The End of Eddy: A Novel

by Édouard Louis

Other authorsMichael Lucey (Translator)

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Call number

BIO Loui

Genres

General Fiction

Collection

Michael C. Weidemann LGBT Library at Gay City

Publication

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2017), Edition: 1st Edition, 208 pages

Description

"An autobiographical novel about growing up gay in a working-class town in Picardy. "Every morning in the bathroom I would repeat the same phrase to myself over and over again. Today I'm really gonna be a tough guy." Growing up in a poor village in northern France, all Eddy Bellegueule wanted was to be a man in the eyes of his family and neighbors. But from childhood, he was different -- "girlish," intellectually precocious, and attracted to other men. Already translated into twenty languages, The End of Eddy captures the violence and desperation of life in a French factory town. It is also a sensitive, universal portrait of boyhood and sexual awakening. Like Karl Ove Knausgaard or Edmund White, douard Louis writes from his own undisguised experience, but he writes with an openness and a compassionate intelligence that are all his own. The result -- a critical and popular triumph -- has made him the most celebrated French writer of his generation."--"An autobiographical novel about growing up gay in a working-class town in Picardy"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Kristelh

This is a little book written as fiction but very autobiographical of the author’s life growing up poor, gay in France. It is also a coming of age and tells the awareness of his identifity, the effort to overcome his identity and then the coming to peace with that identity. I read this as part of

the ToB but it got beat out by Dear Cyborg before I got to the end. It is a quick read.

I would disagree with the author on one or two points but then, this is the story of his perceptions so it doesn’t matter what I think. Eddy was brutally bullied by classmates. He makes a statement early on that people think of the humiliation when they see someone being abused and not the physical pain. I think about the pain. I hate violence and the reason I hate it, is because the pain is so real to me.

The author is a child of the nineties. I was surprised by the description of his poverty and working class childhood. It reminded me so much of my own experience which was in the fifties/sixties. I thought that there would have been some advancements just in general but apparently not in France.

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LibraryThing member kayanelson

Part of TOB. A quick read and sad that people have to put up with such homophobia and abuse from it. But overall the book didn't really make that much of an impression on me--it was hard for me to relate.

LibraryThing member Carmenere

An honest and eye opening story of a young man who begins to show effeminate tendencies at a very early age. In the rough and tumble working class town in France in which he lived, a factory town where drinking and late night brawls are the norm, Eddy Bellegueule at first tries to conform. Urged on

by his parents, brother and sister to act like a man they arrange dates for him and although he goes along with their fix ups and tries to enjoy the company of girls he knows it's not right for him. Eddy comes to expect the daily embarrassment and beatings school bullies bestow upon him and even his father's verbal abuse. He learns, to be himself, there is only one thing he can do. It's just a matter of when to do it.

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LibraryThing member bostonbibliophile

A tough read but worthwhile, about growing up poor, gay and isolated in a blue-collar part of France. He gets that working class mindset and milieu. The bullying he experiences is harrowing and awful; his escape through education and theater is inspiring and feels true to life. I know this is a

roman a clef but it is called a novel and marketed as fiction, so it's always a little confusing when it comes to how to review it. I loved it basically and plan to read it in the original French soon.

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LibraryThing member ireneattolia

simply and elegantly written (and well translated!!)

LibraryThing member yooperprof

Crude account of growing up queer in working class France of the 1990s, written without much perspective by a very young author.

Like a French + gay "Angela's Ashes" without the Celtic humor. I didn't "buy it."

LibraryThing member arewenotben

Raw and unflinching, interesting to read this kind of writing from a working class and non-urban voice. The early sexual encounters are an amazing, if disturbing, read.

LibraryThing member robfwalter

This is a moving story about growing up gay in a small town in northern France. What struck me particularly is how easily the events described could have taken place in the north of England, or probably in any economically disadvantaged region in an industrialised country. I feel like this is

autofiction, in the sense that it claims to be fiction, but I think it's basically a memoir. The first person narrator, Eddy, endures relentless homophobia, loneliness and poverty. However, the subject matter is lifted from pure misery and anger by the Eddy's charming presence. He is philosophical, humorous and playful. There is a sense that he's not just trying to tell the story of his life, but to understand it and connect it to something larger than himself.

The prose is lively and charming. There's a sense that the narrator is struggling to find a way the best way to tell this story and is not embarrassed about bringing the reader on that journey. I, for one, am very glad to have been invited along.

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