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A Trilogia de Paris
Escrito em resposta a Annie Ernaux e em conversa com Elena Ferrante, A Trilogia de Paris é composta por três planos semiautobiográficos da vida de uma mulher: Dezassete Anos; Duas Burguesinhas; A Ternura do Crawl. Explorando questões sobre sexualidade, autonomia corporal, feminilidade, amizade e perda, esta é uma comovente meditação sobre a viagem de uma vida para resgatar o corpo feminino, aceitando-o com todas as suas falhas e aprendendo a celebrar a sua força.
Em Dezassete Anos, a romancista descobre que está grávida mal chega à idade dos primeiros amores e do final do secundário. Decide não ficar com a criança, mas o calvário do aborto transforma a rapariga despreocupada que era, obrigando-a a entrar na idade adulta.
Duas Burguesinhas conta o nascimento de uma amizade entre duas meninas de boas famílias que são parecidas, crescem juntas e seguem o mesmo caminho: casam, têm filhos, divorciam-se ao mesmo tempo, vivem histórias de amor semelhantes... até ao dia em que a morte bate à porta de uma delas.
Em A Ternura do Crawl, uma mulher conta a sua doce e dolorosa história de amor com Gabriel, um homem que lhe assegura a sinceridade dos seus sentimentos, mas cujo comportamento incerto faz pairar a dúvida sobre a solidez da relação.
Em Dezassete Anos, a romancista descobre que está grávida mal chega à idade dos primeiros amores e do final do secundário. Decide não ficar com a criança, mas o calvário do aborto transforma a rapariga despreocupada que era, obrigando-a a entrar na idade adulta.
Duas Burguesinhas conta o nascimento de uma amizade entre duas meninas de boas famílias que são parecidas, crescem juntas e seguem o mesmo caminho: casam, têm filhos, divorciam-se ao mesmo tempo, vivem histórias de amor semelhantes... até ao dia em que a morte bate à porta de uma delas.
Em A Ternura do Crawl, uma mulher conta a sua doce e dolorosa história de amor com Gabriel, um homem que lhe assegura a sinceridade dos seus sentimentos, mas cujo comportamento incerto faz pairar a dúvida sobre a solidez da relação.
232 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2025
134 people are currently reading
8155 people want to read
About the author
Colombe Schneck
25 books84 followersColombe Schneck is documentary film director, a journalist, and the author of twelve books of fiction and nonfiction. She has received prizes from the Académie française, Madame Figaro, and the Société des gens de lettres. The recipient of a scholarship from the Villa Medici in Rome as well as a Stendhal grant from the Institut français, she was born and educated in Paris, where she still lives.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 354 reviews
July 1, 2024
i wish that were my life in three stories.
i expected to enjoy this book, because i love translated literature by women and i never tire of reading about france.
i didn't expect to be so impressed by it!
the author's self awareness, the way she writes emotionally but cleanly and sparsely, her rendering of her life through such clear and simple prose...all of it blew me away. i was enraptured by the last novella in particular, gobbling up the pages, my heart hurting, hoping for a happily ever after.
so who cares about the weaker moments.
bottom line: i am so pleasantly surprised. by a book i expected to like! what a treat.
(review to come / thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
i expected to enjoy this book, because i love translated literature by women and i never tire of reading about france.
i didn't expect to be so impressed by it!
the author's self awareness, the way she writes emotionally but cleanly and sparsely, her rendering of her life through such clear and simple prose...all of it blew me away. i was enraptured by the last novella in particular, gobbling up the pages, my heart hurting, hoping for a happily ever after.
so who cares about the weaker moments.
bottom line: i am so pleasantly surprised. by a book i expected to like! what a treat.
(review to come / thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
March 11, 2024
These three pieces of autofiction are very clearly in dialogue with Annie Ernaux as acknowledged by the author at the start of Seventeen/Dix-sept ans.
The first piece on having an abortion and the long emotional aftermath also, though, highlights the differences from Ernaux's experience: the narrator here is living in Paris in the 1980s, is the privileged daughter of left-wing doctors, and doesn't experience that shame which is such a driver from Ernaux's working-class background to her writing. Nevertheless, the event is no less foundational here, reverberating as an echoing sense of absence and loss through a life.
The second piece, Friendship in this English translation, rather than the more clarifying Deux petites bourgeoises in the original feels particularly Gallic as it traces the lives of two bourgeois women in a tradition that certainly encompasses, if it doesn't spring from, Madame Bovary.
The third piece, Swimming: A Love Story/La tendresse du crawl, is perhaps the most sophisticated as the older narrator comes to terms with her expectations and experiences of love.
What holds all three pieces together is an acute engagement with what it means to live inside a female body: teenage confidence and unassailability are punctured by the biology of pregnancy; bourgeois comfort cannot hold back the ravages of life or cancer; and, finally, a form of freedom and self-love come, unexpectedly, from swimming: 'I was completely inhabiting my body, it was an entirely unfamiliar freedom, bodily freedom, rapture, a sensuality that I alone was responsible for'.
This may not be as literarilly and intellectually sophisticated as Ernaux's work or as expansive as Deborah Levy's 'living autobiography' books, but this adds a Parisian slant to our growing shelf of what it means to live bodily as a woman at the turn of the twentieth/twenty first centuries.
Thanks to Scribner UK for an ARC via NetGalley
The first piece on having an abortion and the long emotional aftermath also, though, highlights the differences from Ernaux's experience: the narrator here is living in Paris in the 1980s, is the privileged daughter of left-wing doctors, and doesn't experience that shame which is such a driver from Ernaux's working-class background to her writing. Nevertheless, the event is no less foundational here, reverberating as an echoing sense of absence and loss through a life.
The second piece, Friendship in this English translation, rather than the more clarifying Deux petites bourgeoises in the original feels particularly Gallic as it traces the lives of two bourgeois women in a tradition that certainly encompasses, if it doesn't spring from, Madame Bovary.
The third piece, Swimming: A Love Story/La tendresse du crawl, is perhaps the most sophisticated as the older narrator comes to terms with her expectations and experiences of love.
What holds all three pieces together is an acute engagement with what it means to live inside a female body: teenage confidence and unassailability are punctured by the biology of pregnancy; bourgeois comfort cannot hold back the ravages of life or cancer; and, finally, a form of freedom and self-love come, unexpectedly, from swimming: 'I was completely inhabiting my body, it was an entirely unfamiliar freedom, bodily freedom, rapture, a sensuality that I alone was responsible for'.
This may not be as literarilly and intellectually sophisticated as Ernaux's work or as expansive as Deborah Levy's 'living autobiography' books, but this adds a Parisian slant to our growing shelf of what it means to live bodily as a woman at the turn of the twentieth/twenty first centuries.
Thanks to Scribner UK for an ARC via NetGalley
September 27, 2025
#WITMonth 2024
Para além da associação mais evidente, a “Trilogia de Copenhaga” de Tove Ditlevsen, é também fácil estabelecer ligações de cada uma das partes que formam “The Paris Trilogy” com outras autoras sobejamente conhecidas. Em “Seventeen”, Colombe Schneck relata um aborto que fez aos 17 anos, tal como Annie Ernaux em “O Acontecimento”; em “Friendship” recorda a sua complexa amizade com outra mulher desde a infância, numa versão chique de Elena e Lila de Elena Ferrante; e com “Swimming: a love story” impressionou decerto Deborah Levy, que até lhe deixou um elogio na capa.
I can tell you writing these texts transformed me. I have strong shoulders, two fists to punch with, you shouldn’t mess with me.
LIVRO 1- “SEVENTEEN” – 4*
Abortion isn’t a subject worthy of literature.
