4 stars. 2024 Pride Month Book #6.

An often brilliant book. However, I've read other "fiction" from this author and I'm a little worried that all four(?) of his "novels" are basically stories of Eddy Bellegueule, a boy from a poor, dying village in northern France, working desperately to escape his family and his fate and becoming Édouard Louis in the process. Tom Ripley has nothing on Eddy's determination to leave himself and his past behind.

I'd like to see the author start to mine other veins, try to tell other stories. Having said that, one of the several themes he explores, here and in his other books, is the "violence and poverty" and the "violence of poverty" that traps so many, generation after generation, and he explores that theme and others quite well.

Some favorite passages:

"I was going to become a university student, the word "student" cut me off radically from you [addressing his father] and our world. In the village saying 'I'm a university student' was like saying 'my country house' or 'my cleaning lady,' expressions that marked a clear, definitive boundary - and I was passing over to the other side." (81)

Struggling at 17 in how to write a letter of self-introduction to a would-be mentor: "I wanted to express feelings and no sentence could translate them without betraying them." (141)

"I no longer saw my life as anything but a race I'd joined too late, when everyone else had almost crossed the finish line, I had to make up for this important delay." (159)

"When I went back to Amiens [each] Sunday [from Paris]... it was like returning to the past, to everything that I wanted to be a part of the past... and Amiens was already my past although it was still my present, and Paris was my present although it was still only my future - a future that was for now merely virtual, potential." (160)

Finally moving to Paris: "I felt the freedom of beginnings, one so special that it can't be compared with any other form of freedom." (183)

"Living everything [in Paris, in my new life] meant taking revenge for the place the world had assigned me at birth."

another masterpiece by Edouard Louis, I read this in a day, it was fascinating and very poignant. can't wait to read his other works

this was my first book from French writer Louis. the writing (even in translation) was definitely the strongest point of the novel, and i’d read more from him. the story itself was a bit lacking for me though, it’s mainly about Louis growing up in Paris and the friends he meets. there’s a bit about coming to terms with his sexuality but i didn’t feel like it was explored too deeply and there just wasn’t much of a consistently interesting storyline here.

The depth with which Louis manages to reflect upon his life and his shame, and the way the pursuit of change has shaped his life, and affected his relationships with the people in his life is really captivating to read.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the e-ARC!

i looove edouard louis - his ability to tell a story is just so unique to him and he has such a poignant and honest way with words. while the subjects he covers aren't things I've dealt with necessarily, I feel his words so strongly resonate and I always walk away feeling so connected to him. this might be my fav from him so far but it's so hard to say!

thank you netgalley and FSG for the arc! excited about this one <3

Another autobiographical novel from Édouard Louis that packs just as much punch, even in anecdotes already published. Louis' writing hits that sweet spot for me where the hyper-personal becomes universal — his cruel inner monologue, inferiority, superiority, shame, are all deeply familiar.

Change is a story of self-invention, of severing your roots and reaching for more. It's also the story of the pain that causes — the voids created when leaving, the absence felt by those abandoned. It's a deeply queer narrative and will be familiar to many, but familiar doesn't mean comforting or comfortable here; more a brutal mirror.

As with his other works, Louis' Change is over quickly, but stays with you long after. It's potent and powerful and may shake you up like a therapy session where you really uncover something.

Another great insight on human condition from one of my favourite contemporary authors.

In his previous books, we saw glimpses of Édouard/Eddy's transformations from a bullied, poor child in the north of France to the writer that he is now. We were given the impression that he no longer felt anything towards his previous life, towards the abuse and poverty that hounded him for so long. He was now a new man, someone better and an improved version of himself that his old self would be proud of.
"Change", on the other hand, goes deeper. We start with a painfully direct prologue that already conveys the long-lasting, impossible battle to leave a piece of oneself behind in order to morph into something else. Louis already sums up the heartbreak of leaving the kid he was behind, the restlessness he still feels about his own worth. The prologue is already a testament to memory, and how we never fully leave our past thoughts and lives behind us. Our memories and all the feelings they bring stay with us.

