Reviews
"Némirovsky's writing is clear, crisp, and heartbreaking."-John K. "Némirovsky describes the world her characters move through with care and grace: the color of the sky at dusk, the mist on a June morning, the glimmering Seine-luminescent details in a story of a difficult time."-Heather O. "Beautiful writing. The story flows, weaving around the cast of characters, in a place that felt so real I kept wanting to stop and breathe it in."-Debbie N. "Suite Française vividly conveys the panic and confusion felt by Parisians when they are told they must evacuate the city before the Nazi invasion. This book opens up an aspect of the War that is often not thought of-the common citizen."-Jana L. "A compelling, unrelenting snapshot of humanity as it really is, stripped of moral judgments."-Robert H., "This is possibly the most devastating indictment of French manners and morals sinceMadame Bovary, as hypnotic as Proust at the biscuit tin, as gruelling as Genet on the prowl. Irène Némirovsky is, on this evidence, a novelist of the very first order, perceptive to a fault and sly in her emotional restraint." Norman Lebrecht,The Evening Standard "The history of the manuscript, and its survival, is remarkable enough. The authority of the novel, though, does not come from its history, but from its quality . . . 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 . . . Even in its incomplete formSuite Françaiseis one of those rare books that demands to be read." Helen Dunmore,The Guardian "Suite Françaiseclutches the heart, its warmth and intensity give as much pleasure as a work of overpowering genius." --Carmen Callil,The Times(London) "Against the odds,Suite Françaisehas survived. It does so as a triumph of indomitability and a masterwork of literary accomplishment." The Sunday Times "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. Even more astonishing, given its heroically large themes and the desperate circumstances of its composition, this is no gloomy elegy but a scintillating panorama of a people in crisis--witty, satirical, romantic, waspish and gorgeously lyrical by turns. Every page shines both with a ravishing delight in the surfaces of life, and a profound empathy for the souls of its characters, that raises it to the rank of the Russian and French masters." The Independent "Celebrated in pre-WWII France for her bestselling fiction, the Jewish Russian-born Némirovsky was shipped to Auschwitz in the summer of 1942, months after this long-lost masterwork was composed . . . In a workbook entry penned just weeks before her arrest, Némirovsky 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 focusingwith compassion and clarityon individual human dramas." Publishers Weekly(starred review) "A grandly symphonic, courageous, and scathing work . . .Suite Françaiseis a magnificent novel of the insidious devastation of occupation, and Némirovsky is brilliant and heroic, summoning up profound empathy for all, including regretful German soldiers. Everything about this transcendent novel is miraculous." Booklist(starred review) "A valuable window into the past, and the human psyche. This is important work." Kirkus(starred review) "Astonishing . . .Suite Françaiseis a surprising, transfixing book." Financial Times "Stunning . . . A tour de force of narrative distillation, using a handful of people to represent a multitude. Némirovsky's shifts in tone and pace, sensitively rendered in Sandra Smith's graceful translation, are mesmerizing . . . 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 inclusive fiction that conflict has produced." --The New York Times Book Review "It is not possible, nor would it make se, "Extraordinary, visceral, photo-sharp . . . Sometimes a book can throw wide open a door that has stood barely ajar for decades. [Suite Française] is one such book for me. [It] bears eloquent, complex testimony to a time and place that, for those who didn't live through it, defies easy understanding . . . Uncannily perceptive, astonishing." Michael Upchurch,Seattle Times "Transcendent, astonishing . . .Suite Française,whichmight be the last great fiction of the war, provides us with an intimate recounting of occupation, exodus and loss. [Its] staggering power is that it affirms the idea that art can offer a path to salvation . . . This might be the most moving novel I will ever read . . . Like Anne Frank, Irène Némirovsky was unaware of neither her circumstance nor the growing probability that she might not survive. And still, she writes to us." Sharon Dilworth,Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Beautifully restrained . . . [Némirovsky's] talent was quite considerable and her personal story rather moving and tragic . . . I don't know of a more striking recent case where biography and artistic accomplishment are so intertwined . . . Némirovsky left behind [a note] about how to compose the projected later volumes of this novel project: 'The most important and most interesting thing here is the following: the historical, revolutionary facts etc. must be only lightly touched upon, while daily life, the emotional life . . . must be described in detail.' This she did rather splendidly in the first two books." Alan Cheuse, NPR "[Suite Françaiseis] clearly the work of a novelist with an alert eye for self-deceit, a tender regard for the natural world, and a forlorn gift for describing the crumbling, sliding descent of an entire society into catastrophic disorder. There are many sustained scenes and sharply caught moments that no subsequent rewriting (had the author been given the opportunity) could have improved on." Dan Jacobson,London Review of Books "This is possibly the most devastating indictment of French manners and morals sinceMadame Bovary, as hypnotic as Proust at the biscuit tin, as gruelling as Genet on the prowl. Irène Némirovsky is, on this evidence, a novelist of the very first order, perceptive to a fault and sly in her emotional restraint." Norman Lebrecht,The Evening Standard "The history of the manuscript, and its survival, is remarkable enough. The authority of the novel, though, does not come from its history, but from its quality . . . 