Simple Passion

SIMPLE PASSION is a woman's story of her affair with a married man. It is a short book which I read in one sitting. What makes the story special is that it only tells what her life is like when she is not with him. From the time he left her side until the next time she saw him she says she did nothing else but wait for him. She describes in detail her obsessive thinking about her lover. So although she never describes her time with him, all her time away from him is spent thinking about him, planning her next meeting with him, waiting for him to call, fantasizing about him. As she goes about her daily life, her mind never strays from him. It is as compelling a story as her obsession was to her.

Simple Passion is the account of a love affair with a married man told in the direct prose I have come to expect of Ernaux. She notes that her life was one of waiting, that everything other than their meetings became secondary. Her honesty forces her to admit that the affair was one of passion not of love. After he returned to his native country, she struggles to rebuild a life that is built on relationships with others, one built on life in general not passion. Ernaux is a master at making the direct details of her experience resonate with the experience of humanity as a whole. I recommend this book (or any of her books).

Simple Passion is one of the best books I have read in a long time that explores the inner emotional life of a woman. This books addresses the feeling of waiting for a lover, the role that women find themselves in in waiting for a man. A very emotionally engaging work, one that I highly recommend