There is a beautiful simplicity to Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise. It's one of those rare novels where I could really visualize what was happening since Irene's language was simple and her sentences, uncomplicated. It was wonderful to read it since I could vividly recreate in my head what was transpiring in the book. What surprises me was how like a cookie cutter, Irene described the class distinctions between the French at that time - it was like watching Downton Abbey - but this time - with the characters on the run away from Paris!
And that's only the first part!
The story of the second part becomes a bit unsettling since here, Irene is depicting a very disarming picture of the German soldiers!! And this was written during the war, when it was actually happening!! No evil Hitler German soldiers here! They are described to be such golden boys - my personal imagery could've been the blonde boys of Abercrombie and Fitch - Berlin branch!! Anyway, there is a forbidden love story in that part of the book which leaves us hanging - because, well, Irene, like many of the Jews at that time, were gassed in Auschwitz. But at least this part of the book remains - and these alone are worth the read!
I just finished reading Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise today and I was very surprised at how abrupt the story ended - only to find out later on that Irene actually died in 1942 - one of the unfortunate Jews gassed in Auschwitz. Yet the story that she wrote - Suite Francaise lived on! There are two parallel stories in this book - one telling the story about the people who escaped Paris during the first wave of bombings and then the countryside story about a village occupied by German soldiers.
Anyway, I only read about Irene's life after I read the whole book. I even ignored the prologue and the part where there was an exchange of letters between Irene, her husband and their friends. I was completely floored and saddened to learn that she never survived the war! Now, I want to read her other novels since she has such an intriguing style of writing. Her characterization is so vivid and you can easily summon each of her characters to life.