1964-A autora Annie Ernaux faz um aborto clandestino aos 23 anos
1971-Marie Claire, vítima de violação aos 17 anos, faz um aborto clandestino e é levada a tribunal, dando origem a acesos debates.
1975- Simone Veil, Ministra da Saúde francesa, consegue a aprovação da lei de descriminalização do aborto, a chamada “Lei Veil”.
1984-Colombe Schneck submete-se à interrupção voluntária da gravidez numa clínica.
É a Annie Ernaux que Colombe dedica “Seventeen”, a idade em que, face também a uma gravidez indesejada, pôde fazer um aborto legal numa clínica, com todas as condições, sem críticas nem julgamentos, nem dos pais nem dos médicos. No entanto, durante anos, foi incapaz de contar o sucedido às amigas ou ao marido.
I don’t dare – I won’t say confess, because I didn’t commit a sin to be confessed. Rather, I don’t want them to know of my sorrow. (…) Why this silence? Why do women keep quiet? I’m ashamed.
Num tom intimista, a jovem reflecte sobre o seu corpo numa altura em que acha que o feminismo e slogans como “O meu corpo pertence-me” já estão ultrapassados, não se dando conta do paradoxo.
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.
As últimas páginas, dirigidas 30 anos depois a esta criança que não nasceu, são emocionantes.
I can finally write it: your absence has accompanied me for 30 years. Your absence liberated me, and made me the woman I am today.
LIVRO 2- “FRIENDSHIP” – 5*
There are thousand ways to be friends, whereas there are only a few ways to be in a couple.
Adoro histórias sobre amigas e esta, que é real e acompanha Colombe e a sua grande amiga Héloïse desde que se conhecem aos 11 anos até à morte desta, destroçou-me.
Colegas de turma num prestigiado colégio parisiense, as meninas são desde cedo umas betinhas de boas famílias, duas privilegiadas com acesso a tudo o que o seu berço lhes pode proporcionar. É cortante o retrato que Colombe pinta da sua própria classe, os liberais burgueses, “who think they’re on the right side of history because they are left-wing and that means they can’t be accused of being bourgeois. Scum.”
Sem nunca renunciar ao seu estatuto, a autora socorre-se da auto-crítica e do sarcasmo para fazer uma análise sincera à classe a que pertence.
You have to have money to believe that money doesn’t matter. Colombe insists on the fact that her four immigrant grandparents arrived in France with nothing. When her parents die, she will inherit furniture and even enough money to buy a small apartment in Paris, but bourgeois, that derogatory label? No, not at all.
Apesar das parecenças e das diferenças, dos caminhos diferentes que seguem, dos feitios contrastantes que cultivam, de se afastarem e se aproximarem em vários pontos da vida, há algo que continua a ser comum:
They are 30, 35, 40 years old, their heads bowed, their shoulders hunched, they are silent and downtrodden. She was convinced that thanks to their social status and their money they would be freer, less blind, their husbands more modern, the system less suffocating for them, they would rebel, find a different place. It turns out that money and class don’t cut it – they are wrung out by their gender.
Até que a morte as separa para sempre.
There is no one whom Héloïse can ask questions like: Does it hurt to die? Do you have to talk to death, negotiate with death? How do you prepare to die? What do you do when death is there and you have to say goodbye to life?
LIVRO 3- “SWIMMING: A LOVE STORY”- 3*
Love is a land of savages.
Esta foi a parte de que menos gostei. É uma história de amor e desamor, e é difícil ser-se original nesta matéria.
Apesar de o seu pai não ter sido um bom marido, Colombe tem por ele um verdadeiro complexo de Electra que a acompanha em todas as relações desde que ele morreu, quando ela tinha 23 anos.
I was 30, about to marry a man I chose because when we first met, he told me: if we ever get married, I promise I will never leave you, but I will definitely cheat on you. That seemed quite a reassuring proposal: he would be like my father, but he would never leave me as my father had by dying.
Como não é igual à própria mãe, divorcia-se dele passados 10 anos e, após vários relacionamentos, aos 50 anos, reencontra Gabriel, com quem já se cruzara em jovem.
Gabriel said, I can’t love you like your father did, with that kind of love.
He was right, and that was the night, 25 years and 10 months after his death, when I finally broke up with my father.
Quando também este relacionamento termina, é à natação que a autora recorre como consolo e superação.
It was paradise, and then it was lost.
Para além da associação mais evidente, a “Trilogia de Copenhaga” de Tove Ditlevsen, é também fácil estabelecer ligações de cada uma das partes que formam “The Paris Trilogy” com outras autoras sobejamente conhecidas. Em “Seventeen”, Colombe Schneck relata um aborto que fez aos 17 anos, tal como Annie Ernaux em “O Acontecimento”; em “Friendship” recorda a sua complexa amizade com outra mulher desde a infância, numa versão chique de Elena e Lila de Elena Ferrante; e com “Swimming: a love story” impressionou decerto Deborah Levy, que até lhe deixou um elogio na capa.
I can tell you writing these texts transformed me. I have strong shoulders, two fists to punch with, you shouldn’t mess with me.
LIVRO 1- “SEVENTEEN” – 4*
Abortion isn’t a subject worthy of literature.
1964-A autora Annie Ernaux faz um aborto clandestino aos 23 anos
1971-Marie Claire, vítima de violação aos 17 anos, faz um aborto clandestino e é levada a tribunal, dando origem a acesos debates.
1975- Simone Veil, Ministra da Saúde francesa, consegue a aprovação da lei de descriminalização do aborto, a chamada “Lei Veil”.
1984-Colombe Schneck submete-se à interrupção voluntária da gravidez numa clínica.
É a Annie Ernaux que Colombe dedica “Seventeen”, a idade em que, face também a uma gravidez indesejada, pôde fazer um aborto legal numa clínica, com todas as condições, sem críticas nem julgamentos, nem dos pais nem dos médicos. No entanto, durante anos, foi incapaz de contar o sucedido às amigas ou ao marido.
I don’t dare – I won’t say confess, because I didn’t commit a sin to be confessed. Rather, I don’t want them to know of my sorrow. (…) Why this silence? Why do women keep quiet? I’m ashamed.
Num tom intimista, a jovem reflecte sobre o seu corpo numa altura em que acha que o feminismo e slogans como “O meu corpo pertence-me” já estão ultrapassados, não se dando conta do paradoxo.
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.
As últimas páginas, dirigidas 30 anos depois a esta criança que não nasceu, são emocionantes.
I can finally write it: your absence has accompanied me for 30 years. Your absence liberated me, and made me the woman I am today.
LIVRO 2- “FRIENDSHIP” – 5*
There are thousand ways to be friends, whereas there are only a few ways to be in a couple.
Adoro histórias sobre amigas e esta, que é real e acompanha Colombe e a sua grande amiga Héloïse desde que se conhecem aos 11 anos até à morte desta, destroçou-me.
Colegas de turma num prestigiado colégio parisiense, as meninas são desde cedo umas betinhas de boas famílias, duas privilegiadas com acesso a tudo o que o seu berço lhes pode proporcionar. É cortante o retrato que Colombe pinta da sua própria classe, os liberais burgueses, “who think they’re on the right side of history because they are left-wing and that means they can’t be accused of being bourgeois. Scum.”
Sem nunca renunciar ao seu estatuto, a autora socorre-se da auto-crítica e do sarcasmo para fazer uma análise sincera à classe a que pertence.
You have to have money to believe that money doesn’t matter. Colombe insists on the fact that her four immigrant grandparents arrived in France with nothing. When her parents die, she will inherit furniture and even enough money to buy a small apartment in Paris, but bourgeois, that derogatory label? No, not at all.
