All said and done

by Simone de Beauvoir

'All Said and Done... offers us ten years (1962-72) not so much of experience realised (although this is exceptionally packed with incident) as an imaginative and intellectual transmutation of such experience. It is a deeply serious, wholly absorbing, and marvellously stimulating testimony, which gives a complete feeling of maturity and confidence in the autobiographer who comes through with tremendous honesty and admirable lucidity and precision... it inspires one to live, to look again, to learn more, to know more deeply the people and social systems which constitute our world. It throws open the windows, and simultaneously enables one better to examine the room behind one.' - Kay Dick in the Spectator.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Philosophy, Memoir, Autobiography, Feminism, France

463 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Works of Simone de Beauvoir, French writer, existentialist, and feminist, include The Second Sex in 1949 and The Coming of Age , a study in 1970 of views of different cultures on the old.


Simone de Beauvoir, an author and philosopher, wrote novels, monographs, political and social issues, essays, biographies, and an autobiography. People now best know She Came to Stay and The Mandarins , her metaphysical novels. Her treatise, a foundational contemporary tract, of 1949 detailed analysis of oppression of women.

Reviews

[MaSuMeH · Rating 3 out of 5]

چقدر دوست داشتم کتابهای دوبووار بیشتر خونده میشدند از جمله خاطراتش که حسابرسی قسمت آخر از چهارگانه ی خاطراتشه که در ترجمه فارسی شامل یک بخشی از کتاب وداع هم میشه توش از مرگ سارتر نوشته شده.
مشخصن از نظر من کتاب اول خاطرات با فاصله از بقیه بهتر بود اما خوشحالم که ادامه شو نوشته و یک تصویر کلی از زندگی خودش و سارتر، همینطور از روابطش با کامو،همینگوی ،فروید وخیلی از هنرمندان و روشنفکران دوره ی خودش به ما نشون داده. و اینقدر این توصیفات واضح و شفاف و نزدیکن که انگار یکهو از قاب زمان فراتر میری و اون آدمها رو در مقیاس خودشون و نه در مقیاسی که تاریخ بهشون داده تماشا میکنی.
. و بیشتر خوشحالم که یک زن به عنوان یک انسان چنین جسارتی کرده و اینقدر شفاف از عقایدش و از زندگی و از ترس ها و از امیدهاش،از روابط نامعمول عاطفی اش، از جهت گیری سیاسی و... نوشته.
و مشخصن نمی تونم پنهان کنم که چقدر دوبووار تحسین می کنم و از خوندن شرح حالش ( که البته گاهی ملال آور هم بود) لذت بردم.

مرداد 96

[Gabril · Rating 4 out of 5]

L’ultimo volume dell’autobiografia è in effetti una sorta di resa dei conti.
Simone de Beauvoir riferisce-da protagonista e testimone-i fatti cruciali che hanno animato gli anni Sessanta, culminati nel Maggio francese. Racconta i suoi viaggi (Italia, Russia, Cina, Giappone…), le sue passioni (letteratura, musica, teatro, cinema), il complesso rapporto col comunismo internazionale, la scrittura come impegno, gli amici storici, la relazione dinamica e indissolubile con Sartre.

A conti fatti, infine, una valutazione della propria opera autobiografica : “ non avverto uno iato tra le intenzioni che mi hanno spinta a scrivere dei libri e i libri che ho scritto. Non sono una virtuosa della scrittura. Non ho resuscitato il baluginare delle sensazioni e catturato in parole il mondo esterno come Virginia Woolf, Proust, Joyce. Ma il mio scopo non era questo. Volevo farmi esistere per gli altri comunicandogli nel modo più diretto il sapore della mia vita: vi sono abbastanza riuscita. Ho dei soliti nemici, ma mi sono anche fatta tra i miei lettori molti amici. Non desideravo altro.”

C’ero anch’io tra quegli amici. Peccato non avere preso un treno per Parigi, allora, come era nel mio desiderio fare.

