Suite Française
by Irene NemirovskySign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
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avg 3.79
bookshelves:
read2007
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
those interested in the human experience during war
This book jolted me. It's rare when I read a book literally from cover to cover...and close it nearly in tears. This was witten as France was being occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War, thus, this may well be the first fictional account of World War Two as it was happening. Needless to say, this is an immensely important book and in my opinion should be required reading in history classes. This is an unfinished work by a Russian-French author who died in Auschwitz before she ...more
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A masterpiece. And this is the rough draft.
I've spent the last day trying to decide if I loved this book because I'm sentimental. The author, Irene Nemirovsky, was a Russian Jew who wrote this while living in occupied France. A respected author, she had married Micheal Epstein who had also fled Russia when the Bolsheviks revolted. They had sincerely adopted France as their home country, converted to Catholicism and were the parents of two daughters. She began writing this novel while simulta...more
I've spent the last day trying to decide if I loved this book because I'm sentimental. The author, Irene Nemirovsky, was a Russian Jew who wrote this while living in occupied France. A respected author, she had married Micheal Epstein who had also fled Russia when the Bolsheviks revolted. They had sincerely adopted France as their home country, converted to Catholicism and were the parents of two daughters. She began writing this novel while simulta...more
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1 comments
bookshelves:
bookclub-read
Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
People interested in the affects of war on the conquered
Recognizing beforehand that this wouldn't be a complete story arc, I had to try to approach the book without any prejudice toward it for having a weak ending (i.e., no ending). Unfinished books can be interesting to read to view the storytelling process in the midst of its evolution, but are rarely satisfying as stories in their own right. Némirovsky's work here is perhaps more polished than a simple draft, but even her notes suggest that the finished chapters and two volumes that *were* pu...more
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bookshelves:
fiction,
francebooks,
historicalnovels
Read in September, 2008
I liked this book. I thought that the writing was sweeping and vibrant. "Dolce" was sad and moving for me. It was interesting to take in WWII through the eyes of the women left behind. However, when I read the appendixes, I was appalled.
We went to a book club meeting about this book and it was interesting to me to hear how diverse peoples' opinions were. Some people thought that the book was written as a "get out of jail pass" to give to the Germans if they came to take ...more
We went to a book club meeting about this book and it was interesting to me to hear how diverse peoples' opinions were. Some people thought that the book was written as a "get out of jail pass" to give to the Germans if they came to take ...more
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(4 people liked it)
5 comments
Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
everyone
What a fabulous book. Thought-provoking, beautifully written, sad and yet oddly hopeful. Romantic, violent and unflinching. Irene Nemirovsky was a Russian Jew who became exiled from Russia at a young age & had lived in France for many years by the outbreak of the Second World War. Despite being a well-known writer, she was never granted French citizenship. She started Suite Francaise after the outbreak of the war in Europe, wanting to document what she saw going on around her. She planned to...more
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Read in April, 2008
I really really wanted to love this book... Instead I'm having a hard time deciding what I really think about it, other than that I pushed through it to finish.
WWII is a somber subject, no way around it and so, of course, the book is somber. But even somber subjects can be compelling and I had a hard time finding a reason to be compelled...
There are two "books" within the cover and I feel like I need to review each quickly but separately. (perhaps this is part of my struggle -...more
WWII is a somber subject, no way around it and so, of course, the book is somber. But even somber subjects can be compelling and I had a hard time finding a reason to be compelled...
There are two "books" within the cover and I feel like I need to review each quickly but separately. (perhaps this is part of my struggle -...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
ANYONE
this book was reccommended to me by my dear friend and avid reader, kimi. For literary mastery I would have given this book four stars, but given the history and circumstances for which this book endured to be written -and published 50 years later, well...its phenomenal! Irene Nemirovsky had intended the book to be five mini-books within one binding. She didn't live to write the final three and ironically titled the final two with (question marks at the end) battle? peace?. She wrote this ex...more
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bookshelves:
drama,
history,
world-war-ii
recommends it for: those interested in history, or simply fans of good books
Read in April, 2008
recommended to Qt by:
KWrecommends it for: those interested in history, or simply fans of good books
An amazing book--wholly engrossing, and completely gripping. The writing is beautiful, fluid, and descriptive; the book itself is a very moving portrait of the events in France, as seen through the eyes of several very different characters. In Book One, Parisians flee Paris and take refuge in the countryside, and Book Two describes the occupation of a French village.
