Getting Lost is the diary kept by Annie Ernaux during an 18-month affair she had with a married man, a Russian diplomat referred to as ‘S’, who she met in Leningrad in 1988. The story of the affair was first told in A Simple Passion, a short memoir published in 1991, in which Ernaux captured the intense exhilaration of the experience – but which feels slightly thin in comparison to Getting Lost, a book so immersive that by the time you finish it you feel as if you lived through the affair too.
Ernaux is unfailingly honest in describing the passion she felt when she was with her lover; the desire was subsuming, at least on her part, and at times painful – “this need for a man is so terrible, so close to a desire for death, an annihilation of self, how long can it go on…” Much of the book is written in this heightened register; she articulates her exhilaration, but also describes the exhausting push and pull of the relationship, and the endless doubt that besieged her throughout.
An incredible book, from a career studded with such works, and one which reinforces Ernaux’s absolute commitment to the truth.
Getting Lost, Annie Ernaux (Fitzcarraldo)
Price: £12.99/£5.99 Ebook. Info: here
words JOSHUA REES