Apesar das parecenças e das diferenças, dos caminhos diferentes que seguem, dos feitios contrastantes que cultivam, de se afastarem e se aproximarem em vários pontos da vida, há algo que continua a ser comum:
They are 30, 35, 40 years old, their heads bowed, their shoulders hunched, they are silent and downtrodden. She was convinced that thanks to their social status and their money they would be freer, less blind, their husbands more modern, the system less suffocating for them, they would rebel, find a different place. It turns out that money and class don’t cut it – they are wrung out by their gender.
Até que a morte as separa para sempre.
There is no one whom Héloïse can ask questions like: Does it hurt to die? Do you have to talk to death, negotiate with death? How do you prepare to die? What do you do when death is there and you have to say goodbye to life?
LIVRO 3- “SWIMMING: A LOVE STORY”- 3*
Love is a land of savages.
Esta foi a parte de que menos gostei. É uma história de amor e desamor, e é difícil ser-se original nesta matéria.
Apesar de o seu pai não ter sido um bom marido, Colombe tem por ele um verdadeiro complexo de Electra que a acompanha em todas as relações desde que ele morreu, quando ela tinha 23 anos.
I was 30, about to marry a man I chose because when we first met, he told me: if we ever get married, I promise I will never leave you, but I will definitely cheat on you. That seemed quite a reassuring proposal: he would be like my father, but he would never leave me as my father had by dying.
Como não é igual à própria mãe, divorcia-se dele passados 10 anos e, após vários relacionamentos, aos 50 anos, reencontra Gabriel, com quem já se cruzara em jovem.
Gabriel said, I can’t love you like your father did, with that kind of love.
He was right, and that was the night, 25 years and 10 months after his death, when I finally broke up with my father.
Quando também este relacionamento termina, é à natação que a autora recorre como consolo e superação.
It was paradise, and then it was lost.
August 8, 2024
made up of 3 auto-fictional stories, the paris trilogy explores what it means to exist as a woman. schneck examines girlhood/womanhood, and all the complexities it encompasses, with such vitality and tenderness. it has echoes of annie ernaux (whom the first story ‘seventeen’ is written in response to), elena ferrante and tove ditlevsen's 'the copenhagen trilogy'.
September 30, 2025
Dezassete Anos
Nem a minha família nem os meus amigos mais íntimos sabem o que me aconteceu na primavera de 1984.
Há livros curtos que, apesar da brevidade, nos deixam suspensos durante muito tempo. Dezessete Anos é um desses livros. Um relato intenso e delicado sobre adolescência, descoberta do corpo e liberdade dos anos 80, confrontada com a gravidez inesperada e a difícil decisão do aborto, tomada às vésperas do exame final do secundário.
Tenho dezassete anos e tenho um amante. Não estou apaixonada, mas tenho um amante.
Com estas palavras simples e directas mergulhamos na vida de uma adolescente criada num meio privilegiado, filha de dentistas de esquerda, onde a liberdade de pensamento era incentivada e os direitos discutidos mais do que os deveres. Uma jovem confiante, que acreditava que bastava sonhar para concretizar, e para quem até a pílula parecia apenas uma formalidade aborrecida.
Essa liberdade, tão típica do início dos anos 80 — quando a SIDA ainda não tinha chegado e tudo parecia possível — choca-a de repente com o impensável. A adolescente que sonhava viajar, estudar e tornar-se enviada especial em Nova Iorque descobre-se grávida a um mês do exame final. A decisão, tomada em segredo entre pais de silêncios diferentes, marca um corte profundo na vida que até então lhe parecia intocável.
O aborto nunca é um acto banal; nenhuma mulher sai ilesa desta decisão, nenhuma mulher esquece completamente esse acontecimento que a tocou na carne e no espírito. A ausência que resulta dessa escolha acompanha-a ao longo dos anos, como uma sombra discreta, mas sempre presente.
Agora posso escrever, a tua ausência acompanha-me há trinta anos.
A tua ausência permitiu-me ser a mulher livre que hoje sou.
Este relato é, ao mesmo tempo, íntimo e universal. Não é um texto de vitimização, mas um testemunho sobre escolhas, consequências e liberdade. É também um convite à empatia e à reflexão, tanto para leitoras como para leitores, independentemente da idade.
Duas Burguesinhas
Depois de Dezessete Anos, Schneck continua a explorar relações humanas em Duas Burguesinhas, um livro que nos fala de amizade com uma delicadeza rara. Acompanhamos Esther e Héloïse, duas amigas que se conhecem na adolescência e que, ao longo das décadas, partilham percursos semelhantes: escola privada, ambiente burguês, vidas confortáveis marcadas por estudos, casamentos, filhos e até divórcios. A amizade atravessa as fases da vida, com momentos de proximidade e de afastamento, mas sempre com a presença silenciosa de uma na vida da outra.
O relato ganha maior dimensão quando a doença entra em cena. O cancro de uma das amigas torna-se o ponto de viragem da narrativa, mostrando que, por detrás da normalidade de uma vida burguesa, há sempre um confronto inevitável com a fragilidade humana. Schneck escreve sem dramatismos excessivos, mas com emoção contida, revelando o sofrimento de quem acompanha alguém próximo que vê o relógio da vida acelerar na direcção da hora final. A dor de ver quem amamos sofrer, e de sabermos que podemos perder essa presença, é algo que ultrapassa as palavras.
Como lidar com a morte quando ela está ali, crua, sem artifícios, e não há escapatória possível?
É um relato íntimo, mas também universal. Fala-nos da amizade, da passagem do tempo, do envelhecimento e da morte, mas sem perder de vista a ternura e a verdade dos pequenos gestos. É um testemunho que nos lembra o quão doloroso é assistir ao declínio de quem amamos, mas também o quanto a presença, a memória e a cumplicidade podem dar sentido ao que parece insuportável.
A Ternura do Crawl
Neste breve relato, um amor do passado é revisitado num presente marcado por medos, inseguranças e vulnerabilidades. O tema do amor — sejam reencontros ou despedidas — nunca me conquista totalmente.
Eu estava no paraíso, e sabia. (…) e não tinha dúvidas, o paraíso era ali. (…) Era o paraíso e está perdido.
Nem a minha família nem os meus amigos mais íntimos sabem o que me aconteceu na primavera de 1984.
Há livros curtos que, apesar da brevidade, nos deixam suspensos durante muito tempo. Dezessete Anos é um desses livros. Um relato intenso e delicado sobre adolescência, descoberta do corpo e liberdade dos anos 80, confrontada com a gravidez inesperada e a difícil decisão do aborto, tomada às vésperas do exame final do secundário.
Tenho dezassete anos e tenho um amante. Não estou apaixonada, mas tenho um amante.
Com estas palavras simples e directas mergulhamos na vida de uma adolescente criada num meio privilegiado, filha de dentistas de esquerda, onde a liberdade de pensamento era incentivada e os direitos discutidos mais do que os deveres. Uma jovem confiante, que acreditava que bastava sonhar para concretizar, e para quem até a pílula parecia apenas uma formalidade aborrecida.
Essa liberdade, tão típica do início dos anos 80 — quando a SIDA ainda não tinha chegado e tudo parecia possível — choca-a de repente com o impensável. A adolescente que sonhava viajar, estudar e tornar-se enviada especial em Nova Iorque descobre-se grávida a um mês do exame final. A decisão, tomada em segredo entre pais de silêncios diferentes, marca um corte profundo na vida que até então lhe parecia intocável.
O aborto nunca é um acto banal; nenhuma mulher sai ilesa desta decisão, nenhuma mulher esquece completamente esse acontecimento que a tocou na carne e no espírito. A ausência que resulta dessa escolha acompanha-a ao longo dos anos, como uma sombra discreta, mas sempre presente.
