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Frozen Woman
Frozen Woman | Annie Ernaux
13 posts | 9 read | 4 to read
A Frozen Woman charts Ernaux's teenage awakening, and then the parallel progression of her desire to be desirable and her ambition to fulfill herself in her chosen profession - with the inevitable conflict between the two. And then she is thirty years old, a teacher married to an executive, mother of two infant sons. She looks after their nice apartment, raises her children. And yet, like millions of other women, she has felt her enthusiasm and curiosity, her strength and her happiness, slowly ebb under the weight of her daily routine. The very condition that everyone around her seems to consider normal and admirable for a woman is killing her. While each of Ernaux's books contain an autobiographical element, A Frozen Woman, one of Ernaux's early works, concentrates the spotlight piercingly on Annie herself. Mixing affection, rage and bitterness, A Frozen Woman shows us Ernaux's developing art when she still relied on traditional narrative, before the shortened form emerged that has since become her trademark.
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review
BarbaraBB
A frozen woman | Annie Ernaux
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Panpan

A frozen woman: frozen in time and in life. A life that consists of being a mother and a wife. No longer a woman, nor a professional. I loved Ernaux‘ The Young Man but this autobiographical story of her life is rather boring in my opinion. Her childhood, teens, meeting her future husband, it‘s all very recognizable but not that interesting.
Also the nagging about motherhood annoys me for she‘s enduring it without trying to improve her situation.

squirrelbrain Great review though! 😃 2mo
See All 14 Comments
BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain Thank you 😘 2mo
Librarybelle Yikes! That‘s a shame! 2mo
Ruthiella Ah well. I‘ve never read any Erneaux but when I do, I‘ll start with a different one. 2mo
Suet624 Did she win the Nobel prize for this book? 2mo
Hooked_on_books Oh no, a pan for Ernaux! It cannot be! I loved this one, but she definitely has a particular way of telling a story that won‘t work for everyone. 2mo
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!!! 2mo
dabbe #hailthebail! 🩶🖤🩶 2mo
BarbaraBB @Suet624 no it was published in 1981. 2mo
BarbaraBB @Hooked_on_books I was surprised too, I thought I would love it 🤷🏻‍♀️ 2mo
batsy A pan for Ernaux! 😱😁 I haven't heard of this one, actually! 2mo
BarbaraBB @batsy I was shocked too, convinced I‘d love it! 2mo
71 likes14 comments
blurb
BarbaraBB
A frozen woman | Annie Ernaux
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#WeeklyForecast 06/23

I am almost finished with The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store for #LitsyToB24 and fortunately I am liking it a lot! Next will be another Annie Ernaux. I discovered her last year and loved the book I read by her. For #ReadingOceania24 and #FoodAndLit I‘ll read Pet, of which I have read so many good reviews.

squirrelbrain Ooh, forgot that Pet would work for #readingoceania. 👍 2mo
CatLass007 I‘m glad you‘re enjoying it. I thought it was excellent. 2mo
Megabooks I really want to read Pet! 2mo
See All 14 Comments
Megabooks Looking forward to your review! 2mo
Suet624 Ernaux is 🔥 2mo
BarbaraBB @Suet624 she is but somehow this one doesn‘t work for me 🤷🏻‍♀️ 2mo
Suet624 Is it too much like her other ones? I started to feel as if she was reworking the same subject matter as I read more of her. 2mo
Sapphire I just decided on Pet for foodandlit on your post. Luminaries was probably too long. 2mo
BarbaraBB @Sapphire It is very long but do read it one day, it‘s sooooo good! 2mo
BarbaraBB @Suet624 She‘s talking is through her life and yes I feel that I know that already and even though I recognize a lot of myself in her, it is a bit boring to be honest. It‘s not a very eventful life 😀 2mo
Suet624 I think that‘s why I like her - I recognize myself. But yes, sometimes what I recognize is not what I want to be reminded of. 🥴😊 2mo
BarbaraBB @Megabooks Don‘t buy it 😉😘 2mo
Megabooks I won‘t then!! 😁😁😁💜💜 2mo
BarbaraBB @Megabooks 😇❤️ 2mo
80 likes14 comments
blurb
RowReads1
A frozen woman | Annie Ernaux
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YES!!!! Welcome to another edition of “be glad your mother volunteers in a used bookstore.”

batsy Wow! Nice 😍 7mo
47 likes1 comment
review
Hooked_on_books
A frozen woman | Annie Ernaux
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Pickpick

This book is extraordinary. Ernaux talks through a life (I assume it‘s hers) from childhood into adulthood, slowly revealing the ludicrous and painful reality of being a woman, the expectations piled on women, and the lack of interest society seems to have for what we actually want. It doesn‘t seem like much at first, but as the book goes on, the weight becomes more and more apparent. This is searing.

TrishB Great review 👍🏻 1y
BarbaraBB This one sounds good too! 1y
Love_Books_a_Latte Added to the TBR! Thanks for sharing your review 1y
46 likes3 stack adds3 comments
review
Flavius
Frozen Woman | Annie Ernaux
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Mehso-so

This is my second book by this author, after reading The Place. I wasn't totally convinced by it so I decided to give it a second chance. I guess there must be something that gets lost in the translation from French because I seem to be inmune to Ernaux"s writing. Her writing seems devoid of feeling, just a succession of events or thoughts. This book in particular seemed to be a list of complaints about motherhood.

review
SherryJones
A frozen woman | Annie Ernaux
Pickpick

This book by the inimitable Annie Ernaux, credited with the invention of autofiction, is a devastating portrait of a young woman‘s marriage to a man whom she had thought would support equality in their roles but who gets caught up in the patriarchal system with all its expectations for him and for her. She portrays the ambiguities of motherhood with a deft and nuanced hand, and mourns the identity she must sacrifice to his privilege.

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