[Zahra · Rating 3 out of 5]

بلاخره تمام شد! فکر کنم آمادگی خواندن درجستجوی زمان از دست رفته را پیدا کردم! (کسی که این چهار جلد را تا آخر بخواند استقامت لازم را کسب کرده)
بعد از این خاطرات، دوبووار رفت جزو آدم های فراموش نشدنی ذهنم. انگار بیست سالگی ام با سیمون گذشت!

[Simona Tota · Rating 5 out of 5]

La degna conclusione di un'autobiografia in cui Beauvoir non si limita banalmente a parla di sé, egoticamente, (anche se avrebbe potuto benissimo farlo e l'avrei letto comunque), ma affronta man mano che si avanza nella lettura temi, eventi, fatti accaduti che hanno segnato inevitabilmente la storia del secolo scorso e molti dei quali hanno ancor oggi da farci pensare. Molto e molto poco è cambiato da allora e nonostante l'evidente abisso (temporale e spaziale) che mi separa da lei, mi stupisco continuamente e continuerò a farlo nel ritrovare le mie stesse speranze e inquietudini che hanno segnato (prima di me e di noi) la sua esistenza, invidiabile e unica com'è giusto che sia.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hardly share any of debeavoir's beliefs; probably none, but the candor and honesty that is displayed in this book is startling and completely disarming. This book drew me in like very few ever have. Though I disagree with her philosophies, and consider their premises irrationally limited, I felt that her searching, her integrity, her approach to life and relationships, make her someone that I would have loved to have in my life. I know I'm not alone. I finished wanting more.

[Domhnall · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this fourth and final volume of her autobiography, taking her life from 1962 to 1971, de Beauviour abandons her chronological account of her life story and instead adopts a thematic approach, which has several benefits. Firstly and to be bluntly honest, it means that I could speed read and skim rapidly through a number of entire chapters that did not interest me, though beautiful writing and interesting anecdotes often detained me even so. Secondly, it results in a collection of sustained essays on specific topics, without their being fragmented. As it happens, the material that I most appreciated was in the last third of the book , though earlier chapters always had at least something to catch my interest.

I enjoyed a thought provoking discussion about Japan in the 1960s, and in particular about working life. She argues that Japan’s industrialisation was quite unlike that in the West, because it came about as a political choice at the national level. In transforming Japan from a medieval to an industrial economic system over a very short time period, Japan kept all important positions in the hands of the existing ruling class, the samurai, and retained intact the characteristic deference of a rural society, with authoritarian management styles, appalling remuneration, lifelong dependence on the employer and utterly deficient public services. The resulting excessive profits were not squandered in lavish lifestyles for the managerial elite, but reinvested to support the rapid industrialisation process. This description impressed me because it suggests a cultural basis (that is, a continuity with the past) for the distinctive (let’s face it, bizarre) working lives of the Japanese, especially the “company men” and also the continuing oppressive conditions of Japanese women, which in turn almost certainly contributes to the very low birth rate today. Another cultural curiosity that caught my interest, was this item from an era before the information technology revolution: In Shinjuku, ... I was struck by the number of places for playing pachinko: this is a kind of pin-table, but it is set upright and not flat, like ours. In some of these halls there are hundreds side by side with a narrow passage between the ranks; not one of them is free, and the players work the knobs with a contained, silent frenzy... [p283] Pachinko is still incredibly popular today, with updated technoloogy; it seems more similar to one armed bandits / slot machines in the West. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachink...

Another thematic chapter that held my interest looked at the evolution of Soviet cultural standards from the death of Stalin through the Khrushchev years. De Beauvoir and Sartre visited Russia every year until 1968 and observed the attempt to establish new freedoms for the arts, and to express new attitudes towards the socialist experiment, including cautious non-conformism in the form of “samizdat” writing, before the crushing of the Prague Spring and the reimposition of authority by reactionary forces. ”But it was the events in Czechoslovakia that determined us to break with the Soviet Union for good and all.” [p352] ”...I am writing these lines in May 1971. All the Czech and Slovak intellectuals we know have been expelled from the Communist Party. They have lost their jobs and they find it extremely difficult to live. Or else they are in exile. And the Czech leaders are once more completely under the thumb of the Soviets. The Russians have finally disappointed all our hopes. [p364]

