Suite Francaise | 
 enlarge | Author: Irene Nemirovsky
Creator: Sandra Smith
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Category: Book
Buy Used: $3.26
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Avg. Customer Rating:  360 reviews
Sales Rank: 637922
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 0676977707
EAN: 9780676977707
ASIN: 0676977707
Publication Date: April 11, 2006
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Product Description
Suite Francaise is both a brilliant novel of wartime and an extraordinary historical document. An unmatched evocation of the exodus from Paris after the German invasion of 1940, and of life under the Nazi occupation, it was written by the esteemed French novelist Irene Nemirovsky as events unfolded around her. This haunting masterpiece has been hailed by European critics as a War and Peace for the Second World War.
Though she conceived the book as a five-part work (based on the form of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony), Irene Nemirovsky was able to write only the first two parts, Storm in June and Dolce, before she was arrested in July 1942. She died in Auschwitz the following month. The manuscript was saved by her young daughter Denise; it was only decades later that Denise learned that what she had imagined was her mother’s journal was in fact an invaluable work of art.
Storm in June takes place in the tumult of the evacuation from Paris in 1940, just before the arrival of the invading German army. It moves vividly between different levels of society–from the wealthy Pericand family, whose servants pack up their possessions for them, to a group of orphans from the 16th arrondissement escaping in a military truck. Nemirovsky’s immense canvas includes deserting soldiers and terrified secretaries, cynical bank directors and hapless priests, egotistical writers and hardscrabble prostitutes–all thrown together in a chaotic attempt to escape the capital. Moving between them chapter by chapter, this thrilling novel describes a journey hampered and in some cases abandoned because of confusion, shelling, rumour, lack of supplies, bad luck and ordinary human weakness. Cars break down or are stolen; relatives are forgotten; friends are divided; but there are also moments of love and charity. Throughout, whether depicting saintly forbearance or the basest selfishness, Storm in June neither sweetens nor demonizes its characters; unsentimentally, with stunning perceptiveness, Nemirovsky shows the complexities that mean no-one is simply a hero or villain.
The second volume, Dolce, is set in the German-occupied village of Bussy. Again, Nemirovsky switches seamlessly between social strata, from tenant farmers to the local aristocracy. The focus, however, is on the delicate, secret love affair between a German soldier and the French woman in whose house he has been billeted; the passion, doubts and deceits of their burgeoning relationship echo the complex mixture of hostility and acceptance felt by the occupied community as a whole. Nemirovsky is amazingly sensitive in her depiction of changing, often contradictory emotions, but her attention to the personal is matched by her sharp-eyed discussion of small-town life and the politics of occupation. In this myth-dissolving book, the French villagers see the Germans as oppressive warriors, but also as handsome young men, and occupation does nothing to remedy the condescension and envy that bedevil relations between rich and poor.
Quite apart from the astonishing story of its survival, Suite Francaise is a novel of genius and lasting artistic value. Subtle, often fiercely ironic, and deeply compassionate, it is both a piercing record of its time and a humane, profoundly moving novel.
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Irene Nemirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903 into a wealthy banking family and emigrated to France during the Russian Revolution. After attending the Sorbonne, she began to write and swiftly achieved success with her first novel, David Golder, which was followed by The Ball, The Flies of Autumn, Dogs and Wolves and The Courilof Affair. She died in 1942.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 355 more reviews...
 Don't bother July 25, 2008
I'm sorry to say this book never lived up to all the hype for me. None of the characters were appealing. Felt like I was reading short stories by a high school student. I found it very difficult to get through as there was nothing going on to keep my interest.
 Gave up after 150 pages! July 21, 2008
I have to echo the sentiments of those who say there were too many characters and they're not well-developed enough to make you care about them. And what you ARE told about them makes them all completely unappealing! I was certainly expecting some unsympathetic Germans, but I was not expecting that all the French characters would be petty, snobbish and selfish -- at least, what little the author tells you about them. I thought I would love this but didn't bother to finish it.
 After the Storm July 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky would perhaps be interesting solely through the facts relating to the demise of its author: a Ukranian and Jew by birth, who after living in France for nearly a dozen years was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where she shortly died. Her manuscript was kept in a suitcase for years until her two daughters, who survived thanks to friends who faithfully hid them, could come to terms with the memorial their mother had left them. It is a story that seems too fantastic to be true, yet Nemirovsky was an established author before the war cost her everything, and "Suite Francaise" is a remarkable reintroduction to her talent.
