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Suite Française

Irène Némirovsky,

Sandra Smith

Start date: June 15, 2016

Finish date: July 15, 2016

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Group Reads Discussions

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By Diane , Armchair Tour Guide · 3 posts · 1371 views

last updated Jan 18, 2013 07:12PM

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What Members Thought

Apr 25, 2010 Oana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: france

This novel consists of two parts, though apparently it was meant to be a five-part novel.

The first part ("Storm in June") is exciting and fast-paced: Parisians fleeing the city en masse to escape the Germans. I was very surprised to read that other readers found this novel slow. I found this part tense and suspenseful. An interesting discovery was that there were no German characters in this part of the novel: the villains were all other French people. Few of them come out as sympathetic people ...more

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Aug 24, 2014 Nikki rated it really liked it

How I fish she had been able to finish all four (or five) parts of the book! Admittedly I liked the first part much better, as it dealt with many interesting characters, some of which I would have loved to get to know better. The second book was at its best when it described the interactions between French and Germans and created a vivid image of the occupation, but the central love story draaagged on and was, ultimately, fairly banal. I expect the movie will be very slow-going too, with many de ...more

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Apr 13, 2008 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: world-war-ii, france

Don't let its popularity make you feel it must be overrated - even leaving the author's tragic story aside, the story is moving and meaningful on many levels. My favorite thing about this book is how war isn't changing people so much as magnifying them and lifting the veil of their own self-censorship. The petty become pettier still, the romantic that much more drawn to love, the noble more eager to sacrifice for their cause. No one here is sanitized for your protection, and it adds another leve ...more

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Sep 25, 2015 Susan rated it it was ok

I would probably give the first half of the book 3 stars, and apparently it was really 2 novellas put together. The second half just wasn't interesting enough and rambled on to the point where I had to skim it just to finish. And, surprisingly, the story was very pro-German and anti-French. ...more

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Dec 30, 2008 Lisa taylor rated it really liked it

Couldn't put this down. So glad my friend Susie passed it on to me. ...more

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Aug 25, 2009 Catherine rated it really liked it

Great unfinished piece by a writer whose life ended more tragically than most of the characters described in the novels.

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Nov 01, 2012 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-adults

I really enjoyed this. I always enjoy historical fiction. It makes history so much easier to understand :) I felt deeply emotional when reading this book... maybe because of the author's own story. Whatever the reason I definitely recommend this one. ...more

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