by Irene Nemirovsky
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
10 stars, 2008-07-19
A magnificent book! I have rarely read a more colorful and image inducing book!
I could imagine everything that I red even the smell of French bread - so well this book is written. I could perceive the pain of running away as intense as the characters and their pain was material and very " here and now".
Great book.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Stunningly Real, 2007-11-26
The author, Irene Nemirovsky was a Jewish writer who did not survive the Holocaust. Because she wrote fiction while living during World War II and suffering the deprivations of war along with the worst anti-Semitism the world has ever seen, the book is eerily realistic.
In the book, there are several stories describing different aspects in French life duing the period. She exposes the characters' spiteful and selfish personality flaws unapologetically. She shows how hardships and tragedy bring out the real qualities of human personalities.
While reading, you can actually see the war coming to life. She had a non-sensational way of writing about it and in so doing the realities as being very stark and horrible. For example, she describes the attempt of many people trying to escaping on foot with children and luggage in tow. Suddenly you are made aware that a woman was struck by a bomb and instantly destroyed among so many others who could have easily suffered the same fate.
Unfortunately, Nemirovsky did not have many other works published because she did not survive the war. Had she survived, I believed that she would have been hailed one of the best writers of our time.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
Two Unfinished Facets of a Gorgeous Diamond in the Rough Set in World War II Tragedy, 2007-05-11
Suite Française contains two unfinished sections, Storm in June and Dolce, of a planned five-part work about the invasion and occupation of France in World War II. The appendices contain the author's notes for what the other three sections would contain, her correspondence and correspondence about her (especially after she was sent to Auschwitz where she died), and preface to the French edition that outlines her personal history.
This work only recently came to light after Ms. Nemirovsky's surviving daughter, Denise Epstein, began typing out her mother's long-ignored notebook for a memory project.
As you read this work, you'll be responding at two levels: To the monumental tale of a nation unexpectedly brought to its knees and beholden and exposed to its conquerors . . . and to the real human tragedy of a family that would lose both parents while the two daughters survived by being hidden by their governess and those who opposed the Nazis.
Ms. Nemirovsky was a keen observer of the French. All of their quirks from the 1940s are present here, often lampooned into very funny extremes.
Those quirks are first beautifully displayed as a large number of characters are followed while they flee Paris at the last minute before the Germans arrive to evade what they fear will happen to those who stay. With the roads clogged and resources running out, each must cope in her or his own way to find food, lodging, and a safe haven. Not everyone succeeds. In those moments where the realities of the uncivilized aspects of human nature are exposed, you'll feel a chilling presage of the author's ultimate fate.
New dimensions of the quirks are exposed by putting the characters into close contact with German soldiers who are billeted in their homes. Some can make a great show of having no contact, while someone must interact with the Germans to gain benefits that everyone needs. Can you treat an enemy soldier as a person without compromising your own morality, your relationship with your family, and your own integrity? Those are all nice questions that the book raises in Dolce, which covers the period after the invasion through to the beginning of the Russian campaign.
A great strength of these materials can be found in the intense character development. You'll feel like you've always known these people. Even the superficial ones will capture your interest: What selfish, ridiculous actions will they take next?
Even more significantly, the book challenges our notions that groups of people are an entity. Their differences under a label (such as "French" or "German") are much wider than the differences in the labels. You also get a strong message of how dangerous it is for humanity to accept labels rather than considering each person as an individual, as God does.
Rarely have I read any fiction that's so funny, profound, and so enlightening at the same time . . . in the context of great tragedy. You'll find the range of your emotional experiences to be stretched in helpful new ways by this remarkable work.
Writers will take special joy from the book as they gain insights into the working methods of a major novelist.
Bravo!
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