Part 1

Ernaux opens her memoir Shame with the sentence "My father tried to kill my mother one Sunday in June, in the early afternoon." She then proceeds to recall the incidents around that particular day. She had just recently come home from church; her parents had an argument; her father threatened her mother with a scythe.

She next explains how she has often related the opening sentence from the book to several men in her life but later realized that was a mistake. This was her way of showing she was "crazy about them," but her declaration only made them shy away from her.

After writing the memoir, Ernaux states that she realized her father's threat was probably not so unique. These things happen, maybe in all families. However, before she fully explored the incident in words, she tells her readers, "that Sunday was like a veil that...