Love Me Tender

In Love Me Tender, Constance Debre chronicles the aftermath of her marriage, when having left her husband for a woman, she loses custody of her young son. In short, discrete sections, and in language that is deceptively plain, she approaches her material with astonishing bluntness and from unexpected angles. It is a stunning read, a surprising page turner I read once through, and the n again.

I have never read a book about motherhood or writing like this one. As I read Debre’s autofictional account of losing custody of her child after leaving her marriage, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was reading something truly original.

Women are not supposed to leave their families to pursue their artistic ambitions, but Debre’s queer character does just that. This is a really slim, sometimes shocking book. I will admire and continue thinking about this book forever.