In 1966 De Beauvior and Sartre agreed to take part in a tribunal established by the [Bertrand} Russell Foundation to take evidence of US war crimes in Vietnam, with particular reference to the misuse of new weapons forbidden by the laws of war, subjecting prisoners to inhumane treatment forbidden by the laws of war, and acts tending towards genocide. A distinguished panel meeting in Stockholm and receiving first person witness evidence, including personal evidence from victims and in fact perpetrators (members of the US military), as well as expert reports from investigations in Vietnam itself, was able to reach definitive conclusions that these horrific war crimes were taking place and even the sparse details given in this autobiography are harrowing. ”The distressing side of it all was that because of the negligence of the press there were so few of us to profit from this impressive collection of documents, evidence and explanations. The essence was summed up in two paperbacks published by Gallimard: but too few people read them. [p392] [I notice that in 1967 Chomsky was setting out on his long political career exposing US war crimes, often it seems with similar effect.]

In 1967 she and Sartre visited both Egypt and the Israel, placing them in a very good position to comment on the Six Day War. De Beauvoir writes very sympathetically of the Israeli state’s conduct of affairs in this period, and emphasises very strongly her conviction of Israel’s right to exist, but she also places this right firmly in the context of the UN’s recognition of the state of Israel, of her wish that Israel hand back new territory seized in the Six Day War, and the responsibility of Israel, not other neighbouring states, to provide a decent programme of resettlement for Palestinian refugees. Since the time of her writing a great deal has changed but it remains possible to regard her views as a fair and balanced assessment; or indeed one that tends very much to favour the Israeli perspective. It is just obvious to her sense of justice that the Palestinians must not be abandoned in stateless destitution and that they are Israel’s responsibility. That has not changed in the subsequent 50 years.

It is relevant that Russia supported Egypt against Israel in 1967, and Nasser was a socialist politician unsympathetic to the influence of the USA. This had consequences for attitudes towards Jews in the Communist countries, with anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism becoming closely aligned, a problem that remains today as a source of conflict. Whatever that means in today’s rather different political environment, it is important to notice this development, because nothing has gone away with time. In particular, as part of her discussion of Poland’s recent history, de Beauvoir gives a chilling account of the fate of Poland’s Jews. Reduced from over 3 million to under 350,000 during World War Two, “most of them emigrated, either out of their horror of the past or from fear, for the Polish fascists had perpetrated a bloody pogrom at Kielce in 1946. By 1967 no more than thirty thousand were left. Yet this did not prevent Moczar, the minister of the interior, from preparing an anti-Jewish campaign: it was launched in 1967, with the government seeking to deprive the Jews of their posts, thus striking at the intelligentsia through them. On 19 June, immediately after the Six Days’ War, Gomulka made a speech at the union congress in which he accused the Jews of forming a fifth column. In the following months the papers, the radio, television and speakers at public meetings all denounced the Zionists as Poland’s worst enemies – and every Jew was suspected of being a Zionist. The press and the army were ‘purged of Jews’. ... Twenty thousand Jews left Poland between the Summer of 1968 and the summer of 1971. The rest are trying to follow their example. But although they are being forced out, the continual persecution to which they are submitted makes it very difficult for them actually to leave. ... [p439] Yet again, de Beauvoir demonstrates that while World War Two ended in 1945, fascism did not.

