This is Michael Maxwell with the Sioux City Public Library and you’re listening to Check It Out.
Today, I am recommending A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides by Gisèle Pelicot. Perhaps you just tensed up even hearing this title and author, and that’s an appropriate response. The Pelicot trial captured international attention in 2024, and I won’t give airtime to the crimes committed against Madame Pelicot by her husband and dozens of other men of all walks of life. You can Google this case yourself if you need a refresher.
Needless to say, this was a tough book to pick up. Once started, though, I was disarmed and drawn in by Gisèle Pelicot. The way she tells her story made me feel like I was experiencing her nightmarish revelations alongside her. She unflinchingly recalls details that made me light-headed, and I often found myself going back to make sure I had, in fact, read what I had just read.
All of that said, this book defies tabloid spectacle. The inherent prurience of this case is something Madame Pelicot has dealt with already, as alluded to in this memoir’s subtitle, and she’s a thoughtful and compassionate storyteller who made me feel safe as a reader. Throughout this book, she drops little phrases that left me breathless and in awe. Her empathy and grace extend to her writing and she truly touched me, changing the way I see the world.
Check out A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides by Gisèle Pelicot at the Sioux City Public Library today.
Support for Check It Out on Siouxland Public Media comes from Avery Brothers.