Book Eight

4/12/2008 – Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky ***

Why: Because Matt bought it for me for Christmas 2007 instead of Suite Francaise. Because it’s short and I am terribly sick in bed and bored.
First Impressions: The first two chapters are hard to get into. The author always shocks me with the number of characters and not knowing how they all fit in. After about 50 pages, I was completely consumed. Easily readable. I love how the chapters are all of different lengths. First and last impression is that Irene Nemirovsky is a masterful writer.
Emotions Felt: Surprise at the developments in the last 25 pages. I could not believe that the narrator who I came to see as an old has been was the passionate lover of Helene. I never would have imagined that Colette and Brigitte were actually sisters. This is the difference between Patchett and Nemirovsky. Patchett is writing a plot. Irene is writing a novel full of meaning. I absolutely got what the title Fire in the Blood was all about and how we look at life so differently in our twenties than we might later on. And how we all have secrets that shape our families and our destinies.
Any Remaining Questions: What happens? Irene always leaves novels cut short. In the end, “I had already started to love her less.” Was Silvio’s conquest of Helene just about passion and nothing more? What happens after Silvio opens the pandora’s box of his emotions? Does he confront Helene? Did Helene actually love Francois or does she still love Silvio? Do Helene and Brigitte ever reconcile and does Brigitte know that Silvio is her father? Do Helene and Francois break up? Does Marc go to prison? Does Colette ever find the predictable happiness that she feels she wants? And does Colette realize that perfection cannot be attained and that her parents have not attained it? It was like reading a soap opera but knowing that these characters are real people with real problems. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Can’t believe so much happened in so few pages.
Favorite Quotes: Every sentence is poetry but particularly pg. 18 about youth versus wisdom. Pg. 57 The way a man drinks in company tells you nothing about him, the way a man drinks alone, without him realizing it, reveals the depths of his soul. How profound is that? Pg. 188 The description of how love finds you
Who Would Like This Book: Kate Nelson and any other readers that I admire