This book captures an attitude of its time, 1971, without benefit of the hindsight we readers now enjoy. The effect can be poignant, as when she writes: ”Allende’s election in Chile was a victory for the left; though in all likelihood there is no future in it, alas.” [p450] Pinochet’s coup against Allende was to come in 1973, long after this book was published. When she writes ”The United States was responsible for the Brazilian coup d’état...” [p452] she is referring to a 1964 coup, but it has resonance today. She goes on: ”... and in Spain it supports Franco’s regime, which is still based on the arbitrary power of the police... What the US has set up in Greece is still another hideous police dictatorship. At American instigation the soldiers seized power in Athens on 21 April 1967. Because of the general discontent throughout the country, parliamentary democracy had become dangerous for the oligarchy... The moment a nationalist or popular movement seems to threaten its interests, the United States crushes it. Millions upon millions of men are kept in a subhuman condition so that the United States may plunder the wealth of the under-developed countries at their ease. What is so scandalously absurd about it all is that as economists have proved the billions of dollars thus extorted by America do nothing to help the well being of the American people as a whole. A large proportion of them, particularly the blacks, live in poverty and even in extreme poverty. The huge profits are invested in war-industries and the main result of its frenzied exploitation of the planet is that the US government is capable of destroying it.” [p452, 453] Nothing in that 1971 protest has become less true and in the light of our climate emergency, the closing phrase has become chillingly more so.

De Beauvoir looks back on The Second Sex early in this volume and returns in more detail in the closing chapter, revisiting and sometimes revising her arguments in the light of her personal development and her reading of subsequent feminist writing, especially from the United States. Most importantly, she abandons a view expressed even in the previous volume of her autobiography (Force of Circumstance), which was that women’s condition would not improve through feminist protest, but would rather depend on the development of socialist control over the means of production. She has now reached the contrary opinion, which is that socialism does not in practice and will not in principle benefit women fundamentally while they are bound to patriarchal social roles and ideologies. She briefly engages with a number of feminist talking points, sometimes for and sometimes against the views of younger writers, and the points she covers have indeed remained topical through to today and could be challenging for some prominent commentators. I suggest that these pages should really be reproduced as an appendix to future editions of The Second Sex.

On her atheism she writes: ”Faith allows an evasion of those difficulties which the atheist confronts honestly. And to crown it all, the believer derives a sense of superiority from their very cowardice itself. From an immense height, he stretches out a charitable hand to us: “One day the voice of God will reach you: I am certain of it.” If one were to reply, “I hope that one day you will stop talking humbug to yourself”, he would be scandalized.” [p498]

Biographies typically kill off their subject in the closing pages. The nice thing about an autobiography is that it ends while the writer has many years still ahead of her. This one closes with the writer still reading, still learning, still debating, still actively engaged and still reaching into the future. Other readers will definitely take different things than I did from the same books but I predict every reader will find that it feeds into contemporary interests not only now, fifty years after publication, but fifty years on from now.

[عباس أبوحسان · Rating 4 out of 5]

(( أن تعرف لا يعني أن تملك))
((يبدو أن الأطباء يجيزون لأنفسهم إخضاع البشر إلى أي نوع من التعذيب والمصادرة تحت ذريعة إحترام حق الحياة :هذا مايسمونه القيام بالواجب))
((كل ألم يُمزق صاحبه، لا يُحتمل ، هو شعور المتألم بأنه معزول عن بقية الناس ، لكن عندما نتقاسمها فإنها تكف عن أن تكون منفى))
لقد انتشلتني القراءة من الوحدة فترات قاسية من شبابي لاحقاً ساعدتني على توسيع معارفي فهم وضعي كإنساسن ومنحتني معنى لعملي ككاتبة))
(( كي يتمتع نص ما بمعنى يجب أن نمنحه الحرية ، أن نحسن الصمت في أعماقنا، وأن نسمح لصوت الكتاب الغريب عنا بان يصدح))
((كيف يستمر الإنسان في العيش حين يتحطم وهمه الذي يعيش بفضله؟ كيف يُصلح صدعه ، كيف يستعيد تركيب أجزائه كي يُرمم ذاته))
((أتمنى الوقوف مع السعادة التي يمنحها السفر : سعادة التأمل إن التحديق في الأشياء يتيح لي وهم معانقة ذاتي : أنا أنصهر مع الشيء الذي اراه ، أستعير منه استمراره وواقعيته أنا أعيش لحظة تختزل الأبدية))
((هذا ما يُغريني في السفر الحياة الخالمة التي تطغى على الحياة الحقيقية ))

[Greg Florez · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful ending to her 4 part memoirs! Rather boring section about her views of various books and film of 1960’s. BAD BAD TAKES ON ISRAEL-PALESTINE. But nevertheless another great book amongst great books!

