Suite Francaise (French language edition) | 
 enlarge | Author: Irene Nemirovsky
Publisher: Denoel
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $11.41
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Avg. Customer Rating:  374 reviews
Sales Rank: 275632
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 573
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 207033676X
Dewey Decimal Number: 843
EAN: 9782070336760
ASIN: 207033676X
Publication Date: January 31, 2005
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: A BRAND NEW COPY & in MINT NEW condition From Aphrohead Books of Southport - United Kingdom. Delivery time is 4 - 7 days direct to the USA. Thanks from all at Aphrohead.
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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Suite Francaise is both a brilliant novel of wartime and an extraordinary historical document.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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| Customer Reviews: Read 369 more reviews...
 Expected to love it, gave up on it. October 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I had heard such great things about this book, so was really looking forward to reading it. I read to chapter 22, then quit. I thought it was extremely boring and very slow moving. I agree with some of the other reviewers that the author's situation and the subsequent discovery of her manuscript was so intriguing, I expected the book to be the same, but I was very disappointed.
 Unfinished masterpiece October 13, 2008
Suite Francaise sat on my permanent "mountain" of waiting-to-be-read books for about a year, unopened. Had I only known...
The Holocaust claimed the lives of innumerable people. Irene Nemirovsky was among them. She died at Auschwitz a year after writing the first two novels (out of intended five) belonging to Suite Francaise. "Storm in June" and "Dolce" were re-discovered decades after she died and subsequently published, adding a further and unusual insight to the tragedy of war. The world lost a very talented writer, already successful and well known at the time of her death.
I think it is important however to discern the actual BOOK from the extraordinary CIRCUMSTANCES surrounding its discovery and the personal history of its author, as it would have been, in my opinion, a great literary success regardless. No doubt this is easier said than done, especially after turning the last page having read not only the book but all the following appendixes, which clarify the author's frame of mind and personal turmoil at the time of writing, as well as several points about the manuscripts that were still pending and awaiting a definite closure, a task possible only after the end of WW2, primary background of the entirety of Suite Francaise.
Having said this, the book itself is a standout. The first novel, "Storm in June" recounts the exodus from the city of Paris due to the advancing Nazi invasion. Different characters from different backgrounds feel Paris is not safe any longer and decide to leave everything behind and flee, seeking refuge in the French countryside. Coming to terms with the lurking spectre of war generates the most varied reactions and perturbates minds and souls, revealing the true nature of each individual.
A few characters mentioned in "Storm in June" reappear, but only just, in the following novel, "Dolce" (and that's because some connections were meant to be further developed in the never-written but intended sequels). Set in a small town in the French countryside, the Germans have already arrived and impose their rules and regulations to the locals, often occupying their homes for accommodation. Everyone is bitter, resentful and scared about the imposed presence of the Nazis, from the farmers to the lords of the manor so to speak. As in the first novel, the true nature of each character reveals itself in this time of need, fear and confusion.
What the two novels have in common is the wonderful characterization. It is clear that the author wanted to project people and their feelings most of all. No matter how rich, poor, famous, noble, sweet or arrogant, no matter their different backgrounds, they all have one thing in common: fear. And one target: survival. For themselves and their loved ones. The momentous events reveal the true nature of the characters involved and the disruption it causes to their life, merging into a form of cowardice and malignancy for some and humility, courage and hope for others.
And no, this is not "another one" of those books about war or the Holocaust. It is war felt and lived through by different characters with diverse points of views, and that includes the German soldiers, depicted especially in "Dolce". Definitely a different perspective, and an original one, of WW2.
Original language hues are sometimes lost in translation, I cannot know if this was the case, however the narrative here is captivating and has an erudite quality which speaks for itself; it is in any case extremely accessible and easily readable. Sad of course, although funny remarks are included too, sparsely distilled here and there befitting certain situations. Even the least important character -just like settings and surroundings- is etched vividly reflecting the multifaceted reality of war times. If this book was not brought to an end and feels a bit disjointed, it is not something that spoils the reading. Its essence is pristine and the message conveyed a tug at the heart. Need I say more? I loved it.
Wanted more and more!! .such a tragedy she is gone... October 6, 2008
A book like this only comes around once in a while and touched me greatly and even though the author died tragically at Auschwitz in 1942 she will be in my memory forever.. Thank god her daughter got this book published. I fell in love with all the characters who were written so vividly I thought I was there...So descriptive, with both humor and sadness. The next part "Captive" was not yet written only in bits and pieces before her death. I cried on the last two pages regarding her life and death. Such a talented writer. Rest in peace Irene..
 Subtle, Powerful, Unfinished - An Astonishing Survival September 29, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Perhaps the miracle of this manuscript is that it survived the internment and death of its author and all the mischances of World War II to achieve publication. Even in its unfinished condition (only two sections out of the author's intended three or four), this novel paints an unforgettable portrait of France in defeat.
The first section, Storm in June, follows a number of people who flee Paris ahead of the German Army. The author hopscotches from character to character, trying to show the reaction of many different classes and types of people. The most poignant story was that of a middle-class, middle-aged couple who both work at the same bank. They report to the bank as ordered, only at the last minute the bank director decides to take his mistress in his car so he tells the couple that they are to report to Tours tomorrow or face losing their jobs! They have to walk and their faith with one another and their worry about their son in the army makes for affecting reading.
The second section, Dolce, is set in a farming community under occupation. The tensions between the occupiers and the occupied are deftly delineated. The subtle choices faced by those who willingly collaborate and those who do so reluctantly are played upon. The author does this in such human terms, showing the relationship that grows step by step between Lucille, a woman trapped in a loveless marriage to a man now held captive, and the German officer quartered with her and her mother-in-law.
These two sections, plus some of the author's notes, are all we have--this in itself is a tragedy and waste of war. Had this novel been finished we would be hailing it as one of the supreme works of literature. As it stands, it is like a great cathedral gutted by a bomb. The ruined shell still soars to heaven, a reminder of the human spirit triumphing despite human destructiveness.
One of the best, by far. September 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When a friend handed me her copy of Suite Francaise my first thought was that it would not be my sort of thing, with its 1940's movie character cover and "secret manuscript hidden away by author's daughters for more than 60 years" backstory. How wrong I was! This is one of the very best books I've ever read. It is so beautifully translated that you catch your breath over its wonderful phrasing, elegant descriptions, perfectly paced plot, and characters all too human. Impossible to overstate the emotional impact of the loss of this powerful writer to the evil Nazi regime.
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