Agora posso escrever, a tua ausência acompanha-me há trinta anos.
A tua ausência permitiu-me ser a mulher livre que hoje sou.
Este relato é, ao mesmo tempo, íntimo e universal. Não é um texto de vitimização, mas um testemunho sobre escolhas, consequências e liberdade. É também um convite à empatia e à reflexão, tanto para leitoras como para leitores, independentemente da idade.
Duas Burguesinhas
Depois de Dezessete Anos, Schneck continua a explorar relações humanas em Duas Burguesinhas, um livro que nos fala de amizade com uma delicadeza rara. Acompanhamos Esther e Héloïse, duas amigas que se conhecem na adolescência e que, ao longo das décadas, partilham percursos semelhantes: escola privada, ambiente burguês, vidas confortáveis marcadas por estudos, casamentos, filhos e até divórcios. A amizade atravessa as fases da vida, com momentos de proximidade e de afastamento, mas sempre com a presença silenciosa de uma na vida da outra.
O relato ganha maior dimensão quando a doença entra em cena. O cancro de uma das amigas torna-se o ponto de viragem da narrativa, mostrando que, por detrás da normalidade de uma vida burguesa, há sempre um confronto inevitável com a fragilidade humana. Schneck escreve sem dramatismos excessivos, mas com emoção contida, revelando o sofrimento de quem acompanha alguém próximo que vê o relógio da vida acelerar na direcção da hora final. A dor de ver quem amamos sofrer, e de sabermos que podemos perder essa presença, é algo que ultrapassa as palavras.
Como lidar com a morte quando ela está ali, crua, sem artifícios, e não há escapatória possível?
É um relato íntimo, mas também universal. Fala-nos da amizade, da passagem do tempo, do envelhecimento e da morte, mas sem perder de vista a ternura e a verdade dos pequenos gestos. É um testemunho que nos lembra o quão doloroso é assistir ao declínio de quem amamos, mas também o quanto a presença, a memória e a cumplicidade podem dar sentido ao que parece insuportável.
A Ternura do Crawl
Neste breve relato, um amor do passado é revisitado num presente marcado por medos, inseguranças e vulnerabilidades. O tema do amor — sejam reencontros ou despedidas — nunca me conquista totalmente.
Eu estava no paraíso, e sabia. (…) e não tinha dúvidas, o paraíso era ali. (…) Era o paraíso e está perdido.
March 22, 2024
Schneck is a known, award-winning writer in France, and these are the first works of hers to be translated into English. A triptych of novellas translated from the French, compelling and detailed, tracing the development of the life of Colombe, so I assume these works, like those of Annie Ernaux, are autobiography, memoir, rather than fiction, and cut close to the bone, with similar themes - time, place, strictures, rules, coming of age, love, an accidental pregnancy, schooling, marriage, affairs, divorce, midlife, and more - but Colombe, seemingly an only child, is born after the May 1968 student uprising, with its increased freedoms and changing sexual mores, at least in Paris. Her parents are Jewish left-wing doctors, first or second generation immigrants from Eastern Russia, part of the nouveau riche, though not as wealthy as Colombe's best friend from childhood, Heloise, and others at her exclusive private school long the bastion of important families with long lineages and old French money; still her family is part of the bourgeoise, with its rules for dressing and education and behavior, the rules ceding in more permissive Paris. Their life is easy, a lovely apartment in a lovely neighborhood, vacations, after school classes, ambitions, desires, the world will open for her, but all is not perfect - her mother Helene suffers intensely from her years during WW II, hiding alone in a church, able to love but not able to show love. Her father, a psychologist, very much enjoys the new freedom, is charming, has affairs, but always returns home. The first novella, Seventeen, is set in 1984, and Colombe's first love affair with a boy named Vincent unfolds with full knowledge of both sets of parents, sleepovers not hidden, and she is accidentally pregnant at 17. Though abortions are no longer illegal as they were in Ernaux's time, the Veil law has been passed, but legality does not alter the effects of abortion, its emotional ramifications on Colombe through the years are no less intense for the legality. The second novella, Friendship, focuses on the coming of age of Colombe and her best friend Heloise - they live rarified lives, English-language classes to perfect their British accents, tennis lessons, her vacations with Heloise's family in beautiful South of France homes, never shopping malls or borrowing books from the library, but there are differences between the two families and their place in Parisian life, relayed in subtle details relating to ethnicity, class, and politics during those formative years of the '70s and '80s. The third novella, Swimming: A Love Story, is set in 2020, and looking back at that time, Colombe recounts her great post-divorce love affair with Gabriel, when she is a mother and and a working woman, after a season of romantic disenchantment. They have nothing in common, but he is madly in love with her, and she, though fearful of trusting that love, does indeed give in to it, comes to believe it, but it is only later that she is able to look at the affair carefully, to see her emotional discomfort, to face the truth of her doubts, a love affair that unfolds and ends while Heloise is dying early; it's a beautiful meditation on the vagaries of being alive, about continuing on, though specific to time and place, these novellas also have great universality, and I found them fascinating, filled with grace, and frankness. What I also found interesting are the freedoms Schneck took telling her stories: though she has siblings, they are barely touched upon, and seem to have no relationship after their parents' die; her marriage is barely touched upon, the husband has no name, his profession isn't identified; her children are barely touched upon, names and ages unmentioned, no idea if sons or daughters. It strikes me that American readers get upset when women write about their lives without focusing on marriage, motherhood, etc. and I found that what is missing gave the author great agency, because the focus is on her, and she keeps the focus on herself, her development, what she learns, is given, takes, finds, rather those other, often mundane, often less interesting, parts of life. It is the story of a woman not the story of a wife and mother.
Thanks to The Penguin Group/The Penguin Press and Netgalley for the ARC.
Thanks to The Penguin Group/The Penguin Press and Netgalley for the ARC.
September 8, 2023
Onverwacht práchtig en heel Frans, krijg bijna zin om 50 te worden en op zwemles te gaan. (oh en wat een omslag, 🩵, jammer dat Goodreads de NLse versie niet laat zien)
December 30, 2024
Finished Reading
(TW abortion, death of fetus, cancer, death,)
Pre-Read:
Another arc that got away. I grabbed this own because of the title and cover, and because I'm a huge memoir fan. It's a surprising story for me, but I'm enjoying it so far. I like the insight into 1980s Paris.
Final Review
Love is a land of savages. p216
They speak on the phone, as they always have, as they did before (when no one was thinking about death). p122
This memoir covers a lot of territory, with narrative landscape I've never explored before. I loved reading about coming of age in 1980s Paris. In some ways, it was like nothing I've ever heard of. But I found a lot of parallels between my own and the author's experiences of growing up in the 80's, even though I was in the US, in the Midwest.
I connected immediately to this story and the author's voice, as I saw a lot of my own history reflected in this story. I think this is one of the memoirist's most important skills, to present their own experiences in an accessible and universal way.
Her mother wasn’t any less herself, she was just another iteration, more tender, less wound up in her catastrophic childhood. p131
Reading Notes
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. This book gives a detailed look at France in the 80s, which is very different from my experience of the era in US. It's fascinating.
2. For you I feel neither fear, nor worry, nor admiration. I saved it all for them. I no longer even feel what I felt for such a long time, I don’t feel guilty for neglecting you. I think of you and I am only sad. p52 I really respect a memoirist who can be this vulnerable with her audience. The approach is elegant, while the content is weighty. It's an impressive combination.
3. The style is approachable, which balances out the weighty content.
4. I really like the form of this book. First, the memoir in three stories is interesting, and then, none of the three are told in chronological order. It's smart writing.
