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David Golder, The Ball, Snow in Autumn, The Courilof Affair
Readers everywhere were introduced to the work of Irène Némirovsky through the publication of her long-lost masterpiece, Suite Française . But Suite Française was only the coda to the brief yet remarkably prolific career of this nearly forgotten, magnificent novelist. Here in one volume are four of Némirovsky’s other novels–all of them newly translated by the award-winning Sandra Smith, and all, except DAVID GOLDER, available in English for the first time. DAVID GOLDER is the novel that established Néirovsky’s reputation in France in 1929 when she was twenty-six. It is a novel about greed and lonliness, the story of a self-made business man, once wealthy, now suffering a breakdown as he nears the lonely end of his life. THE COURILOF AFFAIR tells the story of a Russian revolutionary living out his last days–and his recollections of his first infamous assassination. Also included are two short, gemlike THE BALL, a pointed exploration of adolescence and the obsession with status among the bourgeoisie; and SNOW IN AUTUMN, an evocative tale of White Russian émigrés in Paris after the Russian Revolution. Introduced by celebrated novelist Claire Messud, this collection of four spellbinding novels offers the same storytelling mastery, powerful clarity of language, and empathic grasp of human behavior that would give shape to Suite Française .
363 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
About the author
Irène Némirovsky
132 books1,873 followersIrène Némirovsky was born in Kyiv in 1903 into a successful banking family. Trapped in Moscow by the Russian Revolution, she and her family fled first to a village in Finland, and eventually to France, where she attended the Sorbonne.
Irène Némirovsky achieved early success as a writer: her first novel, David Golder, published when she was twenty-six, was a sensation. By 1937 she had published nine further books and David Golder had been made into a film; she and her husband Michel Epstein, a bank executive, moved in fashionable social circles.
When the Germans occupied France in 1940, she moved with her husband and two small daughters, aged 5 and 13, from Paris to the comparative safety of Issy-L’Evêque. It was there that she secretly began writing Suite Française. Though her family had converted to Catholicism, she was arrested on 13 July, 1942, and interned in the concentration camp at Pithiviers. She died in Auschwitz in August of that year. --Penguin Random House
Irène Némirovsky achieved early success as a writer: her first novel, David Golder, published when she was twenty-six, was a sensation. By 1937 she had published nine further books and David Golder had been made into a film; she and her husband Michel Epstein, a bank executive, moved in fashionable social circles.
When the Germans occupied France in 1940, she moved with her husband and two small daughters, aged 5 and 13, from Paris to the comparative safety of Issy-L’Evêque. It was there that she secretly began writing Suite Française. Though her family had converted to Catholicism, she was arrested on 13 July, 1942, and interned in the concentration camp at Pithiviers. She died in Auschwitz in August of that year. --Penguin Random House
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
September 19, 2019
Four beautiful short stories collected in a beautiful hardback edition. Almost all of them involve aspects of her own short life and while none are autobiographical, after reading all 4 you get a sense of her life through them all. The collections is grounded in her famous David Golder which catapulted her fame in early 20th century France, and the other 3 are just as good in their own way with The Courilof Affair as my favorite.
In David Golder I got a sense of how Nemirovsky saw money and greet corrupts ones life although I still really sympathize with Golder in the novel as he isn't the bad guy. She didn't hate capitalism by any means, she just was able to show how it can infect one's life and one's relationships. Showing these multi dimensions of Golder really solidifies it as her great first story. Great read!
The others aren't as firm of substance, but nonetheless are great stories of themselves. Courilof Affarir also allow for an introspective look at the mind and how one judges' one's own actions. Not as groundbreaking but still a delightful read.
In David Golder I got a sense of how Nemirovsky saw money and greet corrupts ones life although I still really sympathize with Golder in the novel as he isn't the bad guy. She didn't hate capitalism by any means, she just was able to show how it can infect one's life and one's relationships. Showing these multi dimensions of Golder really solidifies it as her great first story. Great read!
The others aren't as firm of substance, but nonetheless are great stories of themselves. Courilof Affarir also allow for an introspective look at the mind and how one judges' one's own actions. Not as groundbreaking but still a delightful read.
September 1, 2018
All these four stories are short but David Golder & The Courilof Affair are longer than The Ball & Snow in Autumn. Irene stays true to the adage write what you know which each story has an element of that plus quite a story. I enjoyed all but my favorite was The Courilof Affair.David Golder was written in 1929 by 26 year old Irene Nemirovsky which brought her instant success. The story is about David Golder (he is a Russian emigrant who settles in France). David Golder is ALL about business & making money which has been a rough ride at times & not always so successful but he is a shrewd & terrifying figure that at present brought him extreme wealth. His family consist of Gloria his wife & daughter Joy. His family sees him as a money making machine & look only to this for his worth. Whatever he gives to them it is never enough. They only want him to live to keep the bankroll going. He is ruthless & not very loving except he feels warmth for his daughter Joy. There are really no likable characters in the sense they are more selfish & vain but that does not make the story less enjoyable. There are a couple of twist which has David wondering about the point in life since he is not a religious person. As the story goes on I start to soften up to this driven man but it is more in pity to see his life start so bright & ending in a circle with only little ascension. You start to ask questions how much money will make you happy & when you have reach your goal was it really more important than being more humanistic? There has to be a reality check in our lives when we see the achieving wealth is good but what will you do & how far will you go to get it. There must be some spiritual reasoning in person to know what are the limits for peace of mind & of peace after death. The Ball- was written in 1930. The story is about a nouveau riche (newly rich) Kampf family living in Paris. The mother Rosine plans a Ball for all the important people & invitations are sent. Antoinette is their 14 year old daughter who is told to wait in the sideline so the mother will get all the glory. Another story about the mother wanting all & nothing for her daughter which coincides with Irene & her mother. The invitations are supposedly sent by the governess but instead they are torn & throw in the Seine. Snow in Autumn- Is about a Russian emigrants fleeing during the Russian Revolution to Paris. (Irene's family had to flee Russia too) The story is told by the family's old maid. They flee death & have come to another kind of hard life. The Courilof Affair- written in 1933. This is a diary entry of a revolutionary terrorist in 1903 Russia. It tells of his life before but mostly as he is placed in Courilof's entourage as Swiss doctor taking care of The Minster of Education. Leon M. has no feelings for humans & does not fear death. His hate for Courilof grows over the years but there is a change in him while he is thrusted into the Tsar's circle. His thoughts have progressed to a less automaton & more humanistic but is it enough to change his ways. I found this novella interesting for several reasons & one being the cruelty by the government & the revolutionaries had you understanding a little about both sides. It also showed each side with their extreme hatred of the other side. When ideas are taken to be the gospel without thinking & humanity this results in a cruelty or fanaticism.
