‘Before’ by Amina Gautier

Gautier’s story is a Bildungsroman—one of my favorite topics as a reader. She returns us to our past. A wild age. An unbroken, untamed spirit of youth that brought chaos and joy. Her narrative grows from the intersection of youth at a certain age to the unfettered upbringing of the 80s. It’s a sloppy and bright intermingling of siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and family, sorting the tangled transitions from childhood to adolescence. What did we gain by growing up? Or more importantly, what did we lose?

Quarterly West