The novel, originally planned to have five parts, is complete with just the first two sections. The first section, "A Storm in June", is a far-reaching affair, filled with a wide cast of characters, as citizens endure the hardships and chaos of the exodus from Paris in 1940. Nemirovsky paints vivid portraits of all sorts - a wealthy, large family trying to save their dearest possessions, an idealistic author and his mistress, a poorer couple who long to find out information about their wounded soldier son - and interweaves their plight and attempts to reach safer areas. This exodus is sheer chaos, as cars break down and run out of petrol, as the German army advances and the French soldiers cannot hold on; it is a breathtaking, sometimes slow-building examination of what people are truly made of. Nemirovsky deftly examines the deepest seated feelings of pride and how everyone reveals their true colors in the end.
The second part, "Dolce", continues after the armistice has been signed and the German army is billeted among the families in a relatively well-to-do village. Some of the same characters who were in the first part make appearances, but do not play a large role. This story focuses on Lucile, a wife whose unfaithful husband is a prisoner of war, and the young German soldier who is staying at their house. The Germans are their enemies, but Lucile finds herself drawn to this man, and struggles with how she should treat him. "Dolce" is faster-paced than the first part, and examines the violent passions of prejudice and hate, how on the surface the townspeople accept almost numbly what is happening to them, but their inner turmoil reveals wholly different feelings. "Dolce" ends with the Germans pulling out, off to fight a new war in Russia, and that is where "Suite Francaise" comes to an end.
The ending of this book is a bit of a letdown, only because Nemirovsky crafted such compelling characters and stories out of the chaos that was her life. While the appendices offer her notes for what was to happen in the next three installments, which offer readers some insight into the fates of these characters, it is not enough. Perhaps Nemirovsky made these notes knowing that she did not have too much time left. The correspondence is a poignant look at what happened to her and her husband after they were both arrested and their loved ones searched in vain for help and information. "Suite Francaise" is a remarkable testament to the weight of war and the cost of survival.
 Fine July 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book was fine. Not great, not awful, just fine. It took a bit of patience to read, but the 2nd half was much better than the first. By the time I finished I didn't care to read her notes and plans for the rest of the story. I expected something totally different, and honestly have no idea who the couple on the cover is supposed to be. The book is choppy, jumping from one family to the next and it gets irritating. I'd prefer more character development and less characters. The second half is much better, focusing mainly on one group of people. This is probably a good book for students as the right professor can talk about the author's plans for the stories and how she intended them to relate had she not died. I read this book for a couple chapters, then put it down to read "Tis" by Frank McCourt b/c it was a more interesting read. I did finish the book, but until I got to the 2nd half I kept substituting it with Tis.
War and Armistice: Exodus interruptus & Occupation/Collaboration July 7, 2008
37 out of 41 found this review helpful
Another brillant piece of writing by a Russian emigrant in a second language. The book remained tragically incomplete; in its current shape it has 2 of the 5 intended parts. The 3rd one was supposed to be called Captivity and was intended to cover the resistance, according to the notes in the appendix to this pocket book. (Irene herself was arrested and died in captivity. So did her husband, who was also Jewish. Her 2 daughters escaped and saved the manuscript for 60 years.)
The first part, called Storm, is about the time when Germany was winning the war in France and the citizens of Paris made a mad dash South. It introduces a broad spectrum of characters from different shades of middle class plus farmers and the servant class. Workers are outside the spectrum of the book, which may be an accurate reflection of Mme Nemirovsky's social experience. Central characters are the members of a rich upper middle class family, the Pericands, and of a lower middle class one, the Michauds.
The armistice causes the exodus to stop, life becomes 'normal' again, in a situation of occupation. The narrative in part 2, Dolce, moves to a small town near the demarcation line between the occupied and the 'free' part of France. We meet some new people, mainly the two Angellier women, and some old aquaintances. The aristocracy becomes a relevant player in the plot. The village has German troops billeted in every house. Biology takes charge: many young men from the village have left as soldiers, are in captivity or have died. The German troops and officers provide a solution to a felt need. Collaboration grows on simple physical and psychological factors. This phase is temporary: the war in Russia starts, the troops move out of France, the resistance begins to show up.
In the first two parts, IN did not touch on the situation of the Jews in France. Actually, none of the many characters in the story seem to be Jewish. This is odd and I have no explanation for it.
I realize this is the only fictional account of WW2 in France that I have read or that I can remember. Also odd. I also realize that my French has become too rusty for this level. I also realize that I need to give up on my arrogance which makes me often ignore the 'best books of the year' selections. I have often been disappointed by such dignitaries, but Nemirovsky demonstrates that the jurors can also be right.
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