Suite Francaise

A Novel

By: Irene Nemirovsky

Narrated by: Daniel Oreskes, Barbara Rosenblat

Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Irene Nemirovsky was arrested soon after completing the second part of Suite Francaise. Ten days later, on August 17, 1942, she died of typhus in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her husband, Michel, perished in a gas chamber on November 6. Their daughters, Denise and Elizabeth, survived, hidden in safe houses and convents, carrying a suitcase packed with clothes, photographs, and their mother's manuscript written in tiny letters to save paper. For years, both girls thought it was a journal and couldn't bear to read it. Then, in the late 1980s, Denise began transcribing it with the help of a magnifying glass.

Part One, "A Storm in June", is set in the chaos and mayhem of the massive 1940 exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Part Two, "Dolce", opens in the provincial town of Bussy during the first influx of German soldiers. Each part features a rich cast of characters, people who never should have met, but come to form ambiguous relationships as they are forced to endure circumstances beyond their control.

Translated by Sandra Smith.

©2004 Editions DENOEL; 2006 Sandra Smith (P)2006 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Literary Fiction, 2007

"A finely made work of fiction that portrays occupied France with both severity and sympathy....Written with extraordinary detachment by a woman who seemed to know that her own days were numbered." (The New York Times)

Suite Francaise

This book contains 2 stories that were planned as a 5 part novel. The author was murdered at Auschwitch in 1942. Unfortunatly this "unabridged" version does not include the important forward and appendices that outline the author's plans for the complete novel, nor does it tell about her life. I had to buy the book to get the extra 70 pages

We Will Never Know Where We Would Have Been Taken

Suite Fraisncae, written by Irene Nemirovsky, and narrated by Daniel Oreskes, and Barbara Rosenblat. This novel is a two-part display of the horror that befell the French, when the Germans conquered the French nation at the beginning of World War II. It also is a parade of human personalities. It was to be a five-part compendium of the War from its initial days to Allied victory and the nature of Europe’s rehabilitation after the war. Its tragedy, is not necessarily in its story, but what befalls its author. Ms. Nemirovsky is a Jew, and, for that simple reason, she did not survive the war to write the last three parts. There is more serendipity here. Her daughters did survive the war, but labored at her lose and could not read her work for 50 years, as they believed it would cause them too much pain. In the late 1990s they finally opened the pages and found their mother was as good a writer John Steinbeck in telling of an epoch human tragedy. So, belatedly, the books were published.

The books are a display of Existentialism. At one point (in the second book) Nemirovsky pits a forlorn German officer against the angst of a French woman. The German, had made a mistake in his prewar life, in entering a young marriage with a woman he learned, he had no interest in. Further the German soldier is dismayed that being at war, that war, has taken from him the opportunity to become a great musician. He cannot practice and advance in his career. His companion, the French woman finds herself destitute, and locked into a marriage to a husband that does not love her, has a mistress that he does love and treats her, the wife, badly. With that setting we find ourselves overhearing a conversation between the German man and the French woman where the German officer talks about the beauty of the Germans functioning as a beehive, and the French woman thinks of the disgust that she feels against such overwhelming societal control. Each providing a perfect display of disorientation, confusion, and dread in the face of an apparently absurd presence in relation to each other’s situation.

The first of the books begins with the impending takeover of Paris by the Nazi forces. We see the people begin to flee Paris. Then mass escape, its panic, its horrors and reduction in status of everyone’s human condition. We come to learn of the misinterpretations and misunderstandings of the true situation – being an invaded nation. During the panicked flee we see heroes destroyed by unappreciative, cowards are rewarded for their debauchery and fools are admired for their cunning.

The second book is the story of young German men surrounded by young French woman. Their mutual repelling disgust and mutual attracting pheromones. Subtly, you learn, by hearing the townspeople’s thinking, of the collaborators rational for assisting the Germans, the thoughts of those who will likely become the resistance and of the freight that seeps into the towns people’s mind at the atrocities the Germans, could commit, had committed in local towns, and to everyone’s expectation that would be committed in their own town.
Ms. Nemirovsky, tells a story as well as any great writer, such as Steinbeck, who she reminds me of, does not have the same ability to develop an attachment to her characters equal to Steinbeck’s ability. Do not let that deter you from reading this work though. It is stunningly good. Her writing charm is the soft telling of stories and subtle suggestions of the wrongs in the existence of life. Ms. Nemirovsky puts us right into the Nazi system of irrationality. She makes us experience one more crime in the history of man.

