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christiek's review against another edition
4.0
These were all depressing, thoughtful and thought provoking. Lots of death and end of life contemplation. Normally I have a hard time reading about truly unpleasant protagonists (life is too short to spend time with unpleasant people real or imaginary), but she pulls it off. Most of the characters in these novels are exceptionally spoiled, entitled and unpleasant, but she writes them so beautifully, I almost sympathize with them. I really like that Irene Nemirovsky. It makes me wonder at how much less rich the world is as a result of tyranny (Nemirovsky died in a Nazi concentration camp).
ab_ekpe's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a good collection of stories by Irène Némirovsky. David Golder is about an old man who’s health is deteriorating yet who continues to work in order to provide for his family. The Ball is about an odd and contentious relationship between a mother and her daughter and the events that take place between them as they prepare to host an extravagant ball. Snow in Autumn is about an old housemaid and her experience during the war in Russia with a family who she’s taken care of for over 50 years. And finally, The Courilof Affair is about the assassination of a Russian minister. Each story is very different and I enjoyed each one of them.
chgoange's review against another edition
Since this is four books in one, four seperate reviews.
David Golder- 5 stars. You can see from this, her first work, that Nemirovsky had a love/hate relationship with not only the bourgeoisie, of which she herself was a member, but also her Jewish heritage. David Golder, is a work obsessed man who is finding himself on the verge of losing everything...his wife and daughter who seem only to care about the money he makes, his business, and eventually his sanity and health.
David Golder- 5 stars. You can see from this, her first work, that Nemirovsky had a love/hate relationship with not only the bourgeoisie, of which she herself was a member, but also her Jewish heritage. David Golder, is a work obsessed man who is finding himself on the verge of losing everything...his wife and daughter who seem only to care about the money he makes, his business, and eventually his sanity and health.
jeanetterenee's review against another edition
3.0
In this book there are two stories of about 40-45 pages each and two short novels of about 120-130 pages. I ended up finishing only the two shorter stories.
"The Ball": 3 stars for this one. It's about a French family who has recently had an upturn in fortune. The wife is desperate to be accepted into higher society and plans an elaborate ball. Her petulant and naughty teenage daughter ends up sabotaging the entire affair. As a result she discovers the power she can have over the adults in her life, especially her mother.
"Snow in Autumn": 4 stars for this one. This is rather grim and sorrowful, but that is its strength in this case. It's a very authentic-feeling story about an upper class Russian family around the time of WW I. They send their sons off to war, and ultimately have to leave behind their privileged lifestyle to flee the Bolsheviks. They go to Odessa and then to Marseilles and finally Paris, living in greatly reduced circumstances. The nanny, "Niania" who has raised two generations of the family's men plays an important role in the story as well, loyal to her employers through it all.
Irene Nemirovsky's family had to leave Russia in a similar fashion, and I could detect the first-hand knowledge of the experience in this story.
"David Golder": A great big "nyet!" on this one. Ugh! I hated it right from the start but gave it thirty pages in which to change my mind before abandoning it.
"The Courilof Affair": This one started off well enough, but gradually lost its momentum until I was no longer interested in continuing.
"The Ball": 3 stars for this one. It's about a French family who has recently had an upturn in fortune. The wife is desperate to be accepted into higher society and plans an elaborate ball. Her petulant and naughty teenage daughter ends up sabotaging the entire affair. As a result she discovers the power she can have over the adults in her life, especially her mother.
"Snow in Autumn": 4 stars for this one. This is rather grim and sorrowful, but that is its strength in this case. It's a very authentic-feeling story about an upper class Russian family around the time of WW I. They send their sons off to war, and ultimately have to leave behind their privileged lifestyle to flee the Bolsheviks. They go to Odessa and then to Marseilles and finally Paris, living in greatly reduced circumstances. The nanny, "Niania" who has raised two generations of the family's men plays an important role in the story as well, loyal to her employers through it all.
Irene Nemirovsky's family had to leave Russia in a similar fashion, and I could detect the first-hand knowledge of the experience in this story.
"David Golder": A great big "nyet!" on this one. Ugh! I hated it right from the start but gave it thirty pages in which to change my mind before abandoning it.
"The Courilof Affair": This one started off well enough, but gradually lost its momentum until I was no longer interested in continuing.
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