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All Our Worldly Goods

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 708 ratings · 178 reviews

Pierre and Agn�s marry for love against the wishes of his parents and the family patriarch, the tyrannical industrialist Julien Hardelot, provoking a family feud which cascades down the generations. Even when war is imminent and Pierre is called up, the old man is unforgiving. Taut, evocative and beautifully paced, All Our Worldly Goods points up with heartbreaking detail...more

Paperback, 264 pages

Published July 2nd 2009 by Vintage (first published 1947)

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Mar 27, 2013 arcobaleno rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: letteraturastraniera

Un’altra guerra. Non si dovrebbe vedere una cosa simile due volte .
Un romanzo maturo della Némirovsky, quasi una prova per la successiva “Suite”, di cui propone e anticipa temi, ambienti, luoghi, atmosfere… Una specie di saga, quella degli Hardelot, che ripercorre la vita e le consuetudini di una borghesia francese di provincia, a cavallo delle due guerre; le generazioni si succedono a Saint-Elme, un piccolissimo paese del Passo di Calais al confine col Belgio, tra amori, difficoltà, smarrimenti...more

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Dec 18, 2010 Patty rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite, francese, una-stanza-tutta-per-sé

Tante responsabilità, tante angosce e tante prove: insomma, i doni che la vita ci offre."
E responsabilità, angosce e prove percorrono la storia degli Hardelot e con loro si percorrono trent'anni di storia francese, da quelli che precedettero la 1° guerra mondiale a quelli che vedranno (nel momento stesso in cui Némirovsky racconta, ) l'occupazione della Francia da parte dei tedeschi. Un grande romanzo classico suddiviso in 30 capitoli e che si può considerare una sorta di prova generale del "Su...more

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Nov 15, 2011 Jeanette added it · review of another edition

Shelves: did-not-work-for-me

Having recently read The Mirador, I have to say that Elisabeth Gille, Nemirovsky's daughter, was the better writer of the two. I just don't get the popularity of Irene's fiction. I didn't like Suite Francaise, and I like this one even less. The writing is so dry and stiff. Maybe it's just the translation, but there's no real feeling conveyed by the words on the page. The story felt totally flat to me. I did enjoy Fire in the Blood, her very short work about France between the two world wars, so...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Robbins Library rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: jenny-recommends

"Everyone waited for the war to start the way people wait for death: knowing it is inevitable, asking only for a little more time." (p. 178)

"Twice in one lifetime, it was too much. But everyone was bowed beneath the same destiny, and courage was born out of their communal ordeal." (p. 202)

Like Nemirovsky's other novels, Fire in the Blood and Suite Francaise, All Our Worldly Goods, is set in France; it covers the period from before WWI through the beginning of WWII, ending on a rather hopeful not...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Piperitapitta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autrici-francesi, letteratura-francese, romanzo

Tutto l'amaro e il dolce della terra.

Come potevamo noi cantare con il piede straniero sopra il cuore? - si chiedeva Salvatore Quasimodo - ed io non posso fare a meno di pensare che in quegli stessi anni, in esilio in un piccolo paese del sud del Francia dove si era rifugiata con il marito e le due figlie piccole, Irène Némirovsky scriveva I doni della vita, nonostante le leggi razziali le impedissero oramai di pubblicare i suoi romanzi - I doni della vita sarà pubblicato in trenta puntate da Gri...more Tutto l'amaro e il dolce della terra.

