Locations and Hours
Services
About the Library
Support your Library
Contact Us
Downloadable
Audio Books
askMONTANA:
Reference 24/7
|
Suite Francaise
By Irene Nemirovsky
This is a novel written by an author who lived and died during the tragedy of WWII. In 1940, she was living in Paris with her family, and already a widely acclaimed author of several volumes. She was raised in the Ukraine by a wealthy banking family before she came to Paris.
She began writing this novel in 1940, during the massive exodus from Paris by citizens trying to escape before the Nazis occupied the city. The first part of the novel " A Storm in June " , brings a realistic view of the chaos and tumult of people fleeing from Paris, with no idea of where to go and what to expect from the future. The second part " Dolce" records the lives of the French in a German occupied provincial village. The rich, the poor, the middle class all were affected and tried to survive. Some collaborated, some chose resistance and some just trying to just live through it all.
Irene and her husband were arrested separately in 1942 and died in Auschwitz. Their two daughters went into hiding taking the manuscripts with them, and in 2006 they were finally published - sixty-four years later.
One is treated to both sides of the picture - the unprepared French Army, the German invaders, the bureaucrats and humanity in all its forms. Some Germans were decent, some French were self-serving and others heroic.
The book is beautifully detailed and written with compassion and insight into a world at war. This novel has been widely acclaimed and is much more interesting and compelling than one would expect. The author's description of the wildly diverse people involved are by turns comical, sad, infuriating and ridiculous; there are heart warming situations and, of course the tragic ones. In short, this is a brilliantly written, down to earth picture of the day to day lives by those that lived it, in the form of a novel.
It was originally published in France in 2004. The translated version in English was published in 2006. It has now become available in paper back and of course, it may be found at the Whitefish Library as well!
Published by: BORZOI BOOK
Published By Alfred A. Knopf
A division of Random House, Inc.
New York , NY 2007
Copyright : © 2006 Translation by Sandra Smith
Reviewed by: Joan G. Smith, 05/20/07
Copyright : © 2007 by Joan G. Smith
|
|