July 28, 2019
I had the good fortune to find this beautiful book in my library. It is bound carefully and includes that rare gift of a sewn in bookmark - printed and bound in Germany. Initially when I opened the book to read I felt I would not succeed as the font is somewhat miniature. Eventually I was able to train my eyes. and with the help of strong reading glasses accomplished the task.
A fine introduction is included from Claire Messud who also provides us with a bibliography of this writer's too short life, ended in Auschwitz.
David Golder, the first offering, is a commanding though unsympathetic portrait of a Jewish man who lives for money. It was popular in France, but the author later said she wouldn't have written it if she knew of Hitler. I did not care much for this one, but it was popular and made her somewhat famous.
The Ball is a very entertaining tale of a teenage daughter getting even with her critical, unloving and demanding mother who seeks popularity with the members of society she believes she can buy. Loved it!
Snow in Autumn is a beautifully told story centered on a faithful serf who does everything she can to care for a wealthy Russian family to the very end and beyond. Truly moving, but is also enlightening as it provides a poignant portrait of what the Russians who escaped to Paris went through after losing their wealth, estates, belongings and children to war.
The Courilof Affair focuses on revolutionaries, how they were formed by various experiences - somewhat dull (for me) after the emotional story that came before it.
This book is from Everyman's Library
Thanks to John Grant on this site for highlighting this author, thus bringing her to my attention. A very good read, particularly learning of this woman's life.
A fine introduction is included from Claire Messud who also provides us with a bibliography of this writer's too short life, ended in Auschwitz.
David Golder, the first offering, is a commanding though unsympathetic portrait of a Jewish man who lives for money. It was popular in France, but the author later said she wouldn't have written it if she knew of Hitler. I did not care much for this one, but it was popular and made her somewhat famous.
The Ball is a very entertaining tale of a teenage daughter getting even with her critical, unloving and demanding mother who seeks popularity with the members of society she believes she can buy. Loved it!
Snow in Autumn is a beautifully told story centered on a faithful serf who does everything she can to care for a wealthy Russian family to the very end and beyond. Truly moving, but is also enlightening as it provides a poignant portrait of what the Russians who escaped to Paris went through after losing their wealth, estates, belongings and children to war.
The Courilof Affair focuses on revolutionaries, how they were formed by various experiences - somewhat dull (for me) after the emotional story that came before it.
This book is from Everyman's Library
Thanks to John Grant on this site for highlighting this author, thus bringing her to my attention. A very good read, particularly learning of this woman's life.
July 12, 2010
Iréne Nèmirovsky is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. I was already in love with her last writing, Suite Française. Then I picked up her novella, Fire in the Blood, and enjoyed it also. Now, I’ve picked up a book of two novellas and two short stories: David Golder, The Ball, Snow in Autumn, and The Courilof Affair.
Nèmirovsky was a Russian Jew whose family was forced out of her homeland by the Russian Revolution when Nèmirovsky was a child. The family moved to Paris where they blended in with other Russian émigrés. Nèmirovsky started out by writing about life in Russia leading up to and during the revolution. As she grew as a writer, she noticed things happening in France. She included stories about Paris bourgeoisie and provincial living. Finally, she started writing fiction about French people reacting to the rise of Hitler and the fall of France to the Nazis.
It’s probably a combination of her Jewish heritage and her writing that landed Nèmirovsky in a concentration camp, where she died of typhus. (Her husband went looking for her and was killed.) When the Nazis called Nèmirovsky, she went; willingly some people argued that she thought her relative fame in France would protect her. Given what she wrote about Hitler, that seems like a foolish, naïve belief—one I don’t think such a sensible and observant writer like Nèmirovsky could believe.
It’s well known now that Nemirovsky sent her two young daughters off to Britian with her last writing hidden in their luggage. The stories were two of what was supposed to be five novellas that were to make up Suite Française. These two novels—not published until 2006—are beautiful little tomes about the fall of Paris to Germany and how the provincial people deal with billeting their German captors. Both stories are rich and fair and wry—their observations are amazing, their acceptance of human flaws is gentle and humorous. The Germans and French are both handled with equal, witty gentleness, as if Nèmirovsky loves all people—even supposed enemies—for their foibles.
The earlier stories in this book show that Nemirovsky has talent, but they also show a writer still developing her craft. David Golder made her famous. It’s about a rich, old Russian Jewish man who is dying. He’s only lived for money and the love of his spoiled daughter; now that he is lonely, at the end of his days, he tries to secure the young girl’s fortune in hopes that the selfish teenager will think fondly of him after he’s gone. It’s a good story, but it—as well as The Ball—also has overtones of stereotype. The money-obsessed Jew, the shrewish wife, the child-jealous mother, the cruel Jewish child—they all make appearance in these stories.
