"Suite Francaise"

Well, the new book club has gotten off to an excellent start with our first book, “Suite Francaise,” by Irene Nemirovsky. I had heard such good things about the book that I was afraid it might not live up my expectations, but it definitely did. The group had a very lively discussion, which centered almost as much on the backstory of “Suite Francaise” as the book itself.

In 1940, while living in Nazi-occupied France, Nemirovsky started working on a collection of novels about life during the German invasion and occupation. She finished the first two of five planned stories, but never got to finish her work. In 1942, Nemirovsky, a Russian-born Jew who had converted to Catholicism after 23 years in France, was taken to Auschwitz, where she died of typhus.

Meanwhile, her young daughters escaped with the manuscripts in a suitcase. Thinking the handwritten pages were a diary that would be too painful to read, the daughters didn’t open them and discover the novels until a few years ago.

The first novel, “Storm in June,” focuses on the looming German arrival in Paris in 1940 and the Parisians’ frenzied efforts to escape. Nemirovsky illustrates the general panic by focusing on half a dozen groups of characters, each handling the situtation differently. She tells each story beautifully and makes you feel as though you are right there with the characters. (The book group members were divided on whether they liked the chapter in which the author describes the scene from a cat’s point of view—I actually thought it worked.)

“Dolce,” the second novel, moves at a slower pace and describes life in a small rural village occupied by German troops. After the initial fear and disdain the French feel towards their conquerers, they fall into an uneasy harmony with the soldiers, until one villager’s rebellion shatters the peace.

The ending, which was really more of a middle than an end, definitely left me wishing that Nemirovsky had been able to finish the entire story. If completed, the planned collection of novels could have become one of the great literary works to come out of World War II. As it is, it is still a masterpiece, especially considering that it was written nearly simultaneously with the events it depicts.

The book has a couple of extensive appendices, consisting of notes Nemirovsky wrote about her plans for the rest of the novels, and letters that reveal her concern about the situation in France and her efforts to avoid being sent to a work camp. Strangely the novels do not have any Jewish characters or mention concentration camps, which might reflect either a lack of knowledge about the Nazis’ plans or an effort by Nemirovsky to distance herself from her Jewish heritage.

Bottom line, in spite of the hype that this book has gotten, it is well worth reading. I highly recommend it to ANYONE.

The book group spent a lot of time trying to decide what to read next, and we finally settled on “The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy, which I have been wanting to read for a while, in spite of Oprah’s endorsement. I think enough time has passed since she picked it that it will be safe to be seen reading it on the train :)