May: "Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky

This month we met at T's house. Someone must've let slip that mini cupcakes and chewy nougat were on offer for dessert because all 13 members were present. This was the first time we had all been together since last December's Christmas dinner. And discussion was no less lively than that occasion.

We discussed "Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky; winner of the Prix Renaudot in 2004 and the French-American Foundation Prize for translation in 2007.

Irene Nemirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903 and died in Auschwitz in 1942. This book is the story of how the occupation of France in WWII affected its civillians. What makes the novel so extraordinary is that it was written as the events unfolded; yet, unlike The Diary of Anne Frank, was not a journal but a fiction. In addition, despite being of Jewish heritage and forced to wear the yellow Star of David, Irene didn't reflect on her war but the war being exprienced by others, including sympathic treatment of the lives of the German soldiers garrisoned in French towns.

The story of how Suite Francaise came to be published only adds to the power of the story. Originally intended to be her "War & Peace" the book was planned to be in five parts: Storm in June, Dolce, Captivity, Battles and Peace? (the question mark was hers). However only the first two parts were completed before Irene was arrested and transported to Auschwitz in 1942. She died within a month of arrival. Her husband soon met the same fate, leaving her two daughters (aged 13 and 5) to flee with whatever they could carry. They happened to pick up a suitcase containing what they thought was their mother's diary. It was not until the 1990s that Irene's daugher, Denise Epstein, read the 'diary' and realised it was a fully formed novel. The book that was published in 2004 is, in fact, the first draft of the first two books.

Discussion:

• despite the power of the story of its discovery we felt that the books stood on their own as beautifully written works of art. Each part, or novella, could in fact stand on its own.
  
• Storm in June is an exquisitely written anatomy of a panic.
  
• Irene possesses an extraordinary talent to be both experiencing an event and be able to stand back and comment on it with such precision
  
• We were amazed that despite the impact of the war on her (viz Jewish heritage) she treated all the characters with a sympathetic eye.
  
• Some members wished the remaining three parts existed to flesh out the relationships further while others were satisfied with the two existing parts, in combination with the story of their discovery.
  
• Irene seemed to have a greater understanding of the privileged classes than the working classes, although some members felt that this was balanced out in the second book.
  
• Most of us loved this book.

Average score: 8.3

Range: 7, 7.5, 8, 8, 8, 8.5, 8.5, 8.5, 9, 9, 9, 9

Gossip:

• In the world of blogs, SMS and email will we find wonderful, unpublished works such as these in the future? Answer: Yes, because we are recording more than ever.
  
• The MySpace generation: should we be looking at MySpace sites to see what our children will be up to in a few years time?
  
• Blogs: That the norm in the US is for public blogs with personal details displayed; more the norm in Australia for bloggers to have aliases, not show photos of faces on public blogs for security reasons.
  

Next Month: The Gospel of Gods and Crocodiles by Elizabeth Stead. Chosen by T and to be held at FL's place on Monday 18th June.