The Ball is about a newly rich Jewish family planning a ball. The mother hates her daughter, keeping the child from the party. So the child plots a mean revenge. Again, character traits that could be considered anti-Semitic show up. Is this slight discrimination possible, with Nemirovsky being Jewish? Yes; I believe she internalizes much of this, and it showed up later in her stories. She’s still capable of making interesting characters, at least of the leads. Her minor characters, though, do suffer from underdevelopment.
Then I read Snow in Autumn, about a white Russian family escaping the Bolsheviks. The story is told through the eyes of their very devoted, ancient nanny. Here is where the author starts to show more of her gift for subtly. The tale of struggle and faith and loyalty is quite gorgeous. The nanny is a very honest, well-meaning old woman. The story is told in short chapters that often jump months, causing the reader to have to fill in some gaps, but it’s still a charming and erudite little tale.
Then there is the amazing novella The Courilof Affair. Ah, what a great read! An old assassin reminisces about when he was hired by the Communists to kill Courilof, Czar Nicolas’ head of education. The young assassin wheedled his way into Courilof’s life, gaining the bureaucrat’s trust, taking residence in the man’s home. The killer starts to sympathize with his victim. He also learns through Courilof how people are selfish, protecting their own, putting others’ lives at risk for personal gain. It’s a gripping story balancing the gentleness of a loving marriage and honest friendships with the cruelty of human sacrifice and political terrorism. This novella is easily as good as Suite Française. It also shares that balanced, clever knowledge of humans and their weaknesses. The Courilof Affair would, in fact, make an excellent film.
All in all, these writing give a sense of an already talented writer gaining her strength and voice. They show how Nèmirovsky moved away from two-dimensional writing to the sensitivity and sensibility she later became known for. It’s sad, because if her life hadn’t been cut short by some of the people she was being fair to, I’ve no doubt she would’ve been one of the great authors of the 20th century.
Nèmirovsky was a Russian Jew whose family was forced out of her homeland by the Russian Revolution when Nèmirovsky was a child. The family moved to Paris where they blended in with other Russian émigrés. Nèmirovsky started out by writing about life in Russia leading up to and during the revolution. As she grew as a writer, she noticed things happening in France. She included stories about Paris bourgeoisie and provincial living. Finally, she started writing fiction about French people reacting to the rise of Hitler and the fall of France to the Nazis.
It’s probably a combination of her Jewish heritage and her writing that landed Nèmirovsky in a concentration camp, where she died of typhus. (Her husband went looking for her and was killed.) When the Nazis called Nèmirovsky, she went; willingly some people argued that she thought her relative fame in France would protect her. Given what she wrote about Hitler, that seems like a foolish, naïve belief—one I don’t think such a sensible and observant writer like Nèmirovsky could believe.
It’s well known now that Nemirovsky sent her two young daughters off to Britian with her last writing hidden in their luggage. The stories were two of what was supposed to be five novellas that were to make up Suite Française. These two novels—not published until 2006—are beautiful little tomes about the fall of Paris to Germany and how the provincial people deal with billeting their German captors. Both stories are rich and fair and wry—their observations are amazing, their acceptance of human flaws is gentle and humorous. The Germans and French are both handled with equal, witty gentleness, as if Nèmirovsky loves all people—even supposed enemies—for their foibles.
The earlier stories in this book show that Nemirovsky has talent, but they also show a writer still developing her craft. David Golder made her famous. It’s about a rich, old Russian Jewish man who is dying. He’s only lived for money and the love of his spoiled daughter; now that he is lonely, at the end of his days, he tries to secure the young girl’s fortune in hopes that the selfish teenager will think fondly of him after he’s gone. It’s a good story, but it—as well as The Ball—also has overtones of stereotype. The money-obsessed Jew, the shrewish wife, the child-jealous mother, the cruel Jewish child—they all make appearance in these stories.
The Ball is about a newly rich Jewish family planning a ball. The mother hates her daughter, keeping the child from the party. So the child plots a mean revenge. Again, character traits that could be considered anti-Semitic show up. Is this slight discrimination possible, with Nemirovsky being Jewish? Yes; I believe she internalizes much of this, and it showed up later in her stories. She’s still capable of making interesting characters, at least of the leads. Her minor characters, though, do suffer from underdevelopment.
Then I read Snow in Autumn, about a white Russian family escaping the Bolsheviks. The story is told through the eyes of their very devoted, ancient nanny. Here is where the author starts to show more of her gift for subtly. The tale of struggle and faith and loyalty is quite gorgeous. The nanny is a very honest, well-meaning old woman. The story is told in short chapters that often jump months, causing the reader to have to fill in some gaps, but it’s still a charming and erudite little tale.
Then there is the amazing novella The Courilof Affair. Ah, what a great read! An old assassin reminisces about when he was hired by the Communists to kill Courilof, Czar Nicolas’ head of education. The young assassin wheedled his way into Courilof’s life, gaining the bureaucrat’s trust, taking residence in the man’s home. The killer starts to sympathize with his victim. He also learns through Courilof how people are selfish, protecting their own, putting others’ lives at risk for personal gain. It’s a gripping story balancing the gentleness of a loving marriage and honest friendships with the cruelty of human sacrifice and political terrorism. This novella is easily as good as Suite Française. It also shares that balanced, clever knowledge of humans and their weaknesses. The Courilof Affair would, in fact, make an excellent film.