Édouard/Eddy was oh so angry at his family, at his father in particular, who had broken his back working at the local factory and drank too much. A father who did not want a queer son, or a wife who earned more money than his unemployment could bring. Édouard was angry and resentful at the conditions he was raised in, and was proud of his efforts that led him far away.

In a talk I heard from him last year, he spoke at length about the violence of a class system, the way it generates and reproduces hatred and social stigmas. In remembering him talk, and reading his words here, I reflected on the designed failure of social classes, and especially lower classes ( is it really a failure if oppression works as designed?). When raised in an environment that fails you - and here I am not merely discussing the chances of upward mobility, but the chances of emotional support, of having choices - generation after after generation will create people who fail each other, who fail to recognise the humanity of each and celebrate our differences. There is no space for each other, for understanding and loving.

Louis found that as well, and while he painted a much darker picture in his previous works, Change marks a distinct shift in the way he sees his past. Parts of the books are directed towards his father, discussions and snippets of life that his father never got to hear, that Louis never believed he could share. He is much softer, more nuanced in his assessment of the past, because we all know that hindsight is tricky and a poisonous remedy for memories.
While he goes under a physical and mental metamorphoses, Louis also looks back at the violence and arrogance he felt in those moments, which was incredible to read about. As he was getting farther and farther from the life he had known as a child, he's ravenous in pursuing change and his dreams. However, he clarifies multiple times that his need to escape was stronger than anything he had ever felt in his life, the feeling of having reached something was elusive. My own thoughts here highlighted how Louis himself saw his arrogance as an act of violence towards his past, towards a family who did not know better. He was convinced that looking down at his family, his village and its inhabitants would make him a better person, would finally prove he was worthy. Worthy of what, exactly? Of respect, of love, of stability, of freedom? All of these, none of these?

Louis lived his twenties abhorring the violence he was surrounded by in his home village, rather than abhorring the violent system that kept people in these conditions, a system that would never allow or encourage an escape. In his adulthood, this becomes a fixed point of his persona. He is passionate about questioning and dismantling these systems.

However, I also noticed that despite offering forgiveness to his past, to his family, Louis never stops to offer compassion to the child he was and the young adult he was forced to become in order to survive.

We are confronted with a lot of lessons on society in this novel, and that is part of the reason I love reading fiction and stories - the way they unveil the layers of the human condition. While it may seem intricate and complex, it is also simple and straightforward, and oh so relatable in its facets.

This is a book that reads quickly. The author knows how to use language to send you whipping from one set piece to the next. I can't say it was a difficult or ponderous read. And, as it is an autobiographical novel, you certainly get to see the inner workings of the author's mind.

Which, for me, was where this book fell apart. There's not much to his introspection and his journey isn't all that compelling. He wants to not be a poor kid from a small town. Each vignette shows another step in his journey to have things and a place in society, but it's an empty journey.

I think the book is well written, but it never dives deeper than a few inches beneath the surface.

Wow! The whole time I was reading this book I kept thinking that I kept understood. There were so many parallels between this story and my own story. I will always have a special place for this book and for Edourard Louis for sharing this story.

I thought this was a stunning and beautiful book - filled with personal examples and stories all revolving around how Louis changed his life. This doesn't feel like a hokey self-help book, but rather a personal tale about what drove him to transform his surroundings and livelihood. I did find some of it to be repetitive after reading some of his other books, and I'm wondering how much longer he can excavate from the same well of experience.

I loved this book and am excited to revisit it.

“Change” – Édouard Louis (translated from French by John Lambert)

“In the process of change those around us are as important as what we’ll become.”

My thanks to @fsgbooks and @netgalley for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review. “Change” will be published on 5th March.

I’m a newcomer to Édouard Louis, though I’d heard his name and had a vague idea that he was a French autofiction writer who had written something about his earlier life that found criticism in France. This was enough for me to give this book a try, especially as its theme of changing oneself struck a chord with me.

