History of Violence
Complex
Intense
Repetitive

History of Violence A Novel

Edouard Louis2018
History of Violence is international bestselling French author Edouard Louis’s autobiographical novel about surviving a shocking sexual assault and coping with the post-traumatic stress disorder of its aftermath. On Christmas Eve 2012, in Paris, the novelist Édouard Louis was raped and almost murdered by a man he had just met. This act of violence left Louis shattered; its aftermath made him a stranger to himself and sent him back to the village, the family, and the past he had sworn to leave behind. A bestseller in France, History of Violence is a short nonfiction novel in the tradition of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, but with the victim as its subject. Moving seamlessly and hypnotically between past and present, between Louis’s voice and the voice of an imagined narrator, History of Violence has the exactness of a police report and the searching, unflinching curiosity of memoir at its best. It records not only the casual racism and homophobia of French society but also their subtle effects on lovers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives. It represents a great step forward for a young writer whose acuity, skill, and depth are unmatched by any novelist of his generation, in French or English.
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Reviews

Photo of Sydney Alston
Sydney Alston@slipsnslidez
4 stars
Oct 31, 2022
This review contains a spoiler
Dark
Complex
Intense
Photo of Hellboy TCR
Hellboy TCR@hellboytcr009
4 stars
Oct 18, 2022
Photo of Celine
Celine@152celine
3.5 stars
May 6, 2024
Honest
Repetitive
Depressing
Photo of Morgan Thomas
Morgan Thomas@moalthom91
3 stars
Apr 8, 2023
Photo of Roman Micevic
Roman Micevic@romanima
4 stars
Mar 21, 2023
Photo of Sam O'Leary
Sam O'Leary@soleary
4 stars
May 30, 2022
Photo of James Haliburton
James Haliburton@jdhberlin
5 stars
Jan 11, 2022
Photo of Laura
Laura@lastblues13
4 stars
Aug 28, 2021

Highlights

Photo of Celine
Celine@152celine
Page 74
Photo of Celine
Celine@152celine
Page 32