We are truly the losers – being denied Nemirovsky and her would-have-been later works. The fact this is not her full teachings is no reason to pass up the brilliance of her works created contemporaneously with the actual taking of France by the Nazis.
Just one more sadness. At the end of book two, Ms. Nemirovsky, sets the state for participants in book two, to have reason to go to Paris and contact persons from book one in Paris. We will never know where that would have taken us. . .

A Treasure/ An Enchanting Story of Another Time

Set in a very difficult time, the German occupation of France in 1940, the author nevertheless finds such moments of beauty, love & redemption that her words enchant like sunlight on polished crystal or delicate birdsong wafting through an open window on a summer breeze. She creates surprising scenes and characters of such depth & complexity that they seem real and taking breaks from listening is like being separated from a loved one. I didn't want to stop.
The day to day scenes of village life, farm life and life in Paris are so vivid that they truly come to life and seem more like memories than the words of a book.
There have been so many stories about this period of human history, but Nemirovsky finds a completely different perspective by looking candidly through the eyes and hearts of the people who lived through them. So she takes us on a fresh journey of the human heart and a wonderful journey it is.
I feel so sad that Nemirovsky didn't get to complete the 4 or 5 novels she intended for this "suite".
I would have LOVED to read them ALL!
These audio versions are very well performed and I enjoyed every word!

A Must

This moving and powerful book, authored by a published writer in France who perished at Auschwitz, presents two parts of a planned multi-part suite which were recently discovered by the author's surviving daughters. The first, "Storm in June," relates the tale of disparate denizens of Paris fleeing to the countryside steps before the Germans. The second, "Dolce," depicts the German occupation of a French village and the strained relations between the soldiers and their reluctant hosts (some of whom were introduced in the first part). This novel is beautifully wrought, with profound insights into human nature -- greed, corruption, grief, fear -- and told with a sly wit and humor. Expertly read with just the right dramatic punch. As an added bonus (for those of us who are bereft of foreign language skills), was the opportunity to listen to a correct pronounciation of the various French names and locations.

A masterpiece

One of the most moving, brilliantly observed and beautifully written books about war, fear and the irrepressible human impulses that emerge under these conditions that I have ever read. Nemirovsky had remarkable insight, understanding and sympathy for people as well as a capacity for observing the beauty of the everyday and ordinary. We are so fortunate that her books did not perish.

Unique WWII stories

I listened to this beautiful produced and performed audio book. Truthfully, I'd started it some years ago and stopped listening. It just wasn't grabbing me. But starting it again now has been perfect timing. Having read a few World War II novels lately, this offered another story, style, and perspective.

The author wrote this during the period it's set in. Yet, the story isn't about her. It's about the exodus from Paris in 1940, with its effects on Parisians and the French in the surrounding countryside. We meet a variety of people and often their families, not quite knowing how they'll all fit together. And actually, they aren't all interconnected but that doesn't distract from the story.

In addition to the depth each vignette is developed (as a rough draft!), I keep re-thinking the author's experience. She wrote everything in tiny script to save precious paper. She gave her manuscript to her daughters, sent them to safety, and went to Auchwitz only to die soon after. None of the characters' stories are as dramatic as the author's.

Suite Française

What did you love best about Suite Francaise?

I loved the author's voice, the true to life story and the writing itself.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Suite Francaise?

When the story evolved around the fact that the enemy were people just like the French, and that war was the only thing that separated them.

Which character – as performed by Daniel Oreskes and Barbara Rosenblat – was your favorite?

Barbara Rosenblat first, but Daniel was good too.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Two sittings. The first half, and then the second part worked for me.

Any additional comments?

Very well written in my opinion. The mood struck me as it was written when war was going on right on their doorstep in Paris. Loved it all and would suggest it to a friend for sure.

Audible's Caption is Misleading

The caption relates the story of the author, but that is not the plot of the novel. The first half is the story of how a diverse group of people made the exodus out of Paris to various towns as the Germans crossed the Seine in 1940. If you're interested in this period of history, this book provides a well rounded look at Paris class structure. The second half, however, is focused on one small town and how the Germans chose to occupy it. It meanders without direction, and is less informative. The characters are nuanced, but all seem to be of the same class, so the texture of the first half is wasted in the second. Worth a listen at half price.

Wonderful!

Beautiful book and wonderful readers. This book will transport you to France during WWII.

Abandoned

I can't review this book properly because I never really got into it.

I made it 25% of the way in back in November 2012 before putting it aside because I wasn't paying any attention and had no clue what was going on.

I tried all over again now in March 2014 but only made it to 16% this time before I abandoned it for good.

I just can't get into it.