There are only a few scenes of violence; the focus of the book is more on people--their emotions, their actions, what they do to...more
There are only a few scenes of violence; the focus of the book is more on people--their emotions, their actions, what they do to...more
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10 comments
bookshelves:
history
Read in September, 2008
A great snapshot of history. It's about the experiences of ordinary French people as they flee Paris in 1940 when the Germans are invading. The second part is about after the Germans occupy France, how people in the towns get along with their hosts.
I loved the class breakdowns that occur. When the rules of society are no longer being enforced, having money or being a famous writer no longer make you more special than the next person. The descriptions of the characters prejudices, which were...more
I loved the class breakdowns that occur. When the rules of society are no longer being enforced, having money or being a famous writer no longer make you more special than the next person. The descriptions of the characters prejudices, which were...more
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2 comments
Read in May, 2008
The story of the author and how the book came to be published so many years after her death is a much more compelling story than this, although if Nemirovsky had the chance to complete the book to her vision I may think differently. As it is, the book was well-done in its portrayal of the many facets of human nature that show themselves in times of crises. Nemirovsky shows a sympathy for basic human responses, even if those reactions are abhorrent to common values and sentiments.
The book als...more
The book als...more
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Read in March, 2008
i'm nearly finished with this book, and would like to discuss it with someone. it has an extremely interesting dynamic. it is written about internally displaced persons fleeing the Nazi invasion of france, by a person in that same situation. the author ultimately was not able to finish the book as she died in a concentration camp... apparently, she was born into a Jewish family, but she converted to Catholicism. she might have authored some anti-semitic works during her hey-day as a famous write...more
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1 comments
Read in March, 2008
I LOVE this book!! It is absolutely amazing. Definitely one of the best I have ever read. If you are looking for a fantastic book...please please please read this one.
The author, Irene Nemirovsky, was a Russian Jew who fled the Bolsheviks in 1919 during the Russian Revolution. Her family emigrated to France when she was a teenager. Irene attended the Sorbonne, became a best-selling author, got married, and had two little girls. Irene, her husband, and children fled Paris during WWII during t...more
The author, Irene Nemirovsky, was a Russian Jew who fled the Bolsheviks in 1919 during the Russian Revolution. Her family emigrated to France when she was a teenager. Irene attended the Sorbonne, became a best-selling author, got married, and had two little girls. Irene, her husband, and children fled Paris during WWII during t...more
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Read in October, 2007
The story behind this book looms so large that it coloured every page that I read. A successful writer who considers herself a French Catholic (but who ultimately is perceived by the French community she feels part of, to be a Russian Jewess) writes about a group of individuals fleeing Paris after the Nazi invasion. The writer's previous work was acclaimed in France in the 1920s and 30's, however this novel was not uncovered and published until the early 2000's (and then initially only in France...more
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Read in November, 2007
Part I ("Storm in June") - Follow the lives of average Parisians as they evacuate the chaotic and dangerous French countryside during the German invasion of World War II.
Part II ("Dolce") - A German regiment settles in a small French town, and the villagers must learn to live with their new occupiers, for better or worse.
The descriptions in this novel were rich and beautiful; the author brilliantly wove striking metaphorical images into the scenes to illustrate the em...more
Part II ("Dolce") - A German regiment settles in a small French town, and the villagers must learn to live with their new occupiers, for better or worse.
The descriptions in this novel were rich and beautiful; the author brilliantly wove striking metaphorical images into the scenes to illustrate the em...more
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bookshelves:
historical-fiction
Read in December, 2007
Suite Francaise is brilliant in its simple and masterful prose, its candid look into the lives of mostly upper-class French during the invasion and then occupation of France by the Nazis, and its almost clairvoyant predictions of what was yet to come.
Nemirovsky actually intended to write this story in five parts, as in the five musical parts of a symphony. Tragically, the Russian Jewish author living in France at the time was seized and taken by the Nazis to a concentration camp where she ev...more
Nemirovsky actually intended to write this story in five parts, as in the five musical parts of a symphony. Tragically, the Russian Jewish author living in France at the time was seized and taken by the Nazis to a concentration camp where she ev...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Everyone
I can't imagine what the other novellas would have read like since this wonderful 2 part novella remained hidden due to the author Irene Nemirov's unfortunate demise in Auschwitz. The book was originally intended to be written in 5 parts, but only two were completed. Nimerov's daughters recently found this manuscript and hence a wonderful, honest, insightful, and wonderfully written novel was given life.
Nemirov's lush prose brings the reader back to early 1940's when the French were invaded...more
Nemirov's lush prose brings the reader back to early 1940's when the French were invaded...more
