All in all, these writing give a sense of an already talented writer gaining her strength and voice. They show how Nèmirovsky moved away from two-dimensional writing to the sensitivity and sensibility she later became known for. It’s sad, because if her life hadn’t been cut short by some of the people she was being fair to, I’ve no doubt she would’ve been one of the great authors of the 20th century.
August 28, 2025
3.5 stars
Out of the two longer "novellas", I liked Snow in Autumn best. I read it earlier this year the paused the reading of the rest of the collection. I happened to peek at the Introduction and learned a lot about Nemirovsky which was very helpful in trying to see what she was getting across with such hateful characters in David Golder and The Ball. It also helped to know her background (having to leave Russia around the time of the Russian Revolution) to see what she was describing as she looked back on that time in The Courilof Affair.
I read a few other reviews and some had read one of her books which is semi-autobiographical which also helped explain what she was telling in several of these novellas/short stories. I look forward to reading several of her other books which are currently on my shelves. I loved her writing and prose.
3.5 stars rounded to 3 stars because I just didn't click with David Golder and The Courilof Affair like I did Snow in Autumn and The Ball. I'll be revisiting these again though at some point after reading more of her work.
Out of the two longer "novellas", I liked Snow in Autumn best. I read it earlier this year the paused the reading of the rest of the collection. I happened to peek at the Introduction and learned a lot about Nemirovsky which was very helpful in trying to see what she was getting across with such hateful characters in David Golder and The Ball. It also helped to know her background (having to leave Russia around the time of the Russian Revolution) to see what she was describing as she looked back on that time in The Courilof Affair.
I read a few other reviews and some had read one of her books which is semi-autobiographical which also helped explain what she was telling in several of these novellas/short stories. I look forward to reading several of her other books which are currently on my shelves. I loved her writing and prose.
3.5 stars rounded to 3 stars because I just didn't click with David Golder and The Courilof Affair like I did Snow in Autumn and The Ball. I'll be revisiting these again though at some point after reading more of her work.
January 18, 2022
This book is a good collection of stories by Irène Némirovsky. David Golder is about an old man who’s health is deteriorating yet who continues to work in order to provide for his family. The Ball is about an odd and contentious relationship between a mother and her daughter and the events that take place between them as they prepare to host an extravagant ball. Snow in Autumn is about an old housemaid and her experience during the war in Russia with a family who she’s taken care of for over 50 years. And finally, The Courilof Affair is about the assassination of a Russian minister. Each story is very different and I enjoyed each one of them.
December 28, 2024
^Snow in Autumn
October 28, 2008
In this book there are two stories of about 40-45 pages each and two short novels of about 120-130 pages. I ended up finishing only the two shorter stories.
"The Ball": 3 stars for this one. It's about a French family who has recently had an upturn in fortune. The wife is desperate to be accepted into higher society and plans an elaborate ball. Her petulant and naughty teenage daughter ends up sabotaging the entire affair. As a result she discovers the power she can have over the adults in her life, especially her mother.
"Snow in Autumn": 4 stars for this one. This is rather grim and sorrowful, but that is its strength in this case. It's a very authentic-feeling story about an upper class Russian family around the time of WW I. They send their sons off to war, and ultimately have to leave behind their privileged lifestyle to flee the Bolsheviks. They go to Odessa and then to Marseilles and finally Paris, living in greatly reduced circumstances. The nanny, "Niania" who has raised two generations of the family's men plays an important role in the story as well, loyal to her employers through it all.
Irene Nemirovsky's family had to leave Russia in a similar fashion, and I could detect the first-hand knowledge of the experience in this story.
"David Golder": A great big "nyet!" on this one. Ugh! I hated it right from the start but gave it thirty pages in which to change my mind before abandoning it.
"The Courilof Affair": This one started off well enough, but gradually lost its momentum until I was no longer interested in continuing.
"The Ball": 3 stars for this one. It's about a French family who has recently had an upturn in fortune. The wife is desperate to be accepted into higher society and plans an elaborate ball. Her petulant and naughty teenage daughter ends up sabotaging the entire affair. As a result she discovers the power she can have over the adults in her life, especially her mother.
"Snow in Autumn": 4 stars for this one. This is rather grim and sorrowful, but that is its strength in this case. It's a very authentic-feeling story about an upper class Russian family around the time of WW I. They send their sons off to war, and ultimately have to leave behind their privileged lifestyle to flee the Bolsheviks. They go to Odessa and then to Marseilles and finally Paris, living in greatly reduced circumstances. The nanny, "Niania" who has raised two generations of the family's men plays an important role in the story as well, loyal to her employers through it all.
Irene Nemirovsky's family had to leave Russia in a similar fashion, and I could detect the first-hand knowledge of the experience in this story.
"David Golder": A great big "nyet!" on this one. Ugh! I hated it right from the start but gave it thirty pages in which to change my mind before abandoning it.
"The Courilof Affair": This one started off well enough, but gradually lost its momentum until I was no longer interested in continuing.
November 30, 2023
This collection of novels by Neminrovsky begins with her first published work in 1929, David Golder. In case you have forgotten, Nemirovsky died in Auschwitz in 1942 and sixty years later the novel she was working on, Suite Francaise, was found by her daughters and published for the first time. I enjoyed Nemirovsky's style and sad that she didn't get to finish her trilogy. When I found some of her other novels that made her quite popular during her life I wanted to read them too.
I was not disappointed. Nemirovsky is a master of telling a story and filling out her characters. It's no wonder that she chronicles the difficult period in Russian and European history that she lived in and so conseuqently these stories are not light and dreamy and sympathetic. They describe human nature and the feelings, desires and contradictions that lie behind our actions.
