suite francaise

The holidays brings out the laziness in everyone (and not just me thanks very much), wake up at midday only to sleep again two hours later. Finished reading Suite Francaise, the one I said I was going to give a stellar review on. Saddens me to say that the review will unfortunately not materialise as brains are incapable of anything like it at this time. (and never will be.)



In reality, the book is really an unfinished masterpiece-Irene Nemirovsky wrote the book in parts and only managed to finish two parts of it while the rest was left in the forms of drafts and rough ideas (included in the appendix). She was of Russian and Jewish descent and was taken prisoner by the Germans at some point. Nemirovsky died in Auschwitz (better known as the deathcamp of Jews) in 1942. The book is set in France 1941 during German occupation and tells the story of different families and the way they took refuge during that time. The chapters jump from one family to the next and while the writing may seem simple it really is beautifully crafted and not just a bunch of words stringed together at whim. The characters are interesting and wonderfully intriguing. (I'm starting to sound like an elderly English woman: "Its wonderful, just wonderful!") The beauty of it truly lies in Nemorivsky's art of storytelling and her brilliance in writing shines out from the very beginning.