[Freca - Narrazioni da Divano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conclude la quadrilogia autobiografia della filosofa, composta, oltre che da questo, da memorie di una ragazza per bene, la forza delle cose e l'età forte. A differenza dei precedenti non è in continuum temporale ma, come ben evidenziato dal titolo, è una riflessione ultima su tutta la sua esistenza, i suoi viaggi, i suoi scritti. Anche nei volumi precedenti mentre raccontava la sua vita, la rielaborava, ne traeva considerazioni, proponeva riflessioni e interpretazioni: in quest'ultimo volume finale porta all'estremo questo aspetto, saltando da un momento all'altro e citadando, commentando i suoi precedenti scritti, facendoceli mettere in prospettiva.
Dopo tutto il viaggio con questa scrittrice sembra davvero di conoscerla, e qui ci si mostra totalmente, interrogandosi senza vergogna, mostrandoci contraddizioni e fragilità ma proprio per questo la sua forza risulta esaltata.
Sentirla parlare dei suoi viaggi mi ha messo addosso una voglia estrema di partire, sperando di viverli appieno come lei: non solo relax e turismo ma momenti per rivoluzionare la propria vita.
Una donna straordinaria, che si riflette in ogni parola, che ha saputa fare della sua vita una filosofia, che ha saputo pur con tutti i suoi limiti, vivere secondo la sua etica, senza aver mai timore di tornare sui suoi passi, mettersi in dubbio e discutere: una vita di confronto e pensiero in ogni momento, che non può che essere considerata esemplare.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hace ya cuatro años de la primera vez que leí a Simone, ha sido para mí una fuente de inspiración y sin duda mi gran referente, casi como un primer amor. Desde entonces la he leído con atención e ilusión, me he deleitado con sus memorias que hoy termino y mi pasión por su obra ha tenido sus puntos de expresión: hace ya algo más de un año di un seminario sobre ella delante de unas cien personas. Fue una suerte que disfruté muchísimo y un recuerdo que me acompañará siempre.
Hoy termino el último tomo de sus memorias, de su autobiografía no me queda ya nada por leer, me falta La vejez, algunas de sus novelas y su correspondencia. En estos cuatro años la he mitificado y desmitificado, la he conocido más profundamente y he vuelto a ella con cierta recurrencia. En este último tomo ya no estamos ante la constitución de una personaje, sino ante una mujer ya madura que se reafirma y experimenta el mundo sobre lo que ha construido durante toda su juventud y edad adulta. En los tomos anteriores vemos el despertar de una conciencia, una conciencia precoz pero idealista, el descubrimiento de un mundo material, del plano político, del feminismo, de la vida plena que se abre ante uno cuando se atreve a ser quien se quiere ser sin dejarse someter a lo que otros quieren, a lo impopular o a los prejuicios.
Desde hace un tiempo siempre digo que no debemos romanizar a Simone: ni su relación con Sartre, ni su vida. Quizá lo hago porque he pecado de tal romantización.

Sus aportaciones al feminismo son evidentes y poco puedo decir que no se haya dicho ya, sin embargo, si hay algo que admiro y me conmueve y me remueve profundamente es la capacidad que Simone tuvo para narrarse, para dejar plasmada sobre el papel una vida larga en la que acontecieron muchas cosas, excepcionales y cotidianas. Siempre he pensado que la constitución de su persona tiene que ver con el personaje que crea, el personaje es sin duda admirable, la persona aunque tenga que ver con el personaje, lo trasciende para bien y para mal y es por esto que no se debe romantizar. Primeramente porque como humana cometió errores, también aciertos, pero no fue, ni creo que lo pretendiese, perfecta. Sin embargo, la impresión que nos puede dar al leer sus memorias es contraria a esto: la consistencia con la que se narra, con la que se presenta a ella y a su vida, a su pasado, a su presente, y a su futuro, son abrumadoras. Pero precisamente porque el trabajo sobre el papel aleja a la persona del personaje la que conocemos es siempre la que ya se ha visto con la distancia suficiente para relativizarse y conocerse. Es la construcción de una narrativa vital, pero la vida se vive en el desconcierto, el presente no es nunca nada parecido a la forma que toma a la luz del futuro, pero el análisis y la reflexión suficientes dan a cualquiera la consistencia necesaria para abordar un nuevo presente desconcertante con las herramientas suficientes. Quizá es esto lo que siempre he admirado en ella.