I want to read more of Irene Nemirovsky.
I was not disappointed. Nemirovsky is a master of telling a story and filling out her characters. It's no wonder that she chronicles the difficult period in Russian and European history that she lived in and so conseuqently these stories are not light and dreamy and sympathetic. They describe human nature and the feelings, desires and contradictions that lie behind our actions.
I want to read more of Irene Nemirovsky.
October 29, 2021
Una novela tremenda con una capacidad para que el lector viva junto al protagonista que me ha sorprendido.
El dinero no da la felicidad es algo que todos sabemos, David lo vive
http://entremontonesdelibros.blogspot...
El dinero no da la felicidad es algo que todos sabemos, David lo vive
http://entremontonesdelibros.blogspot...
December 22, 2020
have previously read several of Irène Némirovsky's longer works (my favorite,
Suite Française, as well as All Our Worldly Goods and The Wine of Solitude); this book encompasses four short stories. Like The Wine of Solitude, each of the short stories is that of a Russian individual or family forced one way or another into French exile, not unlike Némirovsky herself. (That's not entirely true: the origins of the family at the center of The Ball are not Russian, but they are outsiders to Parisian society, still finding their way after coming into money. They are also - like Némirovsky - Jewish.)
Snow in Autumn and The Courlif Affair were my favorite stories of the four. The former chronicles the flight of a White Russian family from their lovely villa into the chaos of Bolshevik Russia and then onto Paris; more poignantly, it is also the story of the family's most devoted servant who adapts to the changes with even greater difficulty than those for whom she worked for more than half a century.
Snow in Autumn contrasts neatly with The Courlif Affair whose narrator is a Red Russian born to celebrated revolutionary parents and assigned at a young age to assassinate the Minister of Education, whose policies are responsible for the heavy-handed repression of the student movement at high schools and universities across Russia. As part of his assignment, he becomes the personal physician to his intended target, changing his perspective, if not the ultimate outcome. He, too, ends up in France after the Revolution, hunted and perhaps haunted by this assignment more than any other.
As always, it is a pleasure to read Némirovsky's prose, and her character development and story telling are superb. This book is a wonderful compilation of short stories, one that I can easily recommend.
Suite Française, as well as All Our Worldly Goods and The Wine of Solitude); this book encompasses four short stories. Like The Wine of Solitude, each of the short stories is that of a Russian individual or family forced one way or another into French exile, not unlike Némirovsky herself. (That's not entirely true: the origins of the family at the center of The Ball are not Russian, but they are outsiders to Parisian society, still finding their way after coming into money. They are also - like Némirovsky - Jewish.)
Snow in Autumn and The Courlif Affair were my favorite stories of the four. The former chronicles the flight of a White Russian family from their lovely villa into the chaos of Bolshevik Russia and then onto Paris; more poignantly, it is also the story of the family's most devoted servant who adapts to the changes with even greater difficulty than those for whom she worked for more than half a century.
Snow in Autumn contrasts neatly with The Courlif Affair whose narrator is a Red Russian born to celebrated revolutionary parents and assigned at a young age to assassinate the Minister of Education, whose policies are responsible for the heavy-handed repression of the student movement at high schools and universities across Russia. As part of his assignment, he becomes the personal physician to his intended target, changing his perspective, if not the ultimate outcome. He, too, ends up in France after the Revolution, hunted and perhaps haunted by this assignment more than any other.
As always, it is a pleasure to read Némirovsky's prose, and her character development and story telling are superb. This book is a wonderful compilation of short stories, one that I can easily recommend.
March 1, 2024
As with all of Némirovsky’s works, her writing is clean and crisp. David Goulder was the work that made her famous in her day and after having read her post-humously published books, Suite Française and All Our Worldly Goods, I wanted to know the younger author better.
The story did not disappoint — the characters are so flawed and Némirovsky is so good at bringing you right up close to each of them that you can almost hear them breathing. The mother and daughter are such entitled brats with no gratitude for the life they are so privileged to have. It makes you want to reach into the story and smack them for their behavior. More than that, David Goulder shows us how little the world has changed and how fresh Némirovsky’s writing is almost a century later.
There are three other novellas in this book - The Ball was by far the most fun with its O Henry twist. It almost doesn’t matter what Némirovsky writes - it worth reading for the brilliant clarity she brings to life and the world she and we live in.
P. S. - Part of why I also wanted to read David Goulder is that Némirovsky was heavily criticized and often branded as “anti-Semitic.” She was a Russian Jew, converted to Catholicism when her parents moved to France after the Russian Revolution. I did not feel her harsh descriptions of her Jewish characters were anti-Semitic - she simply described what she had witnessed in her life. I believe she was criticized because she was so forthright - she wrote what people were thinking - and no one likes to see their not so nice thoughts in print.
I’m curious to hear what others think? Was she anti-Semitic? Or, was she just doing writers do - telling the unvarnished truth through the story?
The story did not disappoint — the characters are so flawed and Némirovsky is so good at bringing you right up close to each of them that you can almost hear them breathing. The mother and daughter are such entitled brats with no gratitude for the life they are so privileged to have. It makes you want to reach into the story and smack them for their behavior. More than that, David Goulder shows us how little the world has changed and how fresh Némirovsky’s writing is almost a century later.
There are three other novellas in this book - The Ball was by far the most fun with its O Henry twist. It almost doesn’t matter what Némirovsky writes - it worth reading for the brilliant clarity she brings to life and the world she and we live in.
