Stephanie's review
Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky
A long short story or a short novel that is a quick read. My only complaint is that it's too short! After reading Nemirovsky's stunning (on my all-time fav list) Suite Francaise, I was hoping for a novel as rich, compelling and alive as that one. Fire follows the musings of an older French "paysan" ("peasant" for lack of a better term) who is in the early twilight of his life back. After traveling the world, he is back in his native village, surrounded by family and the people he grew up with. He just wants to be left alone with his bottle of Burgundy (who wouldn't?) and views a "petit scandale" seemingly from the outside with little interest. But then the past creeps up on him and he soon feels the "fire in the blood" of youth that he's suppressed for so long. Due to the brevity, the characters were only loosely developed. I found that the peripheral characters - the farmhands, the conservative villagers, the rich crusty landowners - were the mo...more
