Self-Worth - Emma Tholozan

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Self-Worth

by
Emma Tholozan

general information | our review | links | about the author

Title:	Self-Worth
Author:	Emma Tholozan
Genre:	Novel
Written:	2024 (Eng. 2026)
Length:	168 pages
Original in:	French
Availability:	Self-Worth - US
	Self-Worth - UK
	Self-Worth - Canada
	Le rire des autres - Canada
	Le rire des autres - France

	from: Bookshop.org (US)

French title: Le rire des autres
Translated by Emma Ramadan

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Our Assessment:

B- : a fun idea, but falls short in the execution

See our review for fuller assessment.

The complete review's Review:

       Self-Worth is narrated by Anna, and begins with her having just graduated from university with a masters in philosophy. She had apparently hoped to continue towards a doctorate, but her advisor brings her back down to earth, noting that her chances of getting a scholarship were slim ("And there are too many of you -- some contracts are filled two years in advance", he adds). So she winds up, like much of her cohort, at the government employment office and, given her lack of any useful skills, has to take the only thing the counselor finds her qualified for, a minimum wage job working for a TV talk show, warming up the audience, and signaling to them when to laugh and when to applaud.
       She and her fellow students try to be philosophical -- hey: "Philosophy had taught us to disdain material possessions" -- but, still, their prospects are limited: "Élodie had registered on a babysitting site; Mehdi had an interview for a job in a fast-food restaurant". The only one who manages to at least try to move onto some kind of career-track is Sophie, studying for her teaching certificate -- who will continue to beg Anna for help studying for the exam.
       Anna comes from humble circumstances, her father proud to have moved from the Parisian periphery -- Bobigny -- to Paris proper when she was a child, even if all they could afford was a one-bedroom apartment. She now lives in a tiny apartment -- twenty-five square meters -- which then gets even tighter when she falls in love and new boyfriend Lulu moves in. He is good with machines and fixes all sorts of appliances for a living: "No machine could resist him". It's not exactly a regular job, but he earns enough to help them get by.
       While generally completely realistic, the novel does take one very fantastical turn, and with it everything changes: pretty much out of the blue, Lulu vomits up a twenty-euro bill -- and then keeps vomiting more, turning into a kind of human ATM. Overnight, Lulu has become the goose that lays the golden eggs -- except, more conveniently, that what he spits out is ready cash. Suddenly, money is no longer an issue -- they have a seemingly endless supply. And Anna really, quickly takes to the new lifestyle their new and growing fortune now affords them.
       The first fancy thing she buys is a purse -- and immediately everyone sees her differently. The TV shows host at work suddenly notices her -- and tells her:

‘Very nice purse, Anna. It’s the dress and shoes that’ll have to change now. To match, you see.’
I couldn’t believe my ears. The contours of my existence were finally taking shape in the eyes of others, as if through some kind of enchantment. I was materializing.

Anna fully embraces the consumerist-/capitalist-lifestyle. They move to a huge apartment -- "in a single-digit arrondissement", of course -- and throw a fancy housewarming bash -- though Anna notes: "we had a space problem: we didn't have enough friends to fill the apartment" ..... They take a trip to Tahiti, with Anna posting posed pictures of herself to show off on social media, explaining that: "My goal wasn't to become an influencer, but I liked the idea of people liking me. As everyone does". And she continues to spend money like there's no tomorrow -- not even remembering what she spends it all on.
Then the hiccups begin. First Lulu doesn't vomit up bills any more, but just some two-euro coins -- annoying Anna, who needs to continue to feed her buying-binging and is losing all perspective. As Lulu complains:

‘My body is now producing coins. It’s full of iron. I’ve lost eight kilos and I’m starting to lose my teeth. I could die from this, and you, all you can think about is your fucking bathing suits.’
‘You could die ? Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration ?’

       Lulu does again begin producing high-denomination bills, but it's no longer quite as simple, and in her greed Anna drives away her golden goose -- leading to a rapid fall, and return to her previous straitened circumstances. She desperately hunts for Lulu -- for love ? for the money ? -- while moving in with Sophie (whereby: "Obviously, our apartment was in a two-digit arrondissement. Given its distance from the city center, it merited a third"). Has she learnt her lesson(s) ?
       Self-Worth is an odd little novel. The premise -- far-fetched though it is -- is certainly promising enough, but Tholozan uses it fairly simplistically, her impulsive protagonist not really thinking things through very well (at most any point), and not very good at introspection. The only lesson Self-Worth really hammers home is that a philosophy degree truly is worthless: not only is Anna left with no career prospects, but she doesn't seem to have actually even learned anything useful either; Anna comes across less as someone who has completed five years of higher education, much less studied philosophy (except perhaps in the complete abstract, with no real-world application ?) than just a kid. (Ironically, of course, young author Tholozan apparently also studied philosophy and has parlayed that into this apparently quite successful and prize-winning novel, suggesting a philosophy degree doesn't have to be a complete dead end.)
       This is a kind of slim concept-novel, built around a fun hook, that seems pretty common in France -- especially in its straining for humor. But Anna's rush from low to high to low -- all pursued fairly unthinkingly (beginning with not even having any sort of plan for what she can do with her philosophy degree as graduation approaches) -- is more hasty blur than anything else. There's little depth to any of these characters -- with Lulu barely fleshed-out, problematic for a love-interest. Only dear old dad, always affectionately supportive, comes across as a real character -- but Anna's engagement with him also tends towards the hasty and abrupt.
       Maybe this works and is sufficient for a younger audience (writes your grumpy old reviewer ...), twentysomethings whose life is similarly still unsettled and who can relate to Anna's complete self-absorption and lack of self-awareness and are fine with the fairly superficial story-telling. Self-Worth picks up a bit when it becomes something of a quest-tale, Anna pursuing Lulu (or his money ...), but even here doesn't really gel.
       Unfortunately, the promise of the golden-goose premise isn't played out to anywhere near its potential here.

- M.A.Orthofer, 7 January 2026

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Links:

Self-Worth:

Scribe publicity page
Denoël publicity page
Prix des catherinettes, 2024

Reviews:

Other books of interest under review:

See Index of French literature

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About the Author:

Emma Tholozan is a French writer.

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