Ritournelle de la faim

Ritournelle de la faim (The Same Old Story of Hunger, or The Refrain of Hunger) is a novel written in French by French Nobel laureate J. M. G. Le Clézio.

Plot summary
Set in Paris in the 1930s, it tells the story of Ethel, a young woman who must save herself and her parents, torn by the age's politics and their hatred for each other. The story seems so simple. A narrator who is and is not the author tells the story of a young girl – Ethel Brown – who is and is not the mother of JMG Le Clézio.

French language text sample
French language text sample from Ritournelle de la faim can be read online.

Paris: Lire Magazine
Lire. no. 369, (2008): 64