No he sido una virtuosa de la escritura. No he resucitado, como Virginia Woolf, Proust o Joyce el tornasol de las sensaciones y no he captado en palabras el mundo exterior. Pero no era ese mi designio. Quería existir en los demás comunicándoles, de la manera más directa, el gusto por mi propia vida: casi lo he logrado.

Sin duda lo ha logrado, y en algún sentido con su capacidad de narrarse ha sido una virtuosa de la escritura en el sentido que atribuye a Woolf, Proust o Joyce. Trasmite su talento para la vida, su placer por las cosas sencillas y su forma de experimentar y ver el mundo.

[Nic]

About as riveting as Proust’s Madeleine biscuit. Putting this one aside until I’m in my late 80s.

[xza.rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

« C’est parce que je refuse les fuites et les mensonges qu’on m’accuse de pessimisme ; mais ce refus implique un espoir : celui que la vérité peut servir. »

[Moataz · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was the least personal autobiography I read. Yet, it was okay, not that bad. Some chapters were very interesting to read, others were heavy, clumsy even, and badly written.
I got to know a little about the circumstances she lived in, he circle of friends. I'm defaintly going to read something soon for Violette Leduc and Claire Etcherelli. I'd not have known about them without the book. (Also, I kind of understood what white feminism meant!)
I was also surprised she was friends with Lutfi el-Kholi. I was surprised to see homosexuality widely accepted in the intellectual community of France, and it made me wonder if it was the same outside it among regulars. I also kind of realized how the french version of communism was very different from the Russian one, but I don't understand why, yet.

[Shymaa Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

الكتاب جيد لكنه ممل جدا. الكتاب يفتح الباب للتساؤلات فعلا، لكن الأسلوب ممل للغاية، تستعرض حياتها ولقاءها بسارتر وغيره، ولا اعرف هل الملل بسبب اسلوبها الذي جعل الترجمة مملة أم بسبب الترجمة نفسها. انتهيت منه بعد معاناة.. لأنني كنت أريد أن أعرفها أكثر.

[Hella · Rating 4 out of 5]

"So, more than a chapter of the autobiography, it's dealing with herself, her life, her relationships, her world. Never idle, never tired, never trivial, never false."

[Teresa Granados · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mujeres notables las ha habido en todo el mundo y en todo momento histórico, pero es lamentable que no haya registro de su existencia en su gran mayoría. Simone de Beauvoir es un caso perfecto: definió junto con su compañero de vida, Jean Paul Sartre, el existencialismo, aportó a la causa del feminismo ayudando a comprender por qué no se nace mujer, si no que se llega a serlo, y su vida misma como filósofa, escritora, ensayista y mujer de su época fue registrada cuidadosamente por su propia mano.

