Book Review : I remain in Darkness by Annie Ernaux
FEBRUARY 16, 2020In the past few years I had a difficult time in accepting the fact that parents are growing old. I was always seeing them as these fierce, middle aged people who scrutinized my actions, admonished for the choices I made and tried to fit me into the box of a dutiful daughter. But now it seems that the tables have turned.I have reached the fierce, middle age stage and my parents are shrinking into the childhood that is old age. In one moment I can hear myself scolding them for not keeping up with the doctor’s appointment and the next moment I am this young girl who got scolded off by her mother because she didn’t take the medicine on time. As I look back, I will trade anything to go back to the latter stage.
This book is an unedited version of Annie Ernaux’s notes after her mother diagnosed with the Alzheimer’s. The agony of writing about her mother’s early life and remembering the strong woman she used to be and then on the same day coming to the hospital to see her smeared in her own filth is all captured in such an heart wrenching way.I picked this book book thinking that it is under 100 pages and I can finish it off easily. It is anything, but an easy read. Pick it up if you are ready to shed some tears without even realizing it.
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