Annie Ernaux's singular voice is, as always, unflinchingly honest and spare. In A Man's Place, she manages to maintain objectivity while discussing the loss of her father and his life leading up to death. A Man's Place isn't solely a biography, though. Even with only 114 pages, Ernaux represents the greater culture and class strata of her native small-town Normandy. With clarity, Ernaux then contrasts her own childhood with her father's and the ways that her access to education put a strain on their relationship.