The Years

By: Annie Ernaux

Narrated by: Anna Bentinck

The Years is a personal narrative of the period of 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past and present - even projections into the future - photos, books, songs, radio, television, and decades of advertising and headlines, contrasted with intimate conflicts and written notes from six decades of diaries. Local dialect, words of the time, slogans, brands, and names for ever-proliferating objects are given a voice here. The voice we recognize as the author's continually dissolves and re-emerges. Ernaux makes the passage of time palpable. Time itself, inexorable, narrates its own course, consigning all other narrators to anonymity. A new kind of autobiography emerges, at once subjective and impersonal, private and collective.

On its 2008 publication in France, The Years came as a surprise. Although Ernaux had, for years, been hailed as a beloved best-selling and award-winning author, The Years was in many ways a departure: both an intimate memoir written by entire generations and a story of generations telling a very personal story.

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insightful, a subjective take at time passing

great performance and the story is oddly gripping. The completely objective voice with which we experience a subjective worldview is bizarre and extremely immersive

A masterpiece

I am a French-speaking Francophile and loved learning so much about life there throughout the years.

Collective memoir

The book is a personal narrative from 1940 to 2007. It’s unlike any memoir I’ve ever read because the author does not use “I” at all but prefers using “we” as she describes what can be called a collective memoir primarily set in France.

Her Narrative Grows on You

Annie Ernaux writes the book she means to write, as you find out by the end. It is a lovely portrait of a time in the world, clearly evoked in all its frustrations and ecstasies. The French social references may not connect much with Americans, but there will be enough familiar landmarks to keep you in step. When she discusses the personal business of aging and memories I think we all can relate to her as a fellow human being.

Poetic, bridled stream of consciousness

There have been 3 books that had an emotional, cathartic effect on me by the end: Don Quixote, 100 years of Solitude, and this book. I loved it.

Mixed Feelings

This book is impossible to rate. It is a phenomenal cultural history 1940-2017, (France, but relevant to USA and Europe). Many insightful observations, and captures the mood of those years. The intentionally non-personal point of view makes it hard to listen to, if you like a good story. Yet it is fascinating at the same time and hard to put down. Well written. Well read.

A Reflection of a Trajectory

I imagine many won’t like this book because it is not conventional- not a story, not a novel. But what it is is a woman’s view of her life and a recollection of the elements that come together in a collage to create that which is similar to how we recall time, our lives, memories.
I found it poetic and mystical. I didn’t always agree or view things like the woman she talks about but who cares. She engaged me. Ahe kept me there with her - listening.

I felt as if I walked beside her through her life

Ernaux’s elegant writing style makes this more than a walk down memory lane for a person such as I who was born in the same year. Her lucid observations and evaluative commentary allow you into the room/world with her. Highly enjoyable.

An excellent book !

This is a must read … a story of our lives , unfolding !
Anna Ernaux has captured lives of women in the last 8 decades.

Brilliant

A must read from this extraordinary observer of our time - Sartre's contemporary descendant.