About this title: An extraordinary novel of life under Nazi occupation--discovered and published 62 years after the author's tragic death at Auschwitz. Subtle, often fiercely ironic, and deeply compassionate, "Suite Fran aise" is both a piercing record of its time and a brilliant, profoundly moving work of art.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Date Published: 04/2006
ISBN-13:9781400044733ISBN:1400044731
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 395 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Denoel
Date Published: 04/2005
ISBN-13:9782070336760ISBN:207033676X
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 573 p. read more
"I liked this book. I thought the writing was sweeping and vibrant. "Dolce" in particular was sad and moving for me. It was also interesting to view WWII through the eyes of the women left behind. However, when I read the appendixes, I was appalled.
*We later went to a book club meeting about this Suite Francaise and it was startling to hear such a broad array of reactions to this book. For example, some people thought that the book was written as a "get out of jail pass" to give to the Germans if they came to take her away. Others were angry at the author for writing about the Germans in such a dispassionate way. Others loved the book without regard for the real-life context of the author. I'm thinking of rereading it."
"A great snapshot of history. It's about the experiences of ordinary French people as they flee Paris in 1940 when the Germans are invading. The second part is about after the Germans occupy France, how people in the towns get along with their hosts.
I loved the class breakdowns that occur. When the rules of society are no longer being enforced, having money or being a famous writer no longer make you more special than the next person. The descriptions of the characters prejudices, which were mostly based on their class, were really well done.
The story of the German officer falling in love with his French host took me a while to get into, but towards the end the emotions they both felt were really well described. You could really feel the how torn they were about it.
I went to a bookclub that discussed this book and was surprised to hear the variety of opinions on this book. The most interesting angle to me was: why did she paint such a positive picture of the Germans when she was of Jewish decent (and was indeed later killed in Auschwitz). Some people argued that she didn't yet know of the atrocities. Others thought maybe it was a hedge in case she was caught so she could show how sympathetic she was. And others thought she was just a writer caught up in telling a story. I favor the first and last options :)"
"Very good read. Highlights the plight of everyday people during occupation and contrasts it with the upper class. Must read Author's notes at end of book-gives added dimension to the manuscript."
"I LOVE this book!! It is absolutely amazing. Definitely one of the best I have ever read. If you are looking for a fantastic book...please please please read this one.
The author, Irene Nemirovsky, was a Russian Jew who fled the Bolsheviks in 1919 during the Russian Revolution. Her family emigrated to France when she was a teenager. Irene attended the Sorbonne, became a best-selling author, got married, and had two little girls. Irene, her husband, and children fled Paris during WWII during the German invasion and took refuge in a small village in France. During the occupation by the Nazis life as she knew it ended. Although she had lived in France for over twenty years, her children were French citizens, and the family had converted to Catholicism she was labeled a Jew and was subjected to the all the humiliations and restrictions enforced by the Nazi regime. She no longer had any freedom. She could not publish her writing, nor be paid for any writing she that she had done, she could not travel etc.
This book was written after her family had fled Paris and were living in the country. It was intended to be a five-part novella, constructed like a symphony, and modeled after Beethoven's Fifth. Irene Nemirovsky was only able to complete the first two parts. During the writing of this book she was arrested sent to Auschwitz where she died at the age of thirty-nine. The two parts of this book that were completed where hidden in a suitcase by her ten year-old daughter, Denise. Her daughters kept with them as they moved from place to place hiding from the Nazis. They decided to have the manuscript published sixty plus years after their mother's death.
The first part of the book is called "Storm in June" and introduces us to several different characters from all walks of life and tells their stories as they flee Paris during the German invasion. I particularly loved the Pericand Family with their large and boisterous family and the sweet middle-aged couple the Michauds. It was beautifully written with touches of humor and glimpses of humanity and horror as the masses fled Paris with bombs falling all around them.
The second part of the book is called "Dolce" and focuses mainly on one family in a rural village during the occupation. All households had to take in German soldiers and house them during the occupation. I loved the friendship and budding romance between Lucile, whose adulterous husband was a prisoner of war, and Bruno, a German soldier, who ends up living with Lucile and her ornery mother-in-law.
The next three parts of the book were meant to integrate the characters from the first two parts and how their lives intertwined. Sadly...they were never written. In Appendix I are the notes from Irene Nemirovsky's notebook with character and plot sketches and outlines and we are given a glimpse of how she intended the storyline to progress...so you aren't left completely hanging...but what a tragedy.
In Appendix II it shows letter after letter of the correspondence between Irene and her publisher and then heart-wrenchingly after her arrest it is the correspondence of her husband as he frantically writes to influential people trying to find out her location and any information on her. He tirelessly tries to find someone who can intercede on her behalf. At one point he writes to the government officials asking to trade places with her...
But what truly broke my heart were the last two letters from Irene to her family...one quickly written at the police station shortly after her arrest and a final one hastily scribbled at the train station as she was boarding the train headed to the concentration camp. Just a few lines but unbelievably moving.
Also included is a biographical sketch of her life and what happens to her family. Her husband was arrested a few months after she was and sent to the gas chamber. They left behind two daughter ages 5 and 10 who were taken in by a family friend. It amazes me that a ten year-old had the foresight to preserve her mother's manuscript.
This book was absolutely stunning. I marveled that she was writing about history while living it...and yet had such perspective on the events that were unfolding. Amazing. The characters are colorful, vivid, and will stay deeply-etched in my heart. The writing is beautiful, captivating and gripping. I truly couldn't put it down.
I HIGHLY recommend this book. It was beautiful and touching. A MUST read.
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