The End of Eddy - Édouard Louis
Expectation: An unflinching queer coming of age story.
Reality: Darker and more disturbing than I imagined but also oddly captivating.
My Take:
“The End of Eddy'' is akin to literary seasonal affective disorder. It’s cold and devoid of light leaving a darkness to consume the one ounce of sanity you have left. Yet you soldier through with the hope that brighter days are ahead.
The fact it is autofiction — combining autobiographical and fictional elements — doesn’t help things either, because Édouard Louis’ early provincial life was far from idyllic.
There are the universal elements you expect to find in a coming of age story focused on a queer character — bullying, code switching and a desire to escape by any means necessary — but it’s also heavily focused on his environment, and the sociopolitical factors within his French village.
It paints a disheartening and damning view of insular communities, populated by a do as I say and as I do mentality. Misogyny, bigotry and alcoholism are the primary currencies, and any disruption of the status quo will brand you bourgeoisie — an insult even greater than the homophobic slurs hurled daily at Édouard, then known as Eddy.
It is astonishingly bleak, with numerous trigger warnings for violence, sexual assault and antigay sentiment, but outside of the content, the story itself is non-linear and presented more as essays around a topic rather than a cohesive coming of age narrative.
This allowed Louis (and translator Michael Lucey) to pull back the curtain on the poison that rotted the hearts of his family and classmates, but it also felt like two different stories — one being a debasing of his hometown and its habitants, and the other a memoir of his experiences in the closet and accepting his identity.
These topics certainly go hand-in-hand, but at times it felt like Louis was driving home a point for score settling versus enlightenment. The novel was first published in 2014, around the time the rural versus metropolitan political fissures were being exploited by global candidates. “Eddy” was trotted out as an example of this divide (both in the U.S. and France), but whether this was Louis’ intent or simply a marketing opportunity for the publisher isn’t clear.
Even without knowing Louis' intent and what is fact versus fiction, I don’t blame him for the resentment he holds towards the place that shaped him. Objectively speaking, his early life was a terrible combination of poverty and torment by those that supposedly loved him. Escape was his only option, and thankfully it happened.
Due to the difficult subject matter and repetitive passages, there were various points throughout the novel that made me want to give up on it. Still, I was captivated none-the-less and that, plus its slim length, propelled me through the end. Upon completion, I was intrigued enough by Louis’ life and writing to request his follow-up nonfiction story, “History of Violence,” from the library.
This isn’t a novel for everyone, but those that appreciate simple and beautiful prose paired with dark situations - think Philippe Besson’s “Lie With Me,” Garth Greenwell’s “What Belongs To You” and Douglas Stuart’s “Shuggie Bain” or “Young Mungo” - will find time with “Eddy” is well spent.
Rating (story): 4/5 stars
Rating (narration): N/A
Formats: eBook (personal library)
Dates read: December 13, 2022 – January 1, 2023
Multi-tasking: N/A
