Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Apr 2006, 416 pages
Paperback:
Apr 2007, 448 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
Buy This Book
The first two stories of a masterwork once thought lost, written by a pre-WWII bestselling author who was deported to Auschwitz and died before her work could be completed.
By the early l940s,
when Ukrainian-born Irène Némirovsky began working on what would become Suite
Française—the first two parts of a planned five-part novel—she was already a
highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942
she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz: a month later she was dead at the
age of thirty-nine. Two years earlier, living in a small village in central
France—where she, her husband, and their two small daughters had fled in a vain
attempt to elude the Nazis—she'd begun her novel, a luminous portrayal of
a human drama in which she herself would become a victim. When she was arrested,
she had completed two parts of the epic, the handwritten manuscripts of which
were hidden in a suitcase that her daughters would take with them into hiding
and eventually into freedom. Sixty-four years later, at long last, we can read Némirovsky's literary masterpiece
The first part, "A Storm in June," opens in the chaos of the massive 1940 exodus
from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion during which several families and
individuals are thrown together under circumstances beyond their control. They
share nothing but the harsh demands of survival—some trying to maintain lives of
privilege, others struggling simply to preserve their lives—but soon, all
together, they will be forced to face the awful exigencies of physical and
emotional displacement, and the annihilation of the world they know. In the
second part, "Dolce," we enter the increasingly complex life of a
German-occupied provincial village. Coexisting uneasily with the soldiers
billeted among them, the villagers—from aristocrats to shopkeepers to
peasants—cope as best they can. Some choose resistance, others collaboration,
and as their community is transformed by these acts, the lives of these these
men and women reveal nothing less than the very essence of humanity.
Suite Française is a singularly piercing evocation—at once subtle and
severe, deeply compassionate and fiercely ironic—of life and death in occupied
France, and a brilliant, profoundly moving work of art.
1
War
Hot, thought the Parisians. The warm air of spring. It was
night, they were at war and there was an air raid. But dawn was
near and the war far away. The first to hear the hum of the
siren were those who couldn't sleep—the ill and bedridden,
mothers with sons at the front, women crying for the men they
loved. To them it began as a long breath, like air being forced
into a deep sigh. It wasn't long before its wailing filled the
sky. It came from afar, from beyond the horizon, slowly, almost
lazily. Those still asleep dreamed of waves breaking over
pebbles, a March storm whipping the woods, a herd of cows
trampling the ground with their hooves, until finally sleep was
shaken off and they struggled to open their eyes, murmuring, "Is
it an air raid?"
The women, more anxious, more alert, were already up, although
some of them, after closing the windows and shutters, went back
to bed. The night before—Monday, 3 June—...
Suite Française is a devastatingly poignant work, made more so by the fact that the author was fully cognizant of her situation and correctly doubted that she would ever live to complete her book...continued
Full Review
(504 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Irène Némirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903 into a wealthy banking family. She emigrated to France during the Russian Revolution and, after attending the Sorbonne, began to write. She achieved success with her first novel, David Golder, which was published when she was 26. This was followed by The Ball, The ...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked Suite Francaise, try these:
by Anne Berest
Published 2024
Anne Berest's The Postcard is among the most acclaimed and beloved French novels of recent years. Luminous and gripping to the very last page, it is an enthralling investigation into family secrets, a poignant tale of mothers and daughters, and a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life.
by Jeanne Mackin
Published 2020
An American woman becomes entangled in the intense rivalry between iconic fashion designers Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli in this vivid novel from the acclaimed author of The Beautiful American.
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
