cover image My Escape: An Autobiography

My Escape: An Autobiography

Beno%C3%AEte Groult, trans. from the French by Nichole Gleisner. Other Press, $17.95 trade paper (384p) ISBN 978-1-59051-543-3

Groult, a proud, sassy feminist, is well known in France for%E2%80%94among other ouvres%E2%80%94her then-racy novel Salt on Our Skin and her widely-read Ainsi soit-elle, which alerted many French readers for the first time to the practice of female genital mutilation. Whether one is familiar or not with Groult's work, this book is delightful for its frequently beautiful prose, and appealing for how it deals with controversial subjects (abortion, female subjugation, sexism in language). Intimate memories of the author's childhood%E2%80%94skiing with her father, wonder-gawking at her mother%E2%80%94and adulthood are fraught with struggle and questioning, as are her loves and love affairs. Misgivings about daughter-, mother-, grandmother-, and wife-hood decorate Groult's story, to which she adds interviews as well as analyses of women's treatment both in literature and in society at large. She endears herself to readers through profound insights and a generous sense of humor; her honest and occasionally bawdy style is a major plus. Though the book is not always seamless in its construction, it is clear that what Groult remembers and contemplates matters deeply to her. In that sense this book embodies what an autobiography should be: a careful selection of memories, anecdotes, and observations that gives the feeling of having conversed with a wonderful and memorable person. (Oct.)