Leer sus libros es gozar de buena prosa y recibir clases correctas de filosofía, historia, sociología y política. Pero sobre todo, de feminismo. Simone de Beauvoir fijó desde los 20 años de edad la escritura como “proyecto global”viviendo una existencia motivada principalmente por una enorme curiosidad, a su amor por la vida, a la urgente comprensión del mundo y su propia existencia fue el eje fundamental en el que movió por completo su proyecto. Así, leer y escribir se convirtió en el medio a través del cual comprendió el mundo.
Por medio de sus diarios y memorias he aprendido cómo tomó su relación con Jean Paul Sartre: tanto la escritura y Sartre fueron definitivos para ella, irrenunciables, ligados permanentemente a su acción, pero su rechazo al matrimonio convencional se debía a su desinterés de prolongarse en otra vida.
Diarios, memorias, novelas, ensayos son los géneros de producción literaria explorados por la francesa, y en todos ellos está la marca de su reflexión existencialista, que constituye su filosofía.
Su libro “Final de cuentas” lo escribe en 1971 y en él despliega una serie de reflexiones en torno a la vida y la muerte, la infancia y la vejez, la guerra que se estaba produciendo en Vietnam, el año de 1968 y su impacto en los movimientos estudiantiles en Checoeslovaquia, Francia, México, entre otros lugares. Analiza la vejez en la obra de varios autores, pintores, directores de películas.
Como viajó tanto, hizo un registro de lo que vio, conversó y comió. Participó en un comité que condenó la guerra contra Vietnam.“Cuanto más me acerco al término de mi existencia, más fácil me parece abarcar en su conjunto ese extraño objeto que es una vida: intentaré hacerlo al comienzo de este libro.”(p. 7) “Ya no tengo la impresión de dirigirme hacia un fin, solo de deslizarme ineluctablemente hacia mi tumba.” (p. 8) “Estoy instalada en la vejez.”(p. 35)
La de Beauvoir pudo ser mi abuela o mi tía, pero es mi amiga: ella ha traido a mi vida cosas completamente insospechadas. Si se quiere conocer cómo se puede vivir plenamente en la vida, hay que leer a Simone de Beauvoir.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

1962 - 1971 Paris

FINALLY, i’ve come to the last volume of de Bouvoior’s memoir series giants. I particular like the format of this volume as it is written in a thematic approach instead of the timeline approach in the previous volumes. I could skim and skip on topics that I’m not as interested in reading.

(I obviously skipped through anything related to the evolution of Soviet cultural from the death of Stalin through the Khrushchev years.)

I enjoyed much of the body that are descriptive, about Simone's readings, films she viewed, dreams, travels, companionship with Sartre. However I did think some point of views in the writing were a bit extreme and overwhleming. Overall, one just have to identify with a feminist leftist intellectual point of view, and I don't see how it could be possible to enjoy this book if you don't.

[Giada Brugnera · Rating 3 out of 5]

In questo caso è difficile dare una valutazione. L’ho trovata un’opera poco riuscita, e credo che l’autrice stessa in una certa misura lo sapesse: in alcune parti diventa quasi un rendiconto privo di interiorità di quello che la De Beauvoir ha fatto nell’ultimo decennio della sua vita; altre parti invece sono più appassionate e interessanti. In ogni caso non meno di tre stelle, perché dopotutto si tratta pur sempre di Simone De Beauvoir.

[Maha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was too long. But I guess it is titled “All Said and Done.”
This memoir consists of bits and pieces of Simone’s thoughts and experiences which made it feel like reading a brain dump. Not necessary an elegant or smooth read.

The book has 8 chapters. Each designated for a topic/theme i.e. her childhood, relationships, travels, books she read, politics, etc …
It seemed too gossipy at points. And not that interesting to read in other points. Except her Japan and Soviet Union trips which she dedicated 2 chapters for each.

Simone seemed very aware of the judgmental eyes of the reading audience, which made me question the sincerity of the memoir. Maybe she wanted to control how the world would perceive her and how she would be remembered.
Also, this book was probably written for her fanbase. People who follow and know her.

Hmmm.. if you are a Simone adorer/admirer like I am, give this book a go..
Other than that.. not my favorite Simone memoir.

[Fanny]

Des longueur sur les expériences politiques, mais de beaux passages sur les découvertes et la vie culturelle de Simone elle-même mais aussi du couple.