P. S. - Part of why I also wanted to read David Goulder is that Némirovsky was heavily criticized and often branded as “anti-Semitic.” She was a Russian Jew, converted to Catholicism when her parents moved to France after the Russian Revolution. I did not feel her harsh descriptions of her Jewish characters were anti-Semitic - she simply described what she had witnessed in her life. I believe she was criticized because she was so forthright - she wrote what people were thinking - and no one likes to see their not so nice thoughts in print.
I’m curious to hear what others think? Was she anti-Semitic? Or, was she just doing writers do - telling the unvarnished truth through the story?
February 9, 2018
I collect Everyman's Library classics and am always - always - on the hunt for them in used (and new) bookstores. After running across this edition in the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in SoHo, my interest was piqued of course. After researching who Irene Nemirovsky was, I was instantly intrigued to learn more - and then I researched David Golder (the first of four novellas in this edition) and was hooked. Irene was of Ukrainian Jewish origin (Wikipedia) and died at the young age of 39 in Auschwitz. The famous "Suite Francaise" was found decades after her death and published - a book that one can't not see in any bookstore across the country - and never once did I look at the back, notice the author. But now I know and Suite Francaise has been added to my list.
David Golder was amazing. Her writing flows, is not high-brow or pretentious, but the pages turn with ease. FIVE STARS to David Golder, to Irene Nemirovsky.
David Golder was amazing. Her writing flows, is not high-brow or pretentious, but the pages turn with ease. FIVE STARS to David Golder, to Irene Nemirovsky.
May 23, 2019
These are intense stories, with characters so enmeshed in their own drama and tragedy they feel overdrawn, caricatured. The stories themselves feel as though they might be meant to teach us something, but what, precisely is a bit elusive. They seem to be morality tales, but each of these characters is so exaggeratedly individual that it is hard to draw generalities. David Golder is cruel, ridiculous, and tragic, the girl in The Ball callow and spiteful, the family in Snow in Autumn forgetting their past and the old woman who embodies it while she is still there with them. Of these, The Courilof Affair was my favorite, a story of a man born a revolutionary who enters the inner circle of the man he has been told to assassinate. This was more of a thrilling story, with twists to it, and the intensity of it still felt relevant.
December 21, 2016
This isn't a book I'd readily recommend to many readers, because like any good Russian (okay, Ukrainian) author, Nemirovsky tends to be, well, depressing. But, HOLY CRAP. This woman could WRIIIIIIIITE. She is a perfect example of that paradoxical writing the Russians seem to have locked down: bitter, but moving; brutally direct, but emotionally muddled; sweet, but terrifying; tightly wound, but freeing. It's inexplicable, but makes for fascinating reading. She is a master of portraiture, and each story has her distinct tone while being remarkably unique. Knowing what little I do about the author (that she was published at such a young age, and also that she died so young and tragically) just gives extra emphasis to her work.
November 1, 2020
4 excellent short stories. All were dark and twisted and a good reminder that not all of history is as rosy and simple as people like to believe. Being Russian and Jewish at the turn of the twentieth century who then had to flee during Russian revolution to France, the author was clearly face to face with the ugliest of human flaws. How else could she have found the material to write such dark stories? Incredibly brilliant, but illustrating the ugliest and worst of human behavior, with just a sliver of the good sprinkled in each.
October 14, 2019
The writer is best known for her novel 'Suite Française' which was recently made into a film (that and her tragic death in Auschwitz in August 1942 at the age of 39). These stories/novellas illustrate a finer quality in her writing, especially 'The Courilof Affair) with its sensitive characterisations and clever use of recursive narrative structure.
July 2, 2018
I skipped David Golder because I couldn't take the Jewish stereotypes. Irene really has a lot of issues with her own people.
The other three stories were good, especially if you like class anxiety and Russian weirdos. (I do.)
The other three stories were good, especially if you like class anxiety and Russian weirdos. (I do.)
October 6, 2023
I read the first 3 novellas. Fantastic insight into impact of Russian resolution on Russian jews, something I wasn't at all familiar with, so it was very interesting. However, the stories are real downers which is why I passed on reading the last book.
July 26, 2018
My introduction to Nemirovsky. Some caustic, self-loathing views of Jews and adult women, yet fascinating for her view on Russian lives before, during, and after revolution.
December 8, 2018
The writing is excellent, but these novels are too dark. After a while, the unrelenting grimness starts to wear on you.
April 30, 2022
This is fucking sweet bullshit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2022
A compilation of brilliant works!
August 17, 2023
Esta autora definitivamente me cautivó con sus libros, recomiendo no solo leer este libro si no todos los que puedan de ella, es sencillamente increíble.
September 5, 2023
Three wonderful novellas. Irene Nemirovsky was a genius, a serious writer like Chekov or Tolstoi before her.
May 5, 2012
During her lifetime, Irene Nemirovsky was best known for two of the stories in this compendium: David Golder and The Courilof Affair. Since her death in 1942 in a concentration camp, she is known for the two stories published posthumously, Suite Francaise and Fire in the Blood, and for the biography (partially fictionalized) published by her daughter, Elisabeth Gille: The Mirador (Dreamed Memories of Irene Nemirovsky). I find that her daughter's book gives me a good insight into her mother's complex personality. Irene was born in Russia, the daughter of a wealthy, prominent banker, and a pampered, socialite mother. She witnessed the Russian Revolution first hand and was fortunate to escape to Finland and then to France. Her primary language was French, rather than Russian, and her wealthy background let her look down on the poor, including the poor and/or grasping Jews. Ironically, her Jewish heritage would result in her own death in France.