Come potevamo noi cantare con il piede straniero sopra il cuore? - si chiedeva Salvatore Quasimodo - ed io non posso fare a meno di pensare che in quegli stessi anni, in esilio in un piccolo paese del sud del Francia dove si era rifugiata con il marito e le due figlie piccole, Irène Némirovsky scriveva I doni della vita, nonostante le leggi razziali le impedissero oramai di pubblicare i suoi romanzi - I doni della vita sarà pubblicato in trenta puntate da Gringoire in forma anonima, una scelta ben diversa da quella dettata per il suo esordio con David Golder! - e i tedeschi avessero già invaso il territorio francese, lei, Irène Némirovsky, cantava dell'amore e della vita.
«La gente aspettava la guerra come l'uomo aspetta la morte: sa che non le sfuggirà, gli sia concessa soltanto una proroga. "D'accordo, verrai, ma aspetta un po', aspetta che abbia costruito questa casa, piantato quest'albero, fatto sposare mio figlio, aspetta che non abbia più voglia di vivere» scriveva, e cantava dell'amore di Pierre e Agnés, di quell'amore nato tra una guerra e l'altra, di quell'amore che aveva sfidato tutto e tutti, attraversato quarant'anni di storia, in quello che sembra un meraviglioso cartone preparatorio per quella Suite Francese che doveva essere il suo affresco più bello e che invece vedrà la luce solo dopo la sua morte: cantava piena di speranza e di dolcezza, ignara del fatto che a lei, quella proroga, non sarebbe stata concessa.
Piena di speranza, scriveva «La guerra finirà, finiremo anche noi, ma questi piaceri semplici e innocenti ci saranno sempre: la freschezza, il sole, una mela rossa, il fuoco acceso in inverno, una donna, dei bambini, la vita di ogni giorno... Il fragore, il frastuono delle guerre si spegneranno. Il resto rimane... Per me o per qualcun altro?» descrivendo "in presa diretta" l'invasione tedesca e quell'esodo di massa delle popolazioni francesi dalle loro case, esodo che lei stessa aveva vissuto in prima persona, ma già parlando di ricostruzione e mai, mai una sola volta, di odio o di rancore; con uno stile più misurato, meno tagliente del solito, ma ugualmente diretto e avvolgente, forse necessario a creare una sorta di equilibrio interno con quanto stava vivendo, senza dimenticare di ricordare che, per la prima volta in un suo romanzo, forse anche in conseguenza della sua contingente conversione al cattolicesimo, non erano più solo l'autodeterminazione e il libero arbitrio a guidare - in questo caso - le azioni delle famiglie di Pierre Hardelot e di Agnés Florent in un romanzo corale che intreccerà le vite dei due protagonisti con quella di Simone Renaudin, attraversando tre generazioni e due guerre, ma anche l'intervento della Provvidenza, cui Irène sembra affidare non solo la vita dei suoi personaggi, ma anche se stessa e il destino della Francia.
Irène Némirovsky ha il dono e la capacità di sublimare con la sua prosa ogni singola frase, ogni pensiero, di far sentire chi legge al centro della storia, ma soprattutto di farlo entrare in sintonia con i suoi personaggi, ai quali attribuisce, senza filtri, anche quei pensieri che noi, talvolta, censuriamo in noi stessi.

Non riesco più a leggere Irène Némirovsky senza legare ai suoi romanzi gli eventi della sua vita, a provare una tristezza infinita per la sua fine, a pensare con quanta frenesia abbia cercato di sollecitare la concessione della cittadinanza francese per sé e per il marito, a come fremesse di rabbia per le limitazioni imposte alla propria attività di scrittrice, a come si sia ingegnata per aggirare le restrizioni e pubblicare ad ogni costo e "ovunque" quello che scriveva, a come non si sia rassegnata all'inerzia e abbia combattuto fino alla fine, animata da una forza interiore più simile al furore che alla paura.
Chissà, forse avrà pensato che anche per lei, come per Agnés, sarebbe arrivato infine, non quello che molti definiscono "il lieto fine" del romanzo, ma quella lieta fine che le avrebbe permesso finalmente, senza più dolore né fatica, di godere dei doni della vita.

«Ma Agnes non avvertiva più né dolore né fatica. Si sentiva come al termine di una mietitura, di una vendemmia: tutta la ricchezza, l'amore, il riso e il pianto che Dio le riservava lei li aveva raccolti e adesso che tutto era finito, non poteva far altro che mangiare il pane che aveva impastato, bere il vino che aveva pigiato; i doni della vita lei li aveva riposti nel granaio, e tutto l'amaro e il dolce della terra avevano dato i loro frutti. Lei e Pierre avrebbero concluso la loro vita insieme.»(less)

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Jul 19, 2012 Deborah Markus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I give away the ending. Read this anyway.

This novel feels contemporary and Tolstoyesque all at once. The characters are sketched rather than painted in oil, and the humor is gorgeous and easily missed if you read too quickly. For instance:

"Sitting comfortably, without her corset, her arms and legs bare and relaxed, out in the fresh air, in the sunshine, she felt extremely peaceful; she felt happy, as if she had everything she could wish for. She had a husband she loved, the best son in the world...more I give away the ending. Read this anyway.

This novel feels contemporary and Tolstoyesque all at once. The characters are sketched rather than painted in oil, and the humor is gorgeous and easily missed if you read too quickly. For instance:

"Sitting comfortably, without her corset, her arms and legs bare and relaxed, out in the fresh air, in the sunshine, she felt extremely peaceful; she felt happy, as if she had everything she could wish for. She had a husband she loved, the best son in the world. The paper factory was flourishing. Her mother-in-law was dead. Pierre was making an excellent marriage."

