10-30-2007, 08:58 PM | #1 |
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Suite Francaise
'Suite Française,' by Irène Némirovsky
I just finished reading this book and would highly recommend it. A wonderfully written book. A fictional story of life during the German occupation of France in WWII. It is really parts 1 and 2 of what was to be a 5 piece work, but was never finished because the author was writing it as things happened and never got to finish as she was of Jewish heritage and died in a camp. I would have enjoyed the book anyway, but knowing the circumstances behind the writing, made it that much more interesting and poignant. Her daughter had these notebooks and didn't open them until the late 1990's, saw what they were and sent them to a publisher. For those here that write, the appendix with the authors notes and her thought processes into the developing story may be interesting as well. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/bo...ray.html?fta=y |
10-30-2007, 08:59 PM | #2 |
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No thanks, I think I'll stick to Harry Potter.
j/k but seriously, it sounds like heavy emotional sledding. |
10-30-2007, 09:15 PM | #3 |
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Location: Seattle, WA
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Thanks for the tip. I've been debating wading into this. I haven't trusted the glowing reviews because literary praise has become so political, and politicaly there's so much to admire about this book, apart from the literary merit. I understand that though a Jew (converted to Catholicism, correct?) the novel doesn't cover the Jews at all.
How strange the irony that she wound up being liquidated as a Jew. When they come after the Mormons they better not get me, because I'm inocent of that crime.
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Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be. —Paul Auster |
10-30-2007, 09:45 PM | #4 |
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Not heavy at all, in fact it was fun for the most part. Her journals and letters in the appendix, now that is where it gets tough, but the novallas themselves had none of that in it.
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10-30-2007, 09:46 PM | #5 | |
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10-30-2007, 09:51 PM | #6 | |
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It more deals with the daily life and hassle of first evacuating Paris and then dealing with the occupation and having the German soldiers living among them, beign a part of their lives and how their daily life was. I didn't find it political at all, just matter of fact this is the way different classes have to deal with this crap. |
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10-30-2007, 09:53 PM | #7 |
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10-30-2007, 10:00 PM | #8 | |
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Location: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
__________________
Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be. —Paul Auster |
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10-30-2007, 10:11 PM | #9 | |
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Yeah you would look like a jerk for criticizing it. the notes in the book said it was because of race thing, but we will really never know. Either way she may not have been in a good position. |
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