“Change” charts Louis’s attempts to escape the small town of his youth, with its homophobic bullying, casual racism and stagnant future. He longs for someone to come and change his life, to see something in him that will bring a new life and, ultimately, his freedom. He sees this figure several times through his story, starting with Elena, the high school friend from a higher class. Louis, or at least this version of him, is paranoid that his lower social class is holding him back, and he chooses Elena to help him improve, “My Fair Lady” style, down to how to hold his cutlery. He starts to move in a different ecosystem in Amiens, only to feel that Paris would be an even grander goal to pursue, leading him to fall into a world of rich, paying men and manipulative deception.

I really enjoyed this book, though I’m going to say that it won’t be for everyone (autofiction never is), and I think I’m missing things in Eddy’s story that must have been covered in his previous books. For me, though, I felt it was a brutally honest depiction of a young man maneuvering through the doubts and pressures of queerness and class, about creating a new identity at any cost to avoid the past, and that such changes may not always lead you where you wish.

Eye-opening and heartbreaking at points, one that I’m sure I’ll recommend in the future as well.

Haunting and somehow simultaneously inspiring, Louis's novel Change recounts his own life but through the lens of what-ifs. Crafting the story of his life, Louis recounts his sharpest memories and how it all seemed to lead to his current iteration of his life being a writer. Compellingly, Louis distorts and reimagines what he does or doesn't remember, borderlining little fictional fantasies, that parallels to his own acknowledgement of how he writes about daydreaming of life, men, sex, etc. The result is a deeply emotionally conflicting conclusion: how does one desire to write when it relies so much on who gets hurt, who has a story worth telling, and who is the best at telling those stories, and does it all even matter?

Incredible book -- definitely his best, in my opinion. I'll be trying to arrange coverage somehow, but my own book is coming out in two months so everything is a bit frantic. But thanks for sharing and I'll be sure to spread the word!

An incredibly interesting and unique look into the life of a young gay man trying to escape everything he’s ever known in pursuit of all that he thinks he wants and needs to have to be worthwhile and successful. Édouard retells his life story of being easily influenced by those he perceived as superior to him, his desperate search for validation and acceptance, and admits the ways he wronged those in his past on his journey of personal growth and social climbing. Written in the format of letters to family and friends of his past, we get to know Eddy through his repentance and retelling, and admire him for his ability to critically think about his past selves and tell us what he would’ve done differently, and what he would’ve done the same.

another gay masterpiece from the author of The End of Eddy! Poignant and beautiful in everyday. Will be recommending to friends!

An excellent addition to the previous writings of Louis. He brings new stories, and new life, to his own life story.

Edouard Louis is a master storyteller and this was no exception. I Thoroughly enjoyed learning more about how his first book came into the world. The past always seems to play a prominent role in his work and Change is no exception.

Thank you for the ARC.

Beautiful, honest; to be expected from Ed, whose books never fail to delight, surprise, hurt, and heal the reader. Another great addition to his three-dimensional autobiographical project to self-discovery

I've read everything published so far by Édouard Louis, but CHANGE has got to be his best work to date. Though he often revisits the same moments of his childhood, and his escape, I found myself particularly taken by how he charts his trajectory into writing his first book, his life in Paris, all the changes he undergoes to relinquish his past. This is astonishing work. Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!

To be honest, I doubted whether Edouard Louis had a fourth autofictional novel in him. Almost twice his age, Knausgaard got through his entire life in six volumes, and Knausgaard has the benefit of understanding the importance of story over sociology—a point that Louis's previous novels got stuck on. This one, however, is Louis's best work. Though his sociological worldview is very much intact, he is not nearly as deterministic as he is in his previous book—almost necessarily because his topic is change. But the book was still missing something. Louis, for instance, notes the appalling contradictions between the life he left and the life he sometimes leads and is sometimes exposed to in the French upper classes, and he frequently describes the violence of these contradictions. But he never expresses any guilt, really, or moral equivocation over his own behavior, or muse about the contradictions between his life and his politics. I find myself wanting to say that the book lacks interiority, but that's wrong. It just feels like there's a vital and obvious dimension of his thoughts that he won't vocalize.

Well, I suppose he needs fodder for a fifth book.