How gorgeous to slip in that next-to-last item like that.

The same bluntness permeates the book. "She had reached the age where you recoil at the idea of any kind of change, as if it were an omen of the greatest change of all: death."

I should have loved this book. I barely got through it. Why?

What made this book difficult for me to read is that it's exactly what its cover claims: "a novel of love between the wars." Nemirovsky writes as if she were simply an exceptionally observant, sharp-witted French woman sketching out the lives of a couple who are required to witness two wars. The novel ends as World War II begins. Germany has just begun to occupy France. And yet the book ends on a beatific note: "She had gathered in all the good things of this world, and all the bitterness, all the sweetness of the earth had borne fruit. They would live out the rest of their days together."

Fair enough. But Nemirovsky was killed in the war she never mentions in her novel, the other war being waged by the Germans: the war against the Jews. She finished this book in 1940; in 1942, she was murdered in Auschwitz. She saw herself as a French writer. France and Germany saw her as a Jew. She and her husband, far from living out their days together, died separately in the Holocaust. Their two very young daughters narrowly escaped that fate.

Given how eagerly France worked with the Nazis to murder their own citizens, it is sickening to me to read a "French" novel by one of their victims. It's not Nemirovsky's words, but their context, that make this novel strangely horrifying.(less)

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Dec 14, 2011 Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Ann by: Virginia

Shelves: from-rare-bookclub, historical-fiction

p.5
'She must have no family left,' people said, slightly maliciously; in the eyes of Saint-Elme, the absence of numerous relatives was suspicious. 'She says she's lost everyone.' That was no excuse. A good middle-class family should be large, and hardy enough to stand up to death.
p178-179
Everyone waited for the war to start the way people wait for death: knowing it is inevitable, asking only for a little more time. 'I'm aware you can't be avoided, Death, but wait a bit, wait until I've finished...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Kiki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My Amazon review, ARC

I know this book was originally published in 1947, but it is completely new to American readers. If you loved any of Irène Némirovsky's other books (I've read and loved Suite Francaise and Fire in the Blood) you should also LOVE this beauty of a book.

If Ms Némirovsky had survived the war, I imagine she would have become a most powerful writer. Her observations of life and love, especially in times of hardship and distress are very astute and well crafted. I'm sure this also...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Jaylia3 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Anyone who enjoyed Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Française will surely love All Our Worldly Goods just as much. In both books Nemirovsky's writing is incredibly beautiful and gracefully poignant. Though the original French must be even better, these translations by Sandra Smith are wonderful.

Nemirovsky was killed at Auschwitz before she could finish Suite Française, but All Our Worldly Goods is a complete novel. It's set in France from 1911, just before the start of WWI, to 1940, shortly after the be...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Clare Cannon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Young Adults & Adults

Shelves: adults, young-adult

I listened to this on audio last week, read by Eleanor Bron, and I did wonder whether a faster reading of the print book would have felt as bleak as the audio sometimes did. Then again, I had a similar impression from Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise, and that one I read in print.

However, in spite of the bleakness, the story is a worthwhile read. I haven't read anything about WWI and WWII from the perspective of a civilian living in or around Paris, so close to the battlefronts and so accustomed to...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Gail Amendt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I first encountered Irene Nemirovsky's writing in Suite Francaise, which was incomplete at the time of her death in Auschwitz, and was published posthumously. Although obviously incomplete, it showed that she was an amazingly gifted writer, with the unusual ability to write about the current times with great insight, without needing the usual distance required to process events. She was able to write about WWII while she lived it. This is another such book, also written during the war and also p...more

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Jun 10, 2011 Denise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, female-author, fiction, historical-fiction

I adore Irene Nemirovsky's writing. When I read her books, I feel overwhelming sadness because I know her history, that her voice was stilled too soon. All Our Worldly Goods is just as wonderful as Suite Francaise; the good thing is that it is a 'finished' novel I highly recommend this novel to everyone who loves Irene Nemirovsky...and exquisite, perfect, detailed writing. I can think of no writer who is similar to Nemirovsky; she was just so perfect.

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Dec 26, 2012 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-challenge

Those who enjoyed Fire in the Blood and/or Suite Francaise will most likely enjoy All Our Worldly Goods, which is set in France; it begins before WWI and ends during WWII, spanning the time in between. Beautifully written as always, it carries a much more hopeful message than Suite Francaise (which was unfinished, due to the author's murder in Auschwitz). Pierre and Agnes' love is constant, and their belief in true love for themselves helps them support their son, Guy.

