Happening by Annie Ernaux. No Advance Reader Copy included. No affiliate links used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Happening by Annie Ernaux, translated from the original French by Tanya Leslie, was the Abortion Book Club choice for June. It prompted me to finally read it because it has sat on my Kindle longer than I care to admit. When we discussed Ernaux’s short — under 100 pages — memoir about the illegal abortion she had in 1963, most of us said that while we appreciated the book, we weren’t sure enjoyable described the reading experience. Or whether we would recommend it to other people. By the end of the chat, we realised that we did enjoy reading it. And most of us would recommend it to people, with the caveat that it includes a graphic description of an abortion.
I use ‘graphic’ as a neutral descriptor. Ernaux’s depiction of her abortion is neither sensationalist nor overwrought. The bluntness of Ernaux’s writing makes it affecting and powerful. ‘I wasn’t the least bit apprehensive about getting an abortion.’, Ernaux states, letting the reader know that this abortion would happen one way or another. Even though when she decided to have one, she did not yet know how to arrange one because it was illegal. Happening is a testament to the lengths women and pregnant people will go to when they need an abortion.
I half-joked that after his comments about abortion not being a good thing, I was tempted to send a copy to Leo Varadkar and ask him to explain why this abortion was not a good thing for Annie Ernaux. I won’t, but I considered it!
I loved how Ernaux interjects throughout the text to tell us about the process of writing Happening. We get the matter-of-fact telling of the story combined with a thought-provoking narration of the choices Ernaux made in deciding to write about having an abortion when it was illegal in France.
Happening by Annie Ernaux, translated by Tanya Leslie, is published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in the UK & Ireland and by Seven Stories Press elsewhere. Happenings is available in paperback and ebook formats.
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