5. This is an interesting exploration of a common theme: The word death has never been pronounced, referenced, expressed, interrogated; it has disappeared from all conversations as if it were an unknown word, whereas for her, death has never been so present. p122
6. The translators did an amazing job. They maintained all this book's elegant nuance.
7. She is in prison, her release is forever postponed, and we are her jailers, those of us who let her believe she might eventually get out, although her cell keeps getting smaller, every day the windows shrink, imperceptible to the naked eye, but if you don’t see her for a week you can see the damage, her breath is ever shorter, her gait more awkward, and so our lies become ever shoddier and more shameful. p128 This is just a brilliant intentional use of a runon sentence.
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. My father is very generous and very beloved. He tells his children, Parents owe their children everything. Children owe their parents nothing. p26 I can't even imagine being raised by people who love so unconditionally. And yet, it caused Colombe more than one problem.
2. The content of the third section (the author's somewhat disappointing dating life) clashes with the content of the first two essays (how an abortion changed the author's young life, which she wrote in protest of recent tightening of women's reproductive rights, and the story of her best and longest friend's succumbing to cancer, respectively).
Rating: 🗼🗼🗼🗼 /5 Eiffel towers
Recommend? Yes
Finished: Dec 16 '24
Format: digital arc, NetGalley; accessible digital, Libby
Read this book if you like:
🗞 nonfiction
🗣 memoirs
👥️ translated books
👨👩👦👦 family stuff
♀️ women's rights
🫄 mothers and children
Thank you to the author Colombe Schneck, publishers Penguin Press, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of SWIMMING IN PARIS. I found an accessible digital copy on Libby. All views are mine.
---------------
(TW abortion, death of fetus, cancer, death,)
Pre-Read:
Another arc that got away. I grabbed this own because of the title and cover, and because I'm a huge memoir fan. It's a surprising story for me, but I'm enjoying it so far. I like the insight into 1980s Paris.
Final Review
Love is a land of savages. p216
They speak on the phone, as they always have, as they did before (when no one was thinking about death). p122
This memoir covers a lot of territory, with narrative landscape I've never explored before. I loved reading about coming of age in 1980s Paris. In some ways, it was like nothing I've ever heard of. But I found a lot of parallels between my own and the author's experiences of growing up in the 80's, even though I was in the US, in the Midwest.
I connected immediately to this story and the author's voice, as I saw a lot of my own history reflected in this story. I think this is one of the memoirist's most important skills, to present their own experiences in an accessible and universal way.
Her mother wasn’t any less herself, she was just another iteration, more tender, less wound up in her catastrophic childhood. p131
Reading Notes
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. This book gives a detailed look at France in the 80s, which is very different from my experience of the era in US. It's fascinating.
2. For you I feel neither fear, nor worry, nor admiration. I saved it all for them. I no longer even feel what I felt for such a long time, I don’t feel guilty for neglecting you. I think of you and I am only sad. p52 I really respect a memoirist who can be this vulnerable with her audience. The approach is elegant, while the content is weighty. It's an impressive combination.
3. The style is approachable, which balances out the weighty content.
4. I really like the form of this book. First, the memoir in three stories is interesting, and then, none of the three are told in chronological order. It's smart writing.
5. This is an interesting exploration of a common theme: The word death has never been pronounced, referenced, expressed, interrogated; it has disappeared from all conversations as if it were an unknown word, whereas for her, death has never been so present. p122
6. The translators did an amazing job. They maintained all this book's elegant nuance.
7. She is in prison, her release is forever postponed, and we are her jailers, those of us who let her believe she might eventually get out, although her cell keeps getting smaller, every day the windows shrink, imperceptible to the naked eye, but if you don’t see her for a week you can see the damage, her breath is ever shorter, her gait more awkward, and so our lies become ever shoddier and more shameful. p128 This is just a brilliant intentional use of a runon sentence.
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. My father is very generous and very beloved. He tells his children, Parents owe their children everything. Children owe their parents nothing. p26 I can't even imagine being raised by people who love so unconditionally. And yet, it caused Colombe more than one problem.
2. The content of the third section (the author's somewhat disappointing dating life) clashes with the content of the first two essays (how an abortion changed the author's young life, which she wrote in protest of recent tightening of women's reproductive rights, and the story of her best and longest friend's succumbing to cancer, respectively).
Rating: 🗼🗼🗼🗼 /5 Eiffel towers
Recommend? Yes
Finished: Dec 16 '24
Format: digital arc, NetGalley; accessible digital, Libby
Read this book if you like:
🗞 nonfiction
🗣 memoirs
👥️ translated books
👨👩👦👦 family stuff
♀️ women's rights
🫄 mothers and children
Thank you to the author Colombe Schneck, publishers Penguin Press, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of SWIMMING IN PARIS. I found an accessible digital copy on Libby. All views are mine.
---------------
August 10, 2025
L’opera di Schneck assomiglia a una composizione musicale, con i suoi movimenti, i suoi acuti, i suoi bassi, le sue pause. I tre racconti presenti in questa breve raccolta cercano di rappresentare una vita, con i suoi dolori, i suoi momenti di riflessione, la sua frenesia di esistere, di calpestare la terra con vigore ed energia, il suo desiderio di amare ed essere amati fino a dimenticare tutte le delusioni e i tradimenti del passato.
Ci sono eventi che ci definiscono, che cambiano il corso della nostra esistenza, che segnano la nostra mente, la nostra anima e che scavano in noi giorno dopo giorno, con la stessa forza di un’insospettabile goccia d’acqua, capace di erodere ogni superficie, anche la più resistente, lasciandosi alle spalle una voragine, una devastazione inaspettata, dalla quale non sappiamo come difenderci.
Ma è davvero possibile fare i conti con quel silenzio, con quel vuoto, con quello che non saremo mai più? È davvero possibile lasciare andare il passato, riprendere il controllo della propria narrazione, della propria vita? Siamo a tal punto abituati a subire l’esistenza, i suoi cambiamenti e le sue ondulazioni che ci pare normale pensare di non poter davvero modificare il nostro destino, ciò che siamo. Tutto sembra essere stato già scritto ancor prima che noi nascessimo, ancor prima che comprendessimo cosa volesse dire vivere, cosa volesse dire essere un corpo in mezzo ad altri corpi.
Alle donne, poi, viene chiesto costantemente di ricordare di avere un corpo: è un corpo che non ci appartiene mai davvero, di cui non sappiamo quasi nulla, perché la narrazione è lasciata nelle mani della società, che usa la fisicità femminile come un’arma, un’arma affilata puntata alla nostra gola. Con il nostro stesso corpo ci minacciano, ci inchiodano a terra, ci spingono a credere che dobbiamo averne paura, che il nostro corpo non esiste se non per loro, che la nostra libertà è un privilegio, un’onta per l’intera umanità, un’onta alla quale si cerca di porre rimedio ogni giorno con il dominio, la vergogna, la sopraffazione.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
Ci sono eventi che ci definiscono, che cambiano il corso della nostra esistenza, che segnano la nostra mente, la nostra anima e che scavano in noi giorno dopo giorno, con la stessa forza di un’insospettabile goccia d’acqua, capace di erodere ogni superficie, anche la più resistente, lasciandosi alle spalle una voragine, una devastazione inaspettata, dalla quale non sappiamo come difenderci.
Ma è davvero possibile fare i conti con quel silenzio, con quel vuoto, con quello che non saremo mai più? È davvero possibile lasciare andare il passato, riprendere il controllo della propria narrazione, della propria vita? Siamo a tal punto abituati a subire l’esistenza, i suoi cambiamenti e le sue ondulazioni che ci pare normale pensare di non poter davvero modificare il nostro destino, ciò che siamo. Tutto sembra essere stato già scritto ancor prima che noi nascessimo, ancor prima che comprendessimo cosa volesse dire vivere, cosa volesse dire essere un corpo in mezzo ad altri corpi.