Quotes:
The gutted earth spe...more Those who enjoyed Fire in the Blood and/or Suite Francaise will most likely enjoy All Our Worldly Goods, which is set in France; it begins before WWI and ends during WWII, spanning the time in between. Beautifully written as always, it carries a much more hopeful message than Suite Francaise (which was unfinished, due to the author's murder in Auschwitz). Pierre and Agnes' love is constant, and their belief in true love for themselves helps them support their son, Guy.

Quotes:
The gutted earth spewed forth its insides - a yellowish slimy mud mixed with scrap iron, boots, tins of food, wood, steel debris, all tangled up, twisted, lumped together with wood, bones and stones. (100)

After all, I lived in hell for four years. But Lord, at least I knew where I was, whereas now, it's this sort of limbo, this fog, this mirage. That's what is unbearable. (Pierre, 143)

They were how you imagine the dead: in a pure, warm place, while on earth you burn and devour your own heart. (Guy re his parents Pierre and Agnes. 155-156)

Each of us remains faithful to the idea we have of our true nature, our spirit and our character. (Pierre and Simone, 161)

The memory of the first betrayal wounds the pride more than the heart and fades more slowly. (Guy, 171)

Everyone waited for the war to start the way people wait for death: knowing it is inevitable, asking only for a little more time. (178)

Twice in one lifetime, it was too much. But everyone was bowed beneath the same destiny, and courage was born out of their communal ordeal. (202)

"Collective memory is a terrible thing. They say that people tend to forget; yes, they do, but the way animals forget: they remember having suffered, but not why....And now? What will happen? Some of them, the good ones, the really good ones, won't even have the illusions they need to die a more or less decent death..." (Pierre to Agnes, 213)

Of course, during the other war, Saint-Elme had been destroyed, but we consider everything that happens before we are born as mythical, with no true link to reality. (Rose, 230)(less)

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Oct 25, 2011 Cindi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

Review originally posted on my blog : http://utahmomslife.blogspot.com/2011...

I am completely fascinated with the story of author Irene Nemirovsky. A Jewess, born in Russia at the turn of the twentieth century, Irene's family fled from Russia and resettled in France. Falling in love with France, Irene converted to Catholicism and considered it her home. She became a famous author, writing powerful and successful novels. All of this would not be enough to save her from the Nazis. During World War...more Review originally posted on my blog : http://utahmomslife.blogspot.com/2011...

I am completely fascinated with the story of author Irene Nemirovsky. A Jewess, born in Russia at the turn of the twentieth century, Irene's family fled from Russia and resettled in France. Falling in love with France, Irene converted to Catholicism and considered it her home. She became a famous author, writing powerful and successful novels. All of this would not be enough to save her from the Nazis. During World War II, she was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where she died.

I fell for her writing when I read Suite Francaise several years ago. Written during the war and published posthumously by her daughters, Suite Francaise describes life for the French during World War II. She is a talented writer with a gift for creating absolutely honest and believable characters. It's almost as if she is simply telling the reader about the neighbors she watches out her kitchen window. Yet, rather than just the voyeuristic reporter, she also understands and conveys their truly human desires, flaws and strengths.

I was anxious to read another novel by Irene Nemirovsky and was delighted to have the privilege to read and review All Our Worldly Goods. Published in French, the novel has been translated into English and is now being published in the United States.

As with Suite Francaise, in All Our Worldly Goods Nemirovsky again writes an elegant and beautiful book. Pierre and Agnes fall in love with each other in spite of the marriages their parents have carefully arranged for them. Breaking tradition and risking falling out of favor with family, they decide to marry each other. In brief snippets, Nemirovsky tells a family saga and how their brash and yet passionate decision will affect the generations. Her story and plot are so carefully planned that it rings absolutely true.

The love between Pierre and Agnes will survive two wars. Nemirovsky is at her greatest when describing the emotions of the French as they must evacuate their cities, yet again, as they are defeated by the Germans in the early years of World War II. Since she personally lived through this experience, she is in the unique position as observer and reporter. As I read the novel, my heart ached for the discouraged people who couldn't believe that they would see two great wars in one lifetime. Who simply didn't believe they could go on.Yet, in all the pain and depression of the war, Nemirovsky shows in her novels that life continues--people are born and die. They love and they live.

