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Ulysse's Reviews > Les Années
Les Années
by
To write something
About your life
About your times
About the time you spent
Walking the earth
Eyeing the sky
Thinking your thoughts
Thinking the thoughts
You thought were your own
About the books you read
And the films you saw
And the songs you heard
And the talks you had
And the things you felt
And the stuff you bought
All that stuff
The cars
The radios
The stereos
The TVs
The fax machines
The telephones
The computers
The washing machines
The microwaves
The tables and chairs
The hair curlers
The blowdryers
The shower heads
The beds
The curtains
The sofas
The rugs
The lawnmowers
The garden shears
The golf clubs
The martini glasses
The finger bowls
The pets
The clothes you wore
The shoes
The shirts
The skirts
The socks
The jocks
The lovers you met
The children you bore
The children they bore
The friends you made
Your changing face
Changing hands
Greying hair
Wrinkling skin
And the years adding up
And the politicians
In the papers
On the radio
On the telly
On the net
On social media
The empty words
Full of promise
Pouring from
Their rhetoric
And the world and its changes
The world and its rages
The indifference of its elements
The wind in the trees
The floods
The fires
The droughts
The earthquakes
The mosquitoes
The cataclysms
The presence of people
Of ever more
People
Those who are here
Those who aren't here
Those who wrote books
Who made music
Who built highways
Who found cures
Who taught children
Who fought wars
Who ate
Who slept
Who sang
Who prayed
Who invented
Made money
Spent money
Saved money
Did nothing
Died
All those who are now forgotten
Erased from existence
Those who breathed
Their last
And were never
Heard of again
To write something
To say Hey!
I was here
I lived
This is what I saw
Maybe that’s the whole point
Even if
In the end
Everything is bound
To disappear
Completely
But right now
Mid-July
A glorious summer day
Is about
To begin
You’re alive
You’ve had your breakfast
Finished reading
A wonderful book
Which you will probably
Never forget
And if these words
Aren't entirely
Your own
You don't care
Life is life
And you are
Content
by
Ulysse's review
bookshelves: 2025, books-to-line-my-coffin-with, novels, breathing-authors, re-verse-views, read-in-français
Jul 18, 2025
bookshelves: 2025, books-to-line-my-coffin-with, novels, breathing-authors, re-verse-views, read-in-français
To write something
About your life
About your times
About the time you spent
Walking the earth
Eyeing the sky
Thinking your thoughts
Thinking the thoughts
You thought were your own
About the books you read
And the films you saw
And the songs you heard
And the talks you had
And the things you felt
And the stuff you bought
All that stuff
The cars
The radios
The stereos
The TVs
The fax machines
The telephones
The computers
The washing machines
The microwaves
The tables and chairs
The hair curlers
The blowdryers
The shower heads
The beds
The curtains
The sofas
The rugs
The lawnmowers
The garden shears
The golf clubs
The martini glasses
The finger bowls
The pets
The clothes you wore
The shoes
The shirts
The skirts
The socks
The jocks
The lovers you met
The children you bore
The children they bore
The friends you made
Your changing face
Changing hands
Greying hair
Wrinkling skin
And the years adding up
And the politicians
In the papers
On the radio
On the telly
On the net
On social media
The empty words
Full of promise
Pouring from
Their rhetoric
And the world and its changes
The world and its rages
The indifference of its elements
The wind in the trees
The floods
The fires
The droughts
The earthquakes
The mosquitoes
The cataclysms
The presence of people
Of ever more
People
Those who are here
Those who aren't here
Those who wrote books
Who made music
Who built highways
Who found cures
Who taught children
Who fought wars
Who ate
Who slept
Who sang
Who prayed
Who invented
Made money
Spent money
Saved money
Did nothing
Died
All those who are now forgotten
Erased from existence
Those who breathed
Their last
And were never
Heard of again
To write something
To say Hey!
