The narrator of this 1975 fictional autobiography tries to recreate the events of his childhood as a Jew in Nazi-occupied France. In alternating chapters, Georges Perec jumps between real life and a fictional island, known as W, off Tierra del Fuego, in an attempt to recall his wartime experience. Some details emerge as he goes through this process, but a complete picture of his childhood never emerges. The scenes on the island, however, do become clearer and clearer, and depict an existence that revolves around sport, competition and cruel and arbitrary rules — likely an allegory for life in Nazi concentration camps.