David Golder appears to portray certain aspect of her own father and mother. The father has achieved great wealth but is a grasping, driven, ill old man, whose wife conducts affairs openly and, apparently, deceived her husband about the parentage of their only child, Joyce. Even when the deception is revealed, David Golder embarks on an arduous final journey to recover enough of his lost wealth to protect Joyce from a marriage to an equally old grasping rival. The descriptions are sometimes disturbing. Of David Golder himself, the author says: "His thick white hair used to be red, and a hint of that burning colour still remained at his temples and at the back of his neck, glowing like a flame half hidden beneath the ashes." She also makes a very offensive anti-semitic remark about David and one of his old friends: "Dirty and poor, all right, but does a Jew need much? Poverty preserves the Jews like brine preserves the herrings." That statement should be taken ironically but plays or played into the hands of the anti-Jewish forces who gathered in Germany and then in France in the 1930s. The authenticity of the characters in the story of David Golder makes this work highly compelling, and a fascinating glimpse into the maw of the Russian Revolution from someone who was there.
The Courilof Affair is more directly involved in the early days of the Russian Revolution, circa 1903. Dissident students were sometimes shot during demonstrations and revolutionaries were launching terrorist attacks from Switzerland. The use of Switzerland by revolutionaries reminds me of Joseph Conrad's novel, Under Western Eyes. The author examines the personalities on both sides: of the young man, raised by his revolutionary mother, sent to assassinate the Minister of Education, and of Courilof, his intended target. The young man, posing as a doctor, lives with Courilof, who is dying of cancer, for several months, and absorbs too much of the older man's personality and reasoning. The assassin later reaches a similar level of power with the Bolsheviks, and carries out the same kind of reasoned but ruthless killings that occurred during the Czar's rule. Both the assassin and the minister learn that: "Power, the illusion of influencing human destiny, is as intoxicating as smoke, as wine. When you have none, you feel an astonishing sense of suffering, of painful uneasiness." Also, I am drawn to the statement" "True power lies in the hands of madmen or children, who don't even know they have it. The rest of humanity is chasing after the shadows!"
The other parts of this compendium, The Ball and Snow in Autumn, are also compelling portraits of the rich and of the horrors of the Russian Revolution. In all, the book is well worth reading for anyone who tasted Irene Nemirovsky's power in Suite Francaise.
David Golder appears to portray certain aspect of her own father and mother. The father has achieved great wealth but is a grasping, driven, ill old man, whose wife conducts affairs openly and, apparently, deceived her husband about the parentage of their only child, Joyce. Even when the deception is revealed, David Golder embarks on an arduous final journey to recover enough of his lost wealth to protect Joyce from a marriage to an equally old grasping rival. The descriptions are sometimes disturbing. Of David Golder himself, the author says: "His thick white hair used to be red, and a hint of that burning colour still remained at his temples and at the back of his neck, glowing like a flame half hidden beneath the ashes." She also makes a very offensive anti-semitic remark about David and one of his old friends: "Dirty and poor, all right, but does a Jew need much? Poverty preserves the Jews like brine preserves the herrings." That statement should be taken ironically but plays or played into the hands of the anti-Jewish forces who gathered in Germany and then in France in the 1930s. The authenticity of the characters in the story of David Golder makes this work highly compelling, and a fascinating glimpse into the maw of the Russian Revolution from someone who was there.
The Courilof Affair is more directly involved in the early days of the Russian Revolution, circa 1903. Dissident students were sometimes shot during demonstrations and revolutionaries were launching terrorist attacks from Switzerland. The use of Switzerland by revolutionaries reminds me of Joseph Conrad's novel, Under Western Eyes. The author examines the personalities on both sides: of the young man, raised by his revolutionary mother, sent to assassinate the Minister of Education, and of Courilof, his intended target. The young man, posing as a doctor, lives with Courilof, who is dying of cancer, for several months, and absorbs too much of the older man's personality and reasoning. The assassin later reaches a similar level of power with the Bolsheviks, and carries out the same kind of reasoned but ruthless killings that occurred during the Czar's rule. Both the assassin and the minister learn that: "Power, the illusion of influencing human destiny, is as intoxicating as smoke, as wine. When you have none, you feel an astonishing sense of suffering, of painful uneasiness." Also, I am drawn to the statement" "True power lies in the hands of madmen or children, who don't even know they have it. The rest of humanity is chasing after the shadows!"
The other parts of this compendium, The Ball and Snow in Autumn, are also compelling portraits of the rich and of the horrors of the Russian Revolution. In all, the book is well worth reading for anyone who tasted Irene Nemirovsky's power in Suite Francaise.
November 4, 2008
10/11: This novel is a lot darker than either of the other Nemirovsky novels I have read. The main character's heart is breaking--both physically through multiple heart attacks, and emotionally by losing his narcissistic daughter and wife, as well as his successful business.
9-27: Although the setting is quite different from Fire in the Blood, there are some similarities that are already revealing themselves. Will they turn into major themes throughout her work? Again, Nemirovsky chooses to use a male narrator. Three has also already been a death in the novel, as there was in Fire in the Blood.
11/3 Finished David Golder and The Ball a couple of weeks ago. DG was very good; (spoiler alert!!)the protagonist dies in pain and alone from emotional and physical heartbreak, the event witnessed by a young Jewish man full of the ambition with which David began his journey into the world of economics. The Ball, really a novella, is the story of an emotionally abused adolescent girl who seeks revenge on her narcissistic, self-absorbed mother, who has really never grown up herself. Nemirovsky does a fantastic job foreshadowing the climactic event. She also shows the raw emotion of both the daughter and mother, and passivity of the father, who would really rather not be bothered by either "young women". I'm taking a break from Nemirovsky to read Strange Tribe and a new history of Russia told through its literary masters.