Tragically, Nemirovsky was killed. We should be thankful that her powerful and beautiful work lives on.
(less)

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Jan 19, 2013 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

'How little it takes to turn the course of your life in a different direction.' And nothing changes one's destiny as fast as the outbreak of war. Nemirovsky describes graphically the suffering of individuals and whole communities in war torn France but doesn't deal in regret , recrimination , reconciliation and remorse so much as the resilience of the human spirit under the most trying of conditions : ...

' every single woman's heart bled the same way remembering those little moments of happiness...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Sarah Ryburn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-classics

i'm reading for this for march book club, and so far i'm remembering how much i really do enjoy nemirovsky's style. my paperback copy includes, of course, the standard "praise for..." lines and suggests that all our worldly goods "prefigures" suite francaise. i both do and don't see this aspect of worldly goods. the narrative style aligns with my memories of nemirovsky's writing– flowing, lyric, and eminently readable– but the tone of this novel seems quite different. lighter somehow, although t...more

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May 16, 2013 John Hunter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's about as far as can be from the sort of book I'd normally pick up but I thought it was beautifully written. It described a lot of surface detail peppered with just enough to remind you there was other stuff going on beneath all of the characters. It really nailed a specific tone of balancing what was perceived to be important and what was 'secretly' important (love and all that nonsense) and ignored the wars and civic dramas while never leaving them out completely. There was enough politics...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Alyss rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wonderful writing style, a good view into human emotions and behaviors, very quick read...but this book left me wanting more. It spanned several decades (yes, as told in the book description), but I was disappointed when each chapter found the characters in a new year, a new situation...but without necessarily finishing up what had happened in the previous chapter. Too jumpy.

For being a tale of love between Agnes & Pierre, I found an in-depth look at these two characters lacking. I felt that...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Sandie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-books, 20th-century-women, contemporary-lit, historical-fiction

Is it optimism or denial that permeates Irene Nemirovsky's ALL OUR WORLDLY GOODS? I cannot seem to discern if she is telling us that even in the face being abandoned by ones family for making the wrong choices, even in the midst of war and deprivation, and even when all seems lost that love and devotion will conquer all and that one must always hope for the best in life.

The book begins on a tranquil Normandy beach prior to WWI and takes us through 30 years in the lives of Romeo and Juliet style...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Patricia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I received this as a Goodreads First Reads book. This is a book of two families in France from 1911 to 1940. It's a story of love, family expectations, and hope that never fails in spite of wars, rumor of wars, and family pressure.

Pierre and Agnes were childhood friends, though it was a friendship their parents did not encourage and marriage was unthinkable. 'the bourgeoisie didn't mingle with the lower middle classes.' However, Pierre and Agnes declare their love for each other and the book goe...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Jillian added it · review of another edition

Even without the knowledge of what became of the author and the history behind her work, this is a beautiful and moving piece of writing. The characters live, love and suffer for no other reason than that it is what real people do, there is no more point to the co-incidences and events that happen in the story than what there would be in your own life. These people are so believable you can't help but share in their sorrows, and feel joy at their triumphs, because Irene writes in such a convinci...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A good quick read that deals with life and love in France, pre-WWI through the Nazi invasion. What makes this, and Némirovsky's other work so compelling is knowing that she was writing almost as events were unfolding in real life. Her later novels dealt with the Nazi invasion/occupation - she herself was murdered in a concentration camp in 1942. It's almost unimaginable that someone could process immense upheaval on the scale that France was experiencing and simultaneously use it to create beaut...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Hayley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, favorites

This should be up there with the great classics. An incrediable story leading up to WWI in France and spanning through WWII. Incrediably insightful and beautifully heartbreaking. Delves into the mindset of ordinary people, the disbelief pre-war and absolute helplessness and despair.

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Oct 27, 2011 Sharon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-things-france

I fell in love with Irene Nemirovsky's prose when I read "Suite Francaise," and was delighted to find "All Our Worldy Goods." Both books were published posthumously, as the author died at Auschwitz.

In this book, Nemirovsky brings us four generations of the Hardelot family of Saint-Elme. Beginning in 1910 with Pierre and Agnes, both engaged to others in arranged marriages, deciding to run away and marry for love and ending in the middle of the German occupation, the tale shows the French middle c...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: amazon-vine, own

This is a sweet, sad, nostalgic, and unexpectedly uplifting tale of love in the turmoil of the two world wars. It put me a lot in the mind of William Trevor’s Fools of Fortune – although this book was, I think, significantly less tragic, it shares a lot of the same themes of families that seemingly can’t help but be entangled by births, marriages, and deaths, and of people – particularly young people – whose lives are swept up by forces they cannot control.