Alle donne, poi, viene chiesto costantemente di ricordare di avere un corpo: è un corpo che non ci appartiene mai davvero, di cui non sappiamo quasi nulla, perché la narrazione è lasciata nelle mani della società, che usa la fisicità femminile come un’arma, un’arma affilata puntata alla nostra gola. Con il nostro stesso corpo ci minacciano, ci inchiodano a terra, ci spingono a credere che dobbiamo averne paura, che il nostro corpo non esiste se non per loro, che la nostra libertà è un privilegio, un’onta per l’intera umanità, un’onta alla quale si cerca di porre rimedio ogni giorno con il dominio, la vergogna, la sopraffazione.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
June 9, 2024
Three beautiful novellas in one, on abortion, friendship and love.
It is impossible not to compare Colombe Schneck's work to Annie Ernaux, to whom the first novella on abortion is dedicated. The themes are very similar and it is classic French autofiction. It is a genre I love and that for me works especially well in audiobook form.
In the first novella I found the descriptions of the modern and liberal Parisian attitude of Colombe's upperclass parents in the '60s and '70s very interesting (and very different from Ernaux' parents in Normandy).
The second novella is different from the other two as it covers a lifelong friendship, from childhood to the death of Colombe's friend Heloise.
The last novella made me sad as Colombe discovers she finds consolation in swimming after a great love has ended. I hope it is true but after the intense love and loss she has experienced it does not sound completely convincing.
It is impossible not to compare Colombe Schneck's work to Annie Ernaux, to whom the first novella on abortion is dedicated. The themes are very similar and it is classic French autofiction. It is a genre I love and that for me works especially well in audiobook form.
In the first novella I found the descriptions of the modern and liberal Parisian attitude of Colombe's upperclass parents in the '60s and '70s very interesting (and very different from Ernaux' parents in Normandy).
The second novella is different from the other two as it covers a lifelong friendship, from childhood to the death of Colombe's friend Heloise.
The last novella made me sad as Colombe discovers she finds consolation in swimming after a great love has ended. I hope it is true but after the intense love and loss she has experienced it does not sound completely convincing.
April 11, 2024
Me crucé con esta novela por casualidad. Me gustan mucho los escritores franceses contemporáneos. Me gustan cómo suelen tratar los temas.
En este caso, Colombe Schneck, cuenta 3 hitos de su vida. Son 3 novelas independientes escritas en diferentes años y que se han publicado este año en un mismo libro.
La escritora se abre y permite que leas su diario íntimo. Porque aunque no está escrito como un diario, son 3 relatos íntimos de su vida.
El primero de todos, sobre un aborto que se practicó cuando tenía 17 años. Abre muchas preguntas: la culpa, cómo te acuerdas de ese niño todos los días y cómo tuvo la suerte de poder abortar en el Paris de 1984 sin que la detuvieran a ella y a su familia.
El segundo es un relato de amistad. Conoce a su amiga del alma, Heloise, con 11 años en el colegio privado al que asisten en la orilla izquierda de París. Y así recorremos su amistad en el tiempo, sus idas y sus venidas y cómo en la madurez se vuelven otra vez inseparables.
El tercero es sobre el gran amor, que se encontró por casualidad y que duró 9 meses.
Los 3 libros me han gustado mucho, me parece que se desnuda al lector y merece un aplauso. Tres hitos importantes de su vida y que los comparte con el lector. Y quizás a ella le ha servido de terapia.
He visto que ha escrito más novelas, investigaré y a ver si puedo leer alguna más..
Recomendable.
En este caso, Colombe Schneck, cuenta 3 hitos de su vida. Son 3 novelas independientes escritas en diferentes años y que se han publicado este año en un mismo libro.
La escritora se abre y permite que leas su diario íntimo. Porque aunque no está escrito como un diario, son 3 relatos íntimos de su vida.
El primero de todos, sobre un aborto que se practicó cuando tenía 17 años. Abre muchas preguntas: la culpa, cómo te acuerdas de ese niño todos los días y cómo tuvo la suerte de poder abortar en el Paris de 1984 sin que la detuvieran a ella y a su familia.
El segundo es un relato de amistad. Conoce a su amiga del alma, Heloise, con 11 años en el colegio privado al que asisten en la orilla izquierda de París. Y así recorremos su amistad en el tiempo, sus idas y sus venidas y cómo en la madurez se vuelven otra vez inseparables.
El tercero es sobre el gran amor, que se encontró por casualidad y que duró 9 meses.
Los 3 libros me han gustado mucho, me parece que se desnuda al lector y merece un aplauso. Tres hitos importantes de su vida y que los comparte con el lector. Y quizás a ella le ha servido de terapia.
He visto que ha escrito más novelas, investigaré y a ver si puedo leer alguna más..
Recomendable.
June 9, 2024
These three pieces of autofiction are very clearly in dialogue with Annie Ernaux as acknowledged by the author at the start of Seventeen/Dix-sept ans.
The first piece on having an abortion and the long emotional aftermath also, though, highlights the differences from Ernaux's experience: the narrator here is living in Paris in the 1980s, is the privileged daughter of left-wing doctors, and doesn't experience that shame which is such a driver from Ernaux's working-class background to her writing. Nevertheless, the event is no less foundational here, reverberating as an echoing sense of absence and loss through a life.
The second piece, Friendship in this English translation, rather than the more clarifying Deux petites bourgeoises in the original feels particularly Gallic as it traces the lives of two bourgeois women in a tradition that certainly encompasses, if it doesn't spring from, Madame Bovary.
The third piece, Swimming: A Love Story/La tendresse du crawl, is perhaps the most sophisticated as the older narrator comes to terms with her expectations and experiences of love.
What holds all three pieces together is an acute engagement with what it means to live inside a female body: teenage confidence and unassailability are punctured by the biology of pregnancy; bourgeois comfort cannot hold back the ravages of life or cancer; and, finally, a form of freedom and self-love come, unexpectedly, from swimming: 'I was completely inhabiting my body, it was an entirely unfamiliar freedom, bodily freedom, rapture, a sensuality that I alone was responsible for'.
This may not be as literarilly and intellectually sophisticated as Ernaux's work or as expansive as Deborah Levy's 'living autobiography' books, but this adds a Parisian slant to our growing shelf of what it means to live bodily as a woman at the turn of the twentieth/twenty first centuries.
The first piece on having an abortion and the long emotional aftermath also, though, highlights the differences from Ernaux's experience: the narrator here is living in Paris in the 1980s, is the privileged daughter of left-wing doctors, and doesn't experience that shame which is such a driver from Ernaux's working-class background to her writing. Nevertheless, the event is no less foundational here, reverberating as an echoing sense of absence and loss through a life.
The second piece, Friendship in this English translation, rather than the more clarifying Deux petites bourgeoises in the original feels particularly Gallic as it traces the lives of two bourgeois women in a tradition that certainly encompasses, if it doesn't spring from, Madame Bovary.
The third piece, Swimming: A Love Story/La tendresse du crawl, is perhaps the most sophisticated as the older narrator comes to terms with her expectations and experiences of love.
What holds all three pieces together is an acute engagement with what it means to live inside a female body: teenage confidence and unassailability are punctured by the biology of pregnancy; bourgeois comfort cannot hold back the ravages of life or cancer; and, finally, a form of freedom and self-love come, unexpectedly, from swimming: 'I was completely inhabiting my body, it was an entirely unfamiliar freedom, bodily freedom, rapture, a sensuality that I alone was responsible for'.