[Mastaneh Ghaemi]

All Said and Done: The Autobiography of Simone de Beauvoir
سلام دوستان آیا این کتاب به فارسی ترجمه شده ؟

[نُـورة · Rating 2 out of 5]

مُمل

[Lena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lange uitwijkdingen over dromen en kennissen waar je nog nooit van gehoord hebt, maken het boek niet erg interessant

[Rahma ShahBahai · Rating 2 out of 5]

سيرة ذاتية كتبتها عن نفسها،،

[ami ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

pas mon tome préféré😔😔

[Blue Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

“这次我不打算在书里下什么结论了。就让读者自己评判吧。”

[Cate · Rating 3 out of 5]

solo per te Simone

[Qamar Mohamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

رحلة جديدة مع سيمون وسيرتها الخاصة، ولكن هذه المرة وهي آكثر نضجاً

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

喜欢书中有关日本文化与法国五月风暴的部分。她的视觉、味觉、听觉与体认。
波伏娃自我造就、修正与完型的能力也很是让人欣赏。尽管她观念与个性里也难免会有受文化裹挟而成的幼稚与自欺；诸如责任，诸如平等。

[Simona Calò · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lessi i primi tre libri uno dietro l'altro, questo lo piantai a metà per noia e mancanza di interesse: non ritrovavo più niente dell'ottimismo e della vitalità con cui aveva raccontato i primi cinquant'anni della sua vita. Riprovo qualche anno dopo e con piacere giungo alla fine, complice una lunga vacanza in cui ho molto tempo per leggere.
Siamo d'accordo che inevitabilmente la vecchiaia e la morte la intimoriscono, le tolgono entusiasmo, ma tutto quello che Simone De Beauvoir pensa del mondo e dei suoi abitanti è vivido, interessante, descritto con rigore e grazia anche a sessantaquattro anni. A differenza delle puntate precedenti, abbandona la narrazione cronologica e preferisce una struttura tematica che le permette di dedicarsi a quello che vuole approfondire in maniera particolare: la dimensione onirica, le amiche di una vita, spesso cadute in disgrazia (davvero poco delicati i suoi racconti sulla fase discendente di queste donne sole e infelici, con dovizia di dettagli intimi e umilianti) e quelle nuove, perlopiù ex allieve e giovani scrittrici, le accurate recensioni di film, libri, opere musicali e artistiche (dove non si cura di fare spoiler tremendi), un'acuta analisi a posteriori delle sue scelte fondamentali, nel tentativo di stabilire se la persona che è diventata avrebbe potuto essere anche un'altra (per la serie: non avere abbastanza con cui tormentarsi). La sezione più corposa e interessante è quella dei viaggi, dove riesce a illuminare a un tempo l'aspetto di interesse culturale e personale (i monumenti visitati, le peculiarità dei luoghi, le caratteristiche della popolazione locale) e quello schiettamente politico: approfittando dell'invito a una conferenza o a un incontro nelle università assieme a Sartre in paesi socialisti, l'autrice offre l'opportunità di comprendere situazioni politiche tuttora drammatiche e attuali, come il conflitto arabo-israeliano, e di definire con maggiore chiarezza eventi storici di una certa rilevanza, come il maggio francese (ricco di aneddoti spassosi che vedono lei e lo storico compagno mettere in difficiltà la polizia) o l'indipendenza della Nigeria. Durante i soggiorni a Roma, in Russia, in Israele, in Giappone e in Francia non mancano le occasioni per tornare su temi cari a Simone, come la condizione operaia e quella femminile.
La scrittura è quella sobria, diretta e asciutta, spesso cruda e pungente con cui ha deliziato i suoi lettori, quello stile di una piacevolezza impareggiabile che è proprio di De Beauvoir e non troverei altrove; immense, a questo proposito, le repliche puntuali alle osservazioni di critici che lei trova ingiuste e gratuite, e a cui con una compostezza che non abita più il mondo da un pezzo risponde affondando colpi magnifici. Quella della sua autobiografia è una parte importante delle sue opere, grazie a cui chi ha letto il primo saggio fondamentale sul femminismo può conoscere la donna e le passioni che la animano oltre il pensiero critico. Non lasciatevi sfuggire l'occasione di esplorare l'esistenza avventurosa, ostinata e antiborghese di una grande, forse la maggiore, intellettuale francese.