Irene Nemirovsky review by Howard Jacobson
Monday, May 08, 2006
Howard Jacobson's review - subscription required, I'm afraid - in the LRB of Suite Francaise doesn't follow the tenor of most, if not all, the other reviews I've read. In being more critical of the two published novels in the unfinished sequence he manages to show more respect to Nemirovsky's memory than those who have heaped praise on the work on the strength of her horrific fate.
The very circumstances of the novels' creation gives them a poignancy which is, however, insufficent to overcome their intrinsic weaknesses. The most poignant fact, of all, of course, is that Nemirovsky never had the chance to rewrite what she had written and bring them to a standard that would have matched her intentions.
The very circumstances of the novels' creation gives them a poignancy which is, however, insufficent to overcome their intrinsic weaknesses. The most poignant fact, of all, of course, is that Nemirovsky never had the chance to rewrite what she had written and bring them to a standard that would have matched her intentions.