This may not be as literarilly and intellectually sophisticated as Ernaux's work or as expansive as Deborah Levy's 'living autobiography' books, but this adds a Parisian slant to our growing shelf of what it means to live bodily as a woman at the turn of the twentieth/twenty first centuries.
February 23, 2025
2.5. I appreciated the first piece, which acknowledges its debt to Ernaux’s Happening and contributes to the conversation. The rest & the overall style drove me nuts. The persistent present tense & constantly being reoriented into it is distracting. There’s so much telling over showing. The a-linearity & repetitions felt needless. Added together, these pieces neither land as novellas (as suggested) nor as essays (which would’ve felt more natural).
There’s always more room for more voices in these conversations, but sadly the bulk of this didn’t land for me.
There’s always more room for more voices in these conversations, but sadly the bulk of this didn’t land for me.
June 24, 2024
Männer und Frauen passen einfach nicht zueinander, wußte schon Loriot.
April 29, 2024
“La trilogía de París” recopila tres novelas cortas autobiográficas escritas por la periodista Colombe Schneck durante los últimos años. Nunca pensó publicarlas así, pero creo que funcionan muy bien como conjunto porque mantienen una coherencia formal y temática.
La referencia más obvia es Annie Ernaux, con su estilo reflexivo y frases cortas sin adornos formales. No en vano, a ella está dedicado el primer texto, “Diecisiete años”, donde Colombe relata su aborto siendo una joven con ganas de experimentar. La lectura de “El acontecimiento” la envalentonó a verbalizar su propio proceso, que si bien tuvo lugar una vez que el aborto ya había sido legalizado, eso no empequeñece el trauma que supuso para ella. ¿Cómo sería ese hijo ahora? se pregunta.
“Dos pequeñas burguesas” arranca con la muerte de Héloïse, su amiga de la infancia. Se realiza una retrospectiva en tercera persona de su amistad, lo que le permite distancia y autocrítica. La Colombe joven se pensaba más “cool” que su amiga. Ella no era una “burguesa” porque su familia era bohemia y de izquierdas, no como la familia tradicional y de derechas de su amiga. Pero es evidente que el nivel de vida de ambas no estaba al alcance de cualquiera. La novela habla de vacaciones en lugares exclusivos, de ropas de marca, de estupendos pisos a los que se mudan con sus maridos.
También habla de la muerte. Y como en “El año del pensamiento mágico” y “La ridícula idea de no volver a verte”, ronda una idea de autoengaño, de no querer creerse que sus seres queridos han fallecido, de dejar pasar un tiempo sin hacer cambios. ¿Y si reaparecen? Hay que asegurarse.
El libro finaliza con “La ternura del crol”, relato sobre el amor y el sexo en la madurez, el autodescubrimiento del cuerpo y el deseo sexual femenino, a través de la relación entre Colombe y Gabriel, a los 50 años, ambos divorciados.
Me ha agradado leer a Colombe Schneck, cuya lucidez, honestidad y autoconsciencia son dignas de elogio, y cuyo estilo elegante y ligero encierra reflexiones profundas que me ha encantado conocer y a veces, incluso, compartir.
La referencia más obvia es Annie Ernaux, con su estilo reflexivo y frases cortas sin adornos formales. No en vano, a ella está dedicado el primer texto, “Diecisiete años”, donde Colombe relata su aborto siendo una joven con ganas de experimentar. La lectura de “El acontecimiento” la envalentonó a verbalizar su propio proceso, que si bien tuvo lugar una vez que el aborto ya había sido legalizado, eso no empequeñece el trauma que supuso para ella. ¿Cómo sería ese hijo ahora? se pregunta.
“Dos pequeñas burguesas” arranca con la muerte de Héloïse, su amiga de la infancia. Se realiza una retrospectiva en tercera persona de su amistad, lo que le permite distancia y autocrítica. La Colombe joven se pensaba más “cool” que su amiga. Ella no era una “burguesa” porque su familia era bohemia y de izquierdas, no como la familia tradicional y de derechas de su amiga. Pero es evidente que el nivel de vida de ambas no estaba al alcance de cualquiera. La novela habla de vacaciones en lugares exclusivos, de ropas de marca, de estupendos pisos a los que se mudan con sus maridos.
También habla de la muerte. Y como en “El año del pensamiento mágico” y “La ridícula idea de no volver a verte”, ronda una idea de autoengaño, de no querer creerse que sus seres queridos han fallecido, de dejar pasar un tiempo sin hacer cambios. ¿Y si reaparecen? Hay que asegurarse.
El libro finaliza con “La ternura del crol”, relato sobre el amor y el sexo en la madurez, el autodescubrimiento del cuerpo y el deseo sexual femenino, a través de la relación entre Colombe y Gabriel, a los 50 años, ambos divorciados.
Me ha agradado leer a Colombe Schneck, cuya lucidez, honestidad y autoconsciencia son dignas de elogio, y cuyo estilo elegante y ligero encierra reflexiones profundas que me ha encantado conocer y a veces, incluso, compartir.
April 2, 2025
definitely recommend this for fans of annie ernaux! the paris trilogy is made up of 3 stories that would be right at home on a shelf among ernaux’s slim, sparse memoirs.
the first deals with an abortion schneck had as a teenager. the second was reminiscent to me of inseparable by simone de beauvoir, examining schneck’s best friendship throughout a lifetime, and her the illness that took her friend’s life. the final story was about a romantic relationship that occurred after schneck’s divorce.
i have no real complaints about this book! while i didn’t find it as harrowing and haunting as some of ernaux’s writing (and therefore maybe it has a bit less sticking power) the paris trilogy is a biting look into what it means to be a woman, and the female experience with sexuality, friendship, illness, and love. i like that all 3 stories were packaged together in one book. it was a great introduction to colombe schneck’s work and i hope more of her books get translated into english.
the first deals with an abortion schneck had as a teenager. the second was reminiscent to me of inseparable by simone de beauvoir, examining schneck’s best friendship throughout a lifetime, and her the illness that took her friend’s life. the final story was about a romantic relationship that occurred after schneck’s divorce.
i have no real complaints about this book! while i didn’t find it as harrowing and haunting as some of ernaux’s writing (and therefore maybe it has a bit less sticking power) the paris trilogy is a biting look into what it means to be a woman, and the female experience with sexuality, friendship, illness, and love. i like that all 3 stories were packaged together in one book. it was a great introduction to colombe schneck’s work and i hope more of her books get translated into english.
February 28, 2024
Fuerza demasiado querer ser Annie Ernaux y solo le sale ser la señora acomodada que es.
No tiene culpa de haber nacido rica, claro, pero no puedo evitar que me resulte estomagante.
No tiene culpa de haber nacido rica, claro, pero no puedo evitar que me resulte estomagante.
May 9, 2024
Boekenclubboek! Had te hoge verwachtingen, laat ik daarmee beginnen. Maar vond ook wel dat elke gedachte, emotie, observatie zodanig voorgekauwd werd dat je als lezer niet echt ruimte hebt om er nog een eigen interpretatie aan te geven. Het middelste verhaal “twee vriendinnen” vond ik wel echt mooi. De derde vond ik echt heel melodramatisch om niks. Laat het verder nog even bezinken
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April 22, 2024Niet uitgelezen - was door de goede recensies (hoi Lieke!) en de blurb van Deb Lev zeer benieuwd enthousiast maar het viel me allemaal wat tegen, wens haar verder wel het beste
February 6, 2025
This is a collection of 3 novellas, all told from the perspective of different aged women and centering around issues like first relationships, unrequited love, toxic friendships, aging and motherhood. I really enjoyed all three, but probably the first two more so than the last one. There was an echo of Annie Ernaux in these stories and she does reference Ernaux's 'The Happening' in the first story, as that one is about a girl who becomes pregnant at seventeen and goes for an abortion for the first time. I found that the way the sentences were structured and the topics that were focused on, especially in terms of relationships and affairs, was very similar and that is something I really liked about this collection.
