Hi, I'd like to talk about a very beautiful book I read lately, it would be nice to get your impressions as well (talking to fellow readers of Nemirovsky), but if you haven't you can still read my post as it contains no spoilers.
The book is called Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky. There is a rhythm in the way she writes that gives you the feeling of looking at a movie, or listening to a piece of music. The first book, “Tempest in June,” is like a first movement in a Symphony (I actually read in the preface that it was inspired by Beethoven 5th Symphony). It is long, the rhythm is fast, it is the story of the exodus of French families when the German Nazi invaded Paris. I always thought itfascinating, to hear/read about real history from the point of view of afictitious character. From the story of the wealthy bourgeois Pericand family tothe one of the stingy Charlie whose only attachment is for his porcelains, she's describing the people and their reactions in a desperate situation. ” The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”I thought that in the first book she was trying to show division, contrast and collision between people. The roots for this are based in different beliefs, political standings, social class and education. To show how divided the people are, even though they are all suffering the same fate. She shows no indulgence for the rich and wealthy that are much more prone to corruption as they have everything to loose and she is being very funny and ironic when she is describing the Catholics, their generosity to help the needy and the motivations behind it. The second book called Dolce, is an Andante (or Lento), there is not the fast movement of fleeing or battle. It takes place in the little pastoral village of Bussy, the village is occupied by the Germans and throughout the book (which like a second slow movement, is also shorter), are described the human relationship of the conqueror/conquered as groups but also as individuals. Contrary to the first book, she is showing how individuals in this group relationship can be drawn together, even like each other as human beings and have a common language. It raises the question of  human imprisonment in its different forms.  For example the one of the German soldiers that are obeying orders, or the imprisonment of the women in their lives and roles, in what society expects from them. As Simone Weil writes : “Liberty, taking the word in its concrete sense, consists in the ability to choose.” As in the first book, she is telling simultaneously the story of a few people, one of them is the one of Lucile Angevillier who is imprisoned in her life now for several years, since she married a wealthy man who does not love her. Ironically, her husband is taken captive and is now imprisoned by the Germans and she has to accept the presence of a German officer in her house.  She lives together with her mother-in-law as well, a sort of a dog (or more precisely a bitch), preserving and keeping the property for the hopeful return of her son, and throughout this book, the place of the prisoner keeps changing between these three characters.

 

It is a great pity that the Suite Française ended with those two books, I would have liked to read what became of all the characters mentioned in “Tempest in June”, especially the Michaud couple who are the most noble and touching characters. But as Michaud refused to take the chance to have a different life by going to Brazil, so did Irene Nemirovsky refuse the possibility to flee, she stayed in France consciously knowing the risks. Her public of readers gained a wonderful book, a real testimony of history, even if the characters are fictitious, but this at the price of all the others, unwritten books.