The Misunderstanding by Irene Nemirovsky and Sandra Smith (translator)
| The Misunderstanding by Irene Nemirovsky and Sandra Smith (translator) | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: Nemirovsky's first novel - written when she was only twenty one. It's a clear demonstration of the greatness that was to come - and be cut so tragically short. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 176 | Date: July 2013 |
| Publisher: 176 | |
| ISBN: 978-0701186753 | |
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After the Great War Yves Harteloup was a disappointed young man when he returned to the resort where he had spent idyllic childhood summers. It wasn't long before he became infatuated by the beautiful Denise - mother of a young child, wife of an older man who was away on business and bored. In the heat of the summer the relationship is intoxicating and Denise falls passionately in love with Yves. When they return to Paris Denise envisages a little flat which they will furnish to their taste for afternoons of leisure and pleasure but the truth is that Yves must return to his mundane office job and try to make every franc stretch as far as it can. In the drab autumn of Paris Denise is driven mad with desire for Yves and their love disintegrates under the burden of misunderstanding.
Some books are important in themselves and others for what they preface. The Misunderstanding comes into the second category. It was Irène Némirovsky's first novel written when she was only twenty one. It demonstrates an exquisite knowledge of the vagaries of human relationships which is only understandable when you realise that her life to that point had been far from easy. The characterisation is excellent and the pointing up of the Denise's failure to understand the implications of the financial gap between her life and that of her lover is skillfully done. I was particularly impressed by Denise's mother and the tragedy of the advice which she gives her daughter.
The story itself did not entirely convince me and I was aware that I was reading it for completeness and for an insight of how Némirovsky's writing would developed rather than for enjoyment of the story. At only 176 pages this wasn't the indulgence it might sound and I certainly didn't fee that the time was wasted. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
Fire in the Blood was Némirovsky's last work before she was sent to Auschwitz and unedited at the time of her death, but my favourite is The Dogs and the Wolves.
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