It's not something I would really rave about, but for a literary fiction collection they were really compelling stories and really great to read.
It's not something I would really rave about, but for a literary fiction collection they were really compelling stories and really great to read.
February 3, 2025
A moving story told in three parts about one Paris woman's experience with her body, sexuality and friendships told over the course of decades. This was reflective, poignant good on audio and reads like a memoir. Recommended for fans of books like Love in case of emergency by Daniela Krien.
CW: abortion, cancer, loss of a friend
CW: abortion, cancer, loss of a friend
July 26, 2025
Abri este livro e fiquei agarrada nas primeiras páginas. Uau! Que fúria e ímpeto lúcido de desarmante honestidade, em três novelas, de frases curtas, num tom afirmativo em capítulos muito curtos. Colombe Schneck nestes textos, é um espírito vivo. Dezassete anos é a primeira novela que, dedicou a Annie Ernaux e não é sobre um tema agradável. As duas burguesinhas é sobre esta nova classe política, dos finais dos anos XX, disposta a usufruir das vantagens da conquista social sem os inconvenientes. O crescimento de duas burguesinhas mal preparadas para a vida.
A ternura do crawl é a última novela e é sobre descoberta de que o amor é uma verdade nua. Não tem preocupações materiais, não tem beleza decorativa. Ele só se experimenta, só se vive, entre braços nus.
Percebo agora o sucesso e divulgação deste livro dado o brilhantismo destas narrativas que, focam os temas habituais como a morte, o livre arbítrio e a solidão mas também o amor, a amizade e a dor. Enfim, a vida.
A ternura do crawl é a última novela e é sobre descoberta de que o amor é uma verdade nua. Não tem preocupações materiais, não tem beleza decorativa. Ele só se experimenta, só se vive, entre braços nus.
Percebo agora o sucesso e divulgação deste livro dado o brilhantismo destas narrativas que, focam os temas habituais como a morte, o livre arbítrio e a solidão mas também o amor, a amizade e a dor. Enfim, a vida.
December 12, 2024
Die drei Geschichten in der Pariser Trilogie hatten jede etwas für sich, die Autorin beschreibt in einem sehr souveränen Schreibstil ihr Aufwachsen & Erwachsenwerden in Paris, sowie ihre späteren Jahre, anhand einschneidender Thematiken. Es ging um das Recht auf Abtreibungen im Besonderen, Feminismus im Allgemeinen, Freundschaft, Liebe und auch (generationsübergreifendes) Trauma. Mir hat Friendship am Besten gefallen, die Geschichte hat mich sehr an Elena Ferrante erinnert! Ab und zu waren mir insgesamt die Zeitsprünge ein wenig viel, aber durch die Erzählstimme konnte dies wieder gut aufgefangen werden, sodass der „rote Faden“ klar erkennbar blieb. Viele Sätze in dem Buch können für sich stehen.
February 28, 2024
al principio estaba convencida de que le iba a poner una, como mucho dos estrellas. los dos primeros capítulos me han parecido terroríficamente pretenciosos y con un nivel de dettached de la realidad horribles. la tipa es bastante consciente de sus privilegios en esos dos capítulos, y te deja bien claro que es consciente, pero ni ella misma es realmente consciente de lo jodidamente privilegiada que ha sido. el segundo capítulo que lo escribe en tercera persona refiriéndose a ella misma me ha tenido revolviendome en el suelo de la incomodidad.
en cambio, el tercer capítulo, joder, me ha cogido del pescuezo y me ha dicho toma, valiente hija de puta, mirate al espejo. habla de encontrar el amor tarde, del esperado desamor, de ser consciente del final y de que, cuando llega, que ya sabías que iba a llegar, no ser capaz de aceptarlo. me ha parecido además que estaba escrito de una forma más refrescante y agradable de leer. la verdajque solo recomiendo esa tercera parte, la ternura del crol, las otras dos es que de verdad, qué necesidad de restregarme en la cara tol rato que pasas todos los veranos en la playita o en italia, pero "oye que yo burguesa no soy"
en cambio, el tercer capítulo, joder, me ha cogido del pescuezo y me ha dicho toma, valiente hija de puta, mirate al espejo. habla de encontrar el amor tarde, del esperado desamor, de ser consciente del final y de que, cuando llega, que ya sabías que iba a llegar, no ser capaz de aceptarlo. me ha parecido además que estaba escrito de una forma más refrescante y agradable de leer. la verdajque solo recomiendo esa tercera parte, la ternura del crol, las otras dos es que de verdad, qué necesidad de restregarme en la cara tol rato que pasas todos los veranos en la playita o en italia, pero "oye que yo burguesa no soy"
May 27, 2024
I was intrigued by the title and French author. But the content was surprisingly fresh and relatable. The first part deals with our main character at the age of seventeen and pregnancy choices. The next part deals with our narrator's long friendship with a childhood friend and her subsequent illness. The end of this trifecta, a laundry list of lovers. All compelling with underlying political and literary themes. A top reading experience.
Copy provided by the publisher and Netgalley
Copy provided by the publisher and Netgalley
November 29, 2024
Three novellas assembled to shed light on one Frenchwoman’s lived experience and, through that, a broader societal perspective. The narrator of each of the novellas is named Colombe Schneck, so one can safely assume the insights therein are genuinely won. Schneck acknowledges her debt to Annie Erneaux, evident in the unflinching account unveiled here of her teenage abortion as well as the broader reflections on women’s lives.
June 3, 2024
Exquisite and simple
I read about this book in The Atlantic, and it sounded lovely. In fact, it swept me away. Lyrical yet plain words, honesty that is wrenching. The Atlantic cited it as "a memoir unlike the self indulgent tell-all confessional so common from American authors ( paraphrase). If I ever write my memoir, Swimming in Paris is my exemplar.
I read about this book in The Atlantic, and it sounded lovely. In fact, it swept me away. Lyrical yet plain words, honesty that is wrenching. The Atlantic cited it as "a memoir unlike the self indulgent tell-all confessional so common from American authors ( paraphrase). If I ever write my memoir, Swimming in Paris is my exemplar.
January 16, 2024
I proofread this book. It’s genuinely excellent.
May 28, 2024
Beautiful heartbreaking little book.
September 14, 2024
Realistically a 3.5!
Overall I liked this. Honestly the first story was amazing, it was so well-done and drew me in. I found the other parts of the book to also be well-written and thought out; I loved how you got to learn more about the author as she wrote about verify specific parts of her life.
It rare that you read a book that is so honest (and at times) harsh in looking back at how they dealt with situations. This book never shied away from being critical, but it added dimension to the story rather than coming off like the author was seeking pity.
For some reason, I didn’t find the book overall to have the emotional payoff I was hoping for, but I really loved getting to know the author more. The writing was sharp and honest, and that last line? GREAT.
Overall I liked this. Honestly the first story was amazing, it was so well-done and drew me in. I found the other parts of the book to also be well-written and thought out; I loved how you got to learn more about the author as she wrote about verify specific parts of her life.
It rare that you read a book that is so honest (and at times) harsh in looking back at how they dealt with situations. This book never shied away from being critical, but it added dimension to the story rather than coming off like the author was seeking pity.
For some reason, I didn’t find the book overall to have the emotional payoff I was hoping for, but I really loved getting to know the author more. The writing was sharp and honest, and that last line? GREAT.
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