create their own (potentially false) narratives. Those inner voices have outsized control over our psyche, our behaviors, and our self-esteem.

Shame

Reviews