LOOK AT THE LIGHTS, MY LOVE

Tavia Gilbert captures the spirit of this text, especially the author's passionate belief that all members of society should be treated fairly. In 2012 and 2013, Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux kept a journal of her visits to her local Auchan superstore, a chain in France roughly equivalent to a Walmart supercenter. What happened there is not as interesting as what Ernaux writes about it. Ernaux is a fascinating thinker, especially about commercialism and consumerism and the culture they engender. Besides the intense emotions, there are amusement and bemusement about the architecture of the store and parking lot, and about the meaning of the different styles and sizes of products that the store stocks. D.M.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2023]