Novels from Irene Nemirovsky

Pub Date: For this collection, Everyman's Library, 2008
Genre: Fiction
My Rating: 4.25/5

About the author from Bantam Publishing:

Irène Némirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903 into a wealthy banking family and emigrated to France during the Russian Revolution. After attending the Sorbonne in Paris she began to write and swiftly achieved success with DAVID GOLDER, which was followed by more than a dozen other books. Throughout her lifetime she published widely in French newspapers and literary journals. She died in Auschwitz in 1942. More than sixty years later, Suite Française, was published posthumously, for the first time, in 2006.

David Golder

• A novel about greed and loneliness, the story of a self-made business man, once wealthy, now suffering a breakdown as he nears the lonely end of his life.
  (from the book jacket)

The Ball

• A pointed exploration of adolescence and the obsession with status among the bourgeoisie

Snow in Autumn

• An evocative tale of White Russian emigres in Paris after the Russian Revolution
  

These novels are short fictional stories that allow the reader to emotionally connect with the characters, especially the protagonist, in each one. The events that occur only help to reinforce those connections, whether you have experienced them or not. You may even know people who behave like the characters in these stories. My Super Sweet 16 on MTV immediately came to my mind for one of the stories.

Nemirovsky truly understands and is able to convey human behavior and emotions. Whether you agree with the actions of the protagonists or not, you can not help but feel sorry for them. And although these stories are set in the earlier part of the 20th century, the themes that are explored are certainly very relevant.

I highly recommend this book, even though I didn't read the last story. I just knew the protagonist would not have a good ending. It is a shame the life of this wonderful author was cut so short.