I was here
I lived
This is what I saw
Maybe that’s the whole point
Even if
In the end
Everything is bound
To disappear
Completely
But right now
Mid-July
A glorious summer day
Is about
To begin
You’re alive
You’ve had your breakfast
Finished reading
A wonderful book
Which you will probably
Never forget
And if these words
Aren't entirely
Your own
You don't care
Life is life
And you are
Content
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Les Années.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
July 18, 2025
– Shelved
July 18, 2025
– Shelved as:
2025
July 18, 2025
– Shelved as:
books-to-line-my-coffin-with
July 18, 2025
– Shelved as:
novels
July 18, 2025
– Shelved as:
breathing-authors
July 18, 2025
– Shelved as:
re-verse-views
July 18, 2025
– Shelved as:
read-in-français
July 18, 2025
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-22 of 22 (22 new)
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Nick
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added it
Jul 18, 2025 01:50AM
Oh, bugger, I knew I forgot to finish reading this a couple of years ago.
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Nick wrote: "Oh, bugger, I knew I forgot to finish reading this a couple of years ago."I can understand that, Nick. It is a VERY French book. I wonder if someone who hasn't lived in France can fully appreciate it, as I did.
Ulysse wrote: "Nick wrote: "Oh, bugger, I knew I forgot to finish reading this a couple of years ago."I can understand that, Nick. It is a VERY French book. I wonder if someone who hasn't lived in France can fully..."
Great to scroll through this book again via your rolling take on it, Ulysse.
I agree that to have lived in France during some of the decades Ernaux records is a great help towards fully appreciating what's she's done here.
Fionnuala wrote: "Great to scroll through this book again via your rolling take on it, Ulysse.I agree that to have lived in France during some of the decades Ernaux records is a great help towards fully appreciating what's she's done here."
Thanks Fionnuala :-) I figured since this book is a lot about pictures I might as well let my camera roll unroll itself.
Ulysse, you deeply moved me. I doubt the book will have the same effect once I decide to read it but the fact that it inspired you so is promising. I'm saving this for future visits - same as your music... :)
Wishing you lovely summer days in July, Lovely poetic review, Ulysse.
Ulysse, I think I liked your poem better than the book!
Violeta wrote: "Ulysse, you deeply moved me. I doubt the book will have the same effect once I decide to read it but the fact that it inspired you so is promising. I'm saving this for future visits - same as your..."
Thank you so much Violeta! I'm almost certain that once you've decided to give the Years a go, like me you won't be able to put it down until you've read the very last sentence. It's hypnotic and addictive, and supremely well-written to boot.
Laysee wrote: "Wishing you lovely summer days in July, Lovely poetic review, Ulysse."So far it's been a lovely summer, Laysee, thank you! I hope yours is going well too and giving you time to do the things you love :-)
Peter wrote: "Ulysse, I think I liked your poem better than the book!"That's a very nice thing of you to say, Peter, thanks! I loved the book, it really hit the spot, but I've been living in France for the past 19 years, and I think that explains part of the reasons why it resonated so much.
Daphna wrote: "What an absolutely beautiful review!"Thank you for taking the time to read it, Daphna, and for your lovely comment :-)
A nice homage to an unforgettable book, Ulysse!
Thanks Justin! Unforgettable, that’s the word!
Goodness, is this yours? I thought it was a poem from the book. It’s wonderful!
Thanks Yules! These words indeed came out of my brain but if I hadn’t read the book, they probably would have stayed there 😉
What a lovely celebration of life, Ulysse! I hope I like the book as much :)
Thank you, Jennifer! I hope you do too, I found it wonderful.
Ulysse wrote: "Thank you, Jennifer! I hope you do too, I found it wonderful."I now have it in my short pile, :)
New favourite review, right there. Fantastic book, too! She won me over with that one - on the first try. Québec had so much French content on the airwaves and in literature when I grew up, yet this single book filled all the missing spots. Boom.
Yay Jennifer! I can’t wait to read what you have to say about it!
Thanks Charles, that’s very sweet of you to say 😊 This book boomed me as well, perhaps the best contemporary French novel I’ve read recently. This was my second Ernaux, the first being Le Jeune Homme, which I found hard to take seriously, and it more than convinced me she deserved the Nobel.
