Suite Francaise

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It's a hit!

This is probably my most favorite book I read after high school. I want to read it again to re-remember everything I love about it. I read it in on... (show more)

This is probably my most favorite book I read after high school. I want to read it again to re-remember everything I love about it. I read it in one sitting and was truly left jarred. It was suspenseful, romantic, sometimes funny and dramatic.

Simply put the novel is a collection of stories that are inter-related through the impending doom of Nazi occupation in WWII France. There were so many characters, all of whom seemed like real people. Flawed, worried, emotional and raw.

My most favorite story was if I can recall correctly was a clergyman escorting young boys on a trip (where: somewhere else, why: Nazis?) and it ended on such a dramatic note I was sold and had to finish the rest. The calm before the storm, the slow descent of an entire country, every corner, every class bracing for the inevitable. Too much heart and reality for someone to not give this book a chance. (show less)

 

 

by Angelina Rodriguez

No, it's a flop!

To say I read this book is stretching the truth - frankly I gave up. Generally I love the combination of history and fiction and a setting in Fran... (show more)

To say I read this book is stretching the truth - frankly I gave up. Generally I love the combination of history and fiction and a setting in France makes it all the better. Also the backstory of the author made it even more fascinating. But for me this book lacked heart. I wasn't at all caught up in the storylines. I generally read books in a couple of days and that was on my 'reading now' list for months. The story focuses on a variety of characters during the occupation of france jumping between each storyline but I never really cared for any of the characters. They weren't drawn in such a way that I wanted to know what happened next so in one word it was 'putdownable'! (not strictly a word at all - sorry!) Maybe I'll get back to it someday and persevere to find out that it was a hidden treasure but not til the bookshelf runs dry. (show less)

 

 

by Yvonne Rowland

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  It is hard not to be repetitive and redundant when talking about this book, given the number of people who have already praised Suite Française, from Irene Nemirovski. The book, published after having remained 50 years in a suitcase owns by Nemirovski’s daughter has fascinated because of the tragic fate of the writer. Nemirovsky was arrested and deported to Auschwitz where she was soon gazed, after finishing the first two books of what was originally a five-book saga. The author also fascinat... (show more)

  It is hard not to be repetitive and redundant when talking about this book, given the number of people who have already praised Suite Française, from Irene Nemirovski. The book, published after having remained 50 years in a suitcase owns by Nemirovski’s daughter has fascinated because of the tragic fate of the writer. Nemirovsky was arrested and deported to Auschwitz where she was soon gazed, after finishing the first two books of what was originally a five-book saga. The author also fascinates because of her ambiguous relationship with her Jewish identity; after leaving Russia and its pogroms, the author had reached France where she converted to Catholicism, collaborated with anti-Semitic publications and often used stereotypes later favored by the Nazi when describing her Jewish characters. This brought many to qualify her as a self-hating Jew but did not earn her the French citizenship, which could have postponed her arrest and deportation and maybe saved her life.

  Suite Française’s first part describes the exodus from Paris following the advance of German troops highlighting the pettiness and lack of solidarity of the refugees, as well as the absolute panic during that period. After the Germans invade the country and the armistice is signed, Nemirovski follows a small provincial town that has to welcome a German brigade, and the relations between occupiers and occupied – a mix of hate, curiosity and the awareness, barely conscious though, that the war is destroying everyone’s lives independently of the side in which they are. The writing is elegant and sharp – in particular in the first book, Storm in June, and Nemirovski manages to give a rare depth to her characters and nuance to their feelings uncovering some that, to the best of my knowledge are rarely explored in novels about the period (for example the inter-generational conflict as older men believe the youth was unable to defend France or the anger by WWI veterans mobilized again 25 years later for another war) as well as predicted the hagiography of the French people, resistant and solidarity, that would become France’s official history in the period after the war. Because of this willingness to be fair to both victims and victors, I would approach her work from Harry Mullish’s The Assault, another nuanced WW2 novel that dips deep in the greys of ethics, which I also highly recommend.

  We can only regret that Nemirovky could not finish the last three books. I believe that she never intended to name her work Suite Francaise (she mentions Storms in her note), but I find that title reflecting exactly what the book is about – a series of musical movements, some more rapid than others (and you feel the different rhythms in the two first movements!) and a story about France, the nation, and all the individual destinies -French or German- under this rather large and abstract umbrella. The positive though is that this masterpiece finally re-appeared and brought back to life this sophisticated, well-educated and complex woman. (show less)

   

   

  by Danae Bougas on Nov 14, 2009 at 06:52AM

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  Es difícil tratar de explicar la estética de Irene Némirovsky pues es una estética de vida tan simple y sencilla como la sonrisa que nos regala en las pocas fotografías que quedan de ella.
  Suite francesa literariamente es una obra maravillosa, estilísticamente es impecable y narrativamente es sobrecogedora…y sin embargo es una obra incompleta.
  Creo que es muy importante saber que Némirosky era una ruso judía refugiada en París cuando estalló la segunda guerra mundial y ella y su familia se ... (show more)

  Es difícil tratar de explicar la estética de Irene Némirovsky pues es una estética de vida tan simple y sencilla como la sonrisa que nos regala en las pocas fotografías que quedan de ella.
  Suite francesa literariamente es una obra maravillosa, estilísticamente es impecable y narrativamente es sobrecogedora…y sin embargo es una obra incompleta.
  Creo que es muy importante saber que Némirosky era una ruso judía refugiada en París cuando estalló la segunda guerra mundial y ella y su familia se vieron sometidos a la insania nazi. Sus hijas pequeñas sobrevivieron porque fueron ocultadas por la nana francesa de Irene. Irene fue asesinada en Auschwitz sin poder acabar su “Suite francesa” en 1942. Dicho esto, lo que tenemos en esta novela es realmente maravilloso pues es un estudio de la naturaleza humana que entiende y busca armonizar a las fuerzas en conflicto y que en ningún momento manifiesta ni odio ni resentimiento, sino y por sobre todo una inagotable fe en lo humano y en la esperanza que ello supone.
  El texto está compuesto por dos libros “Tempestad en junio”, donde nos narra la huída de los parisinos ante la cercanía de las tropas alemanas y en el segundo libro “Dolce” nos muestra a una población rural conviviendo y sobreviviendo a las tropas alemanas de ocupación. Y finalmente el texto incluye a modo de apéndice los apuntes y notas que usaba Irene para escribir esta sute que iba a tener 5 libros…tal vez lo que leemos en esas pocas páginas sea lo más conmovedor… (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook User on Nov 13, 2009 at 08:09PM

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