9-27: Although the setting is quite different from Fire in the Blood, there are some similarities that are already revealing themselves. Will they turn into major themes throughout her work? Again, Nemirovsky chooses to use a male narrator. Three has also already been a death in the novel, as there was in Fire in the Blood.
11/3 Finished David Golder and The Ball a couple of weeks ago. DG was very good; (spoiler alert!!)the protagonist dies in pain and alone from emotional and physical heartbreak, the event witnessed by a young Jewish man full of the ambition with which David began his journey into the world of economics. The Ball, really a novella, is the story of an emotionally abused adolescent girl who seeks revenge on her narcissistic, self-absorbed mother, who has really never grown up herself. Nemirovsky does a fantastic job foreshadowing the climactic event. She also shows the raw emotion of both the daughter and mother, and passivity of the father, who would really rather not be bothered by either "young women". I'm taking a break from Nemirovsky to read Strange Tribe and a new history of Russia told through its literary masters.
March 22, 2016
The Ball is an outstanding short story about a young girls' revenge upon her socially climbing mother. It seems to encapsulate perfectly the Jeiwsh immigrant's desperation to become a part of the glittering Parisian society. Despite their wealth, the family know they are being mocked, still they strive to belong.
Snow in Autumn is a deeper narrative that follows a loyal Russian maid as she endures the Revolution, murder, and poverty in Paris as the family flee to a safer place. Unbearably sad, she sees the deterioation of the family she has served all these years. As she dies, she longs for the snow in Autumn.......
The Courilof Affair I disliked, it was very overblown in style, very unlike the assured writing of the later Nemirovsky. Nonetheless, it is a joy to read anything by this author and one wishes that she had been allowed to hone her craft. THe world has missed a great 20th Century novelist. Cherish what you have......
David Golder was, to my mind a masterpiece. At it's heart is a man who knows he is dying. He has lost his friends, due to his own unscrupulous dealings in business. His wife and daughter view him as the bank that provides them with jewels, with a life style of luxury. Now, he has to reflect upon his life.
He has been a "good Jew", he has provided for his family. But now, as he faces his own death, he wonders what it was all for. And a further shock is in store......
Snow in Autumn is a deeper narrative that follows a loyal Russian maid as she endures the Revolution, murder, and poverty in Paris as the family flee to a safer place. Unbearably sad, she sees the deterioation of the family she has served all these years. As she dies, she longs for the snow in Autumn.......
The Courilof Affair I disliked, it was very overblown in style, very unlike the assured writing of the later Nemirovsky. Nonetheless, it is a joy to read anything by this author and one wishes that she had been allowed to hone her craft. THe world has missed a great 20th Century novelist. Cherish what you have......
David Golder was, to my mind a masterpiece. At it's heart is a man who knows he is dying. He has lost his friends, due to his own unscrupulous dealings in business. His wife and daughter view him as the bank that provides them with jewels, with a life style of luxury. Now, he has to reflect upon his life.
He has been a "good Jew", he has provided for his family. But now, as he faces his own death, he wonders what it was all for. And a further shock is in store......
December 19, 2014
I already read and reviewed David Golder so not gonna comment here.
The Ball - the POV of this story is from this girl who longs to be a part of her mother attention and glitz and glamour. This story is about shifting of power. Of when you were a child and suddenly you realized your parents do not hold all the answers or wisdom and they are sometimes as childish as the child they are bringing up in the world. This is a wonderful short story.
Snow in Autumn - A servant story on the collapse of her master family in the Russian Revolution. I don't really like this story. Bit too depressing and it kinda goes on and on a bit without a point, but it was still very sad.
The Courilof Affair - Is my favorite of it all. The story of its assasin and its victim. I love their relationship in this. Though I was a bit lost at first, but after the narrative became a bit clearer , the narrator and its victim, their relationship is beautiful and tragic.
Love the stories though you need to push through some of the descriptions a bit.
The Ball - the POV of this story is from this girl who longs to be a part of her mother attention and glitz and glamour. This story is about shifting of power. Of when you were a child and suddenly you realized your parents do not hold all the answers or wisdom and they are sometimes as childish as the child they are bringing up in the world. This is a wonderful short story.
Snow in Autumn - A servant story on the collapse of her master family in the Russian Revolution. I don't really like this story. Bit too depressing and it kinda goes on and on a bit without a point, but it was still very sad.
The Courilof Affair - Is my favorite of it all. The story of its assasin and its victim. I love their relationship in this. Though I was a bit lost at first, but after the narrative became a bit clearer , the narrator and its victim, their relationship is beautiful and tragic.
Love the stories though you need to push through some of the descriptions a bit.
June 23, 2008
This is my book club's next book. Yep, that's right, I joined a book club. I'll let you know how this book is (if I can remember to buy it!). So far it's starting off a bit slow but there are 4 stories so maybe it's just this particular story. The anti-semitism in the book (which I was expecting because of the controversy surrounding Irene Nemirovsky as a self-hating Jew) is much more prevalent than I would have thought. Will keep you posted.
Ok, I've finished the book (we meet to discuss it on Thursday). It was ok. I liked the second story and the last story but the first and third were a little confusing and boring. Interestingly, though, none of her main characters appear to be good people - they're all mean and somewhat dispicable people (and yet you want to find out what happens to them). I probably wouldn't read anything else by her.
Ok, I've finished the book (we meet to discuss it on Thursday). It was ok. I liked the second story and the last story but the first and third were a little confusing and boring. Interestingly, though, none of her main characters appear to be good people - they're all mean and somewhat dispicable people (and yet you want to find out what happens to them). I probably wouldn't read anything else by her.
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