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the complete review - fiction

Cleaned Out

by
Annie Ernaux

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

A- : strong, short novel of a student re-examining her life

See our review for fuller assessment.

  From the Reviews:

• "Cleaned Out is a tough story of young girl's coming-of-agestet hyphens per Web. in postwar France, a story filled with the spirit of Elvis, Sartre, jazz and the nasty little verities of adolescence." - Publishers Weekly

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       Cleaned Out was Annie Ernaux's first novel. The narrator, Denise Lesur (a thinly disguised version of the author herself), is a young university student who has just had an abortion. A brief introductory scene dealing with the abortion leads into the body of the novel, in which Denise re-examines her life.
       The territory is familiar from other novels by Ernaux: the family shop/café/bar, the childhood centered around the shop, the well-meaning but relatively simple parents, the narrator's escape from her background (through academic success). Ernaux has told much the same story in other books; nevertheless each version has its own rewards. This one seems, for much of it, more controlled, more carefully (though less precisely) written than the later works -- with surprising little bursts of anger.
       The happy childhood, centered around the shop and its many customers, is an interesting picture of life on the fringes between working and middle class. Only once she starts going to the more exclusive school does Denise realize that her world is very different from the middle-class households her classmates live in. Her intelligence leads to academic success that ultimately allows for acceptance, but she moves uneasily between the two worlds. She can never fit in completely with her classmates, nor can she forsake her roots entirely. As she grows older, moving on a path that will lead to university (a path hardly any of her classmates take, regardless of background), her alienation grows.
       Ernaux handles the complex relationship between daughter and parents well, and it is an interesting glimpse at that social environment. Ernaux is also particularly good with many of the significant aspects of growing up, especially the girl's slow sexual awakening and curiosity.
       Much of this is familiar from Ernaux's later books. Cleaned Out is still worthwhile: it does offer a slightly different perspective, and a somewhat different tone. An impressive achievement, certainly recommended.

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Links:

• Dalkey Archive Press publicity page

• 1streading's Blog
• Publishers Weekly

• The complete review's Annie Ernaux page
• Annie Ernaux site
• Nobel Prize in Literature, 2022

• Ce qu'ils disent ou rien
• L'ecriture comme un couteau
• A Frozen Woman
• Getting Lost
• A Girl's Story
• Happening
• "I Remain in Darkness"
• Look at the Lights, My Love
• A Man's Place
• L'occupation
• Shame
• Simple Passion
• La vie extérieure
• The Years

• Yasmina Reza's Ernaux-like vignettes in Hammerklavier
• See also the Index of French literature at the complete review
• See Index of Books by Nobel laureates under review

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About the Author:

       French author Annie Ernaux was born in Normandy in 1940. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022.

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