Three stories by this author. Seventeen, how she felt free as a woman, how she got pregnant and had an abortion. Betrayal of her own body. Friendship, with Héloïse, that lasts almost all her life, well, almost all of Héloïse’s abbreviated life. Being confronted with death when everything seems to be flowing. Swimming: a love story… with a man who loved to swim. A reflection on several other loves in her life. I really liked the tone of the writing and wonder if it is so simple, fluid, direct in French. I will have to read something else by her.
“In her November 1974 speech to the Assemblée nationale, Simone Veil said: ‘In spite of contraception, accidents are possible.’ I was taking the pill, but I hadn’t taken it conscientiously, I hadn’t always paid attention. Do I have the right to claim it was an accident?
I was so carefree. My woman’s body was so new to me, I didn’t yet know that it would impose its own rules, limit actions, movements, freedoms. It does not entirely belong to me, can easily be transferred to someone else. I felt betrayed by it. It took away my liberty.”
Original titles :
Seventeen first published in French as Dix-sept ans (2015)
Friendship first published in French as Deux petites bourgeoises (2021)
Swimming: A Love Story first published in French as La Tendresse du crawl (2019)
Read and listened to as an audiobook