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 . . . Even in its incomplete formSuite Françaiseis one of those rare books that demands to be read." Helen Dunmore,The Guardian "Suite Françaiseclutches the heart, its warmth and intensity give as much pleasure as a work of overpowering genius." --Carmen Callil,The Times(London) "Against the odds,Suite Françaisehas survived. It does so as a triumph of indomitability and a masterwork of literary accomplishment." The Sunday Times "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. Even more astonishing, given its heroically large themes and the desperate circumstances of its composition, this is no gloomy elegy bu, WINNER OF france's 2004 PRIX RENAUDOT #1 BESTSELLER IN FRANCE "A uniquely resonant picture of France defeated and occupied, a book of exceptional literary quality it has the kind of intimacy found the diary of Anne Frank." Times Literary Supplement (UK) "An heroic attempt to write a nightmare in which the author is actually embedded." Anita Brookner, The Spectator (UK) "An exceptionally forceful and frank testimony. . . . Like The Diary of Anne Frank, Suite Française is a real find; it excels both from a literary and historical perspective. A masterpiece." L'Express (France) "Remarkable as the story of the publication of Suite Française is, it will finally be of anecdotal interest compared with the importance of the book. Here is the work of a fine novelist at the top of her form, writing about the fate for her adopted country with a pitiless clarity." The Evening Standard (UK), "A grandly symphonic, courageous, and scathing work . . . Suite Française is a magnificent novel of the insidious devastation of occupation, and Némirovsky is brilliant and heroic, summoning up profound empathy for all, including regretful German soldiers. Everything about this transcendent novel is miraculous." --Booklist (starred review) "Celebrated in pre-WWII France for her bestselling fiction, the Jewish Russian-born Némirovsky was shipped to Auschwitz in the summer of 1942, months after this long-lost masterwork was composed . . . In a workbook entry penned just weeks before her arrest, Némirovsky 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 focusingwith compassion and clarityon individual human dramas."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "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. Even more astonishing, given its heroically large themes and the desperate circumstances of its composition, this is no gloomy elegy but a scintillating panorama of a people in crisis--witty, satirical, romantic, waspish and gorgeously lyrical by turns. Every page shines both with a ravishing delight in the surfaces of life, and a profound empathy for the souls of its characters, that raises it to the rank of the Russian and French masters."--The Independent "Against the odds, Suite Française has survived. It does so as a triumph of indomitability and a masterwork of literary accomplishment"--The Sunday Times "Suite Française clutches the heart, its warmth and intensity give as much pleasure as a work of overpowering genius."--Carmen Callil, The Times (London) "The history of the manuscript, and its survival, is remarkable enough. The authority of the novel, though, does not come from its history, but from its quality . . . 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 . . . Even in its incomplete form Suite Française is one of those rare books that demands to be read."--Helen Dunmore, The Guardian "This is possibly the most devastating indictment of French manners and morals since Madame Bovary, as hypnotic as Proust at the biscuit tin, as gruelling as Genet on the prowl. Irène Némirovsky is, on this evidence, a novelist of the very first order, perceptive to a fault and sly in her emotional restraint."Norman Lebrecht, The Evening Standard, "Extraordinary . . . A work of Proustian scope and delicacy, by turns funny and deeply moving, that captures a civilization in its most revealing moment: that of its undoing." Lev Grossman,Time "Stories about World War II seem to occur in black and white, all grainy and bleak. That makes the stunning novelSuite Française, about the German occupation of France, all the more remarkable. As the book opens and the Nazis approach the outskirts of Paris, the June skies are gorgeously bright; later, the narrative is rich with evocations of blossoms and trees heavy with fruit, of fragrant air and the sounds of birdsas well as a scene where a cat claws a bird to death and stabs its tiny heart. Lush beauty is the backdrop to dark events, and so is natural cruelty. The characters who populate this sweeping saga of violence and survivaland who exhibit far more self-interest than virtueare described with the same gleaming precision. The author ofSuite Françaiseis one of the most fascinating literary figures you've never heard ofand her own tragic story only deepens the impact of her book . . . The [book's] first part, 'Storm in June,' depicts in brilliant detail the tumultuous exodus from Paris in the summer of 1940 . . . There are harrowing scenes on the roads jammed with refugees . . . The second part, 'Dolce,' is quieter, if no less ominous. Set in an occupied village, it delineates the tangled emotions of the conquered and the conquerors . . .Suite Françaisegripping, clear-eyed and lyricaldoesn't seem incomplete. Yet as wonderful as it is, when you read Némirovsky's notes, included in an appendix, you see the scope of her ambition and you mourn. She was planning a kind of "War and Peace" for the 20th century and, tragically, she never saw how her story could end." Cathleen McGuigan,Newsweek "Suite Française,written as Nazi tanks rolled across France, captures the chaos, fear, humiliation, and very occasionally, the courage of the French, as well as portraying the complex emotions that developed between occupier and occupied. The story behind this novel, and Némirovsky's own fate, make for a heart-breaking coda." Kazuo Ishiguro,The Guardian "Compelling, gripping . . . A brilliant portrait of French society in 1940 . . . It rivals the story of Anne Frank's diary, or the story of Albert Camus's novelThe First Man. . .Suite Françaiseraises fascinating questions about what matters in the experience of reading: content or context. The context ofSuite Françaiseis endlessly fascinating. Then there is the novel itself[:] a society novel [but] a great one, in the devastating tradition of Edith Wharton . . . [Némirovsky wrote] with supreme lucidity [and] expressed with great emotional precision her understanding of the country that betrayed her." Alice Kaplan,The Nation "What is so remarkable aboutSuite Française,apart from its artistic merit, is that it survived at all and has, at last, become available for us to read . . . [It] is an extraordinary work, an astonishing blend of fiction and fact, history and storytelling." Earl L. Dachslager,Houston Chronicle "Extraordinary, visceral, photo-sharp . . . Sometimes a book can throw wide open a door that has stood barely ajar for decades. [Suite Française] is one such book for me. [It] bears eloquent, complex testimony to a time and place that, for those who didn't live through it, defies easy understan
