My grade: B+
This is a nice novel, full of ironic hope. It spans many years, from before WWI into WWII, taking place in France. The irony is that the author herself was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942, as she was a Jew. The novel has nothing to do with that, though.
I would say it is more akin to a family saga, at times reminding me of "The Forsyte Saga" and "War and Peace". It really is a tender novel, but there is still something missing. I would have preferred a bit more emotion, and I wonder if Nemirovsky would have been able to achieve that simply by adding another 500 pages or so.
The novel is very well-written, nonetheless, and the author carries a very distinct and confident tone throughout.
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