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Suite Francaise
by Irene Nemirovsky


8.5

based on 19 reviews
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based on 28 votes
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A Russian-born Jew who was a bestselling author in pre-WWII France, Nemirovsky was at work on a five-part novel about the German invasion when she was captured by the Nazis, taken to Auschwitz, and killed. Her daughters were eventually able to smuggle the two completed portions of the novel out of the country, and now, 64-years later, the work has finally been published.

Knopf, 416 pages
04/11/2006
$25.00

ISBN: 1400044731

Fiction
General Literature & Fiction

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Janice Kulyk Keefer

If you read only one piece of fiction this year, read Irène Némirovsky's miraculous last novel. Suite Française is miraculous for the power, brilliance and beauty of the writing, and for the very wholeness of the work, despite its being less than half the 1,000 pages its author intended.

Booklist Donna Seaman

A magnificent novel of the insidious devastation of occupation, and Nemirovsky is brilliant and heroic, summoning up profound empathy for all, including regretful German soldiers. Everything about this transcendent novel is miraculous. [1 Apr 2006, p.20]

Kirkus Reviews

A valuable window into the past, and the human psyche. This is important work. [1 Apr 2006, p.319]

Publishers Weekly

Nemirovsky noted that her goal was to describe "daily life, the emotional life and especially the comedy it provides." This heroic work does just that, by focusing--with compassion and clarity--on individual human dramas. [13 Mar 2006, p.41]

Christian Science Monitor Yvonne Zipp

The two novellas - which total about 400 pages - vividly and ironically describe the character of the French people under Nazi occupation with an almost casual brilliance.

Boston Globe Susan Rubin Suleiman

An astonishing work.

The New York Times Richard Eder

In the light of what happened to Némirovsky, her vision is remarkable.

The New York Times Book Review Paul Gray

The improbable survival of her two novellas is a cause for celebration and also for grief at another reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust. She wrote what may be the first work of fiction about what we now call World War II. She also wrote, for all to read at last, some of the greatest, most humane and incisive fiction that conflict has produced.

Daily Telegraph Tom Payne

This can feel like reportage. But it is reportage at its very finest, bound together by high artistic purpose.

Daily Telegraph Anne Chisholm

It is quite outstanding, full of beauty, pain and truth.

Sydney Morning Herald Andrew Riemer

The two completed sections of the novel - particularly the first - are constructed in a manner that recalls Bach's contrapuntal style, where individual thematic strands mingle and sometimes stray as far as harmonic integrity allows.

The Guardian Helen Dunmore

Incomplete as it is, lacking the revision that its author undoubtedly wished to give it, the narrative is eloquent and glowing with life. Its tone reflects a deep understanding of human behaviour under pressure and a hard-won, often ironic composure in the face of violation.

The Independent Boyd Tonkin

Suite Française, even in this truncated form, is a magnificent work that its readers will cherish for as long as they still care about the art of fiction or the history of Europe.

Washington Post Ruth Kluger

The perfect mixture: a gifted novelist's account of a foreign occupation, written while it was taking place, with history and imagination jointly evoking a bitter time, correcting and enriching our memory.

The Nation Alice Kaplan

It's impossible not to think of the miracle of Némirovsky's surviving last words when you're reading, and this context gives the book an importance, a shimmering sense of surplus value.

Houston Chronicle Earl L. Dachslager

An extraordinary work, an astonishing blend of fiction and fact, history and storytelling. As such, we should note that its unfinished condition is one more tragedy to be counted among the other millions of that time and place.

The Independent Robin Buss

The second half, "Dolce", is not so effective...Némirovsky, so good at describing death, manages only banalities when it comes to love.

The Observer Jane Stevenson

Hindsight would have brought more art, but something valuable would have been lost.

London Review Of Books Dan Jacobson

Neither 'Storm in June' nor 'Dolce' seems to me to work satisfactorily as a novel...All I can say is that though Némirovsky is truly seized by her subject, she does not seem to have found the form that would have enabled her to carry through the Tolstoyan task she had set herself. If she had, 'Storm in June' would indeed be the masterpiece which some of its more generous reviewers have declared it to be.

The average user rating for this book is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 28 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Lyn D gave it a6:
I found this book disappointing after all the hype. Leaving aside the author's history; I was not engaged by the story at any stage - I found I didn't care what happened to any of the characters. Probably worth a read, but I'm not keeping it on my shelf.

Kim L gave it a10:
As I put the puzzle pieces together, I was left with a strong desire to read the last parts of Suite Francaise, which were, of course, never written. Enough is there to create this haunting work. I highly recommend this book. Don't skip the appendix, with all footnotes.

Loughhead K gave it an8:
Actually a 7.5. This book has been way overrated.

Brian H gave it a7:
A good book certainly but I wouldn't rate it as highly as other reviewers on this site. I suspect it carries such a high vote by virtue of the context within which it has been published (handwritten manuscripts saved from being destroyed and the author dying in Auschwitz before publication). Well written, interesting and enjoyable - but not as powerful as suggested. Having said that it has encouraged me to seek out some non fiction books about the German occupation of France and the Vichy Government.

Michael P gave it a10:
A Monet on pages! reading it part of the history that occurred here in france flowed through me! This has to be one of the most amazing and treasured books of my life! As for the review by the Guardian reviewer-compared to the world opinion- his comments are not only idiotic but an insult to the book , the author and his chosen profession!

Lily R gave it a10:
I agree with those who say Suite Francaise is a masterpiece. It's beautiful, haunting, and elegiac. The only problem is that there isn't more. Once you read this book, you never forget it.

Edgar L gave it a10:
Dan Jacobson is way off beam. The two novellas are magnificent. Mais il faut absolument lire la version française si possible y compris la préface, l'annexe et les notes dans l'édition Denoël.

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

Suite Francaise
by Irene Nemirovsky