Reading this book, you feel the horrib...more This is a sweet, sad, nostalgic, and unexpectedly uplifting tale of love in the turmoil of the two world wars. It put me a lot in the mind of William Trevor’s Fools of Fortune – although this book was, I think, significantly less tragic, it shares a lot of the same themes of families that seemingly can’t help but be entangled by births, marriages, and deaths, and of people – particularly young people – whose lives are swept up by forces they cannot control.

Reading this book, you feel the horrible and wonderful sweep of history and fate. Wonderful in that love, however embattled, seems to find its home over and over again in this book (lovers find each other, children are born, people are forgiven) – horrible in that the modern reader knows the devastation of each world war looming around the corner.

Knowing, too, that Nemirovsky herself was a victim of the holocaust – she died in a concentration camp in 1942 – I felt her own death looming as the events of the book marched steadily towards the second world war. The reader feels the weight of the war and its impact not just on the main characters, but on the world – or at least on France. But even as such huge, sweeping events set the tone – and much of the course – of the book, Nemirovsky’s writing is still tenderly evocative of the individual experience.

The author has a substantial gift for understanding people and writing convincingly and compassionately about their emotions and experiences. Even with characters that are selfish, or cruel, or dishonest, Nemirovsky writes with an understanding eye. It’s easy to present the big brute of the family who rules the roost; it’s not easy to show the reader why they are the way they are, and even make you sympathize with them a little.

Nemirovsky uses simple language to capture the strange core of life and love – one favorite passage, though short and simple, is Charles Hardelot’s titular line:

“I place the happiness of these children in the hands of Providence, but I know how fate defines happiness, in its divine wisdom: worry, anxiety, endurance, our worldly goods…”

I’m not sure in this passage if Charles means that worry, anxiety, endurance, etc become a necessary part of love, because they are a necessary part of life, as love weaves itself through hardship – or if happiness and love cost “all our worldly goods.” Or, as T.S. Eliot would say, “costing not less than everything.”

I haven’t read Suite Francaise, but I feel that All Our Worldly Goods definitely stands on its own. I’m excited to own this book and look forward to rereading it, especially reading it aloud with my husband. I can’t recommend this book enough.
(less)

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Nov 01, 2012 Jen rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book reads like the cousin of the more famous [Suite Francaise]. The similarities are clear; Nemirovsky writes of a France twice torn apart by war, and a population fleeing before the invading enemy. Although it is inevitable that we compare these two books because of their similarities, I would say that this is a more satisfying read than the more famous work, simply for the fact of being a complete novel; Nemirovsky never finished [Suite Francaise] before being deported to Auschwitz, wher...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great writer, but I was not as thrilled with the story as I had anticipated. Her other book got such rave reviews that I had an expectation that fell a bit short. That being said - the story is beautifully constructed, the characters very believable, and the theme strong and consistent. I found it difficult to let myself be either happy for the characters, or incredibly saddened. It takes place in France during and before the wars and depicts all of the tragedy inherent in such a setting. Yet, t...more

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Aug 24, 2011 Agnes Mack rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

It's difficult to separate the novel All Our Worldly Goods from the true story of what happened to Irene Nemirovsky. This book is haunting, in large part because I could feel the ghost of the author, looking over my shoulder, begging me to understand.

I've read several reviews of this book and it seems that many people felt unsatisfied because they weren't sure how they were supposed to feel, or what lessons they were supposed to take from the story. For me, that was the power of this book. I...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Christine Christman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I do like her unique portrayals of France during and between the two world wars. You could see from the very beginning how the world that her characters had so carefully constructed around themselves in order to feel safe, to feel valued, was a house of cards. But only hindsight allowed me to anticipate the collapse that Nemirovsky anticipates through her sharply drawn characters. The story is, of course, so much more poignant in light of her death at Auschwitz. This book is not as finely detail...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Vicky rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Suite Francaise is among my top best reads. For those of you who have read it, I definitely recommend All Our Wordly Goods. As is written in the Translator's Note to the Vintage paperback edition, "...together the two books provide a panoramic view of life in France from 1911 to 1940. " All Our Wordly Goods was written before her deportation to Auschwitz and was published in 1947 after her death. Her ability to write about ordinary human lives and her perceptive observations during the beginning...more

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