Suite Français by Irène Némirovsky

*there will be spoilers and sensitive topics

This book was very different from the normal genre and style of books that I normally read. Normally I read fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy stories as can be seen from my other reviews and Goodreads lists. However when I found this book during one of my $10 library bag sales, I placed it into my bag. The story, both Suite Français and Irène's, interested me and I knew that I'd want to read it someday. The fact that it was originally written in French might have been another reason that I wanted to read this book.

While reading this story, I was filled with a bit of sadness because I knew ahead of time what had happened to the author, and how this story was so similar to the life that she lived in those years as well. Also again I am saddened by the chilling history of our world, the lives that were lost, the families ripped apart. The horrors that people suffered just for being alive.

Hearing the history of Irène's life as well was interesting. She came from a rich life, but during WW1 she had to leave her life because her father's was in danger. Then she and her family found their way to France where she lived a flirtatious and wild life until she met her husband.

I am in awe with how many works she was able to write in a short time in her life. She has about 9 novels, and Suite Français was her last work that was published to the world, done so by her daughter Denise many years after her death.

I'm lucky that I was able to read this book. While it is basically a first draft to the story, it was wonderfully written and filled with wonderfully created characters. I was happy and joyful when the Michauds were able to make it home, and that Charles was hit by a car and died because I really disliked his character and what he did to that young couple while on the road. I felt he got what he deserved.

There was great sorrow in the book too. I was so sad that the Father died, and in such a brutal manner as well by those kids. To be beaten and then basically drown because you got caught under the water. I was scared just reading it if I'm going to be completely honest with you.

For the love in the story, I really wanted Jean-Marie to go back and be with Madeleine because I felt they would have been really nice and cute together, and was sad when she ended up with Benoît, even though that was sort of set in stone before he went off to war. However I also wish I could have seen how Irène wrote how Jean-Marie and Lucile would fall in love. I honestly wanted Jean-Marie to have a good life, but from her notes Irène didn't have the same thoughts.

To know that this was only two parts out of what was going to be a five part story, I can say that it didn't fully feel like anything was missing. With the way Irène wrote Dolce, it was like the real ending. To say if only WW2 didn't happen, we wouldn't even have this book in the first place. I just wish that Irène's life (and so many other millions of lives) could have been spared during this time in history to have the whole story given to us.

I gave Suite Français 5 stars. Partly for the information above, and partly because I am emotional and felt part of my heart in the story because I knew what happened in the end. I honestly recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction and non-fiction, as I feel this book has a nice tie between the two.

Let me know what you thought of this book or the story if you've read it. Did you find it as emotional as I did? I've love to hear your thoughts as well.

À bientôt!

Photo/Gif creds: cover photo from Goodreads, Irène's photo,

Une promenade à travers l'histoire - My French Capstone Event

So, as many of you know, I have a French major. A big part of this program, and the major itself, is the French Capstone, a large research course taken by all French students as the last class before they finish the program. The capstone may be different in other universities, but for mine, it's this.

You, as a student, can chose any topic or subject to base your capstone on. You can do a paper, a presentation, and video project (almost did one of these but didn't have a good enough topic in mind), or even make an event. This is what I decided to do.

Making a public event is not something that I've ever done before as well, so I thought it would be a great experience to attempt this as well during my capstone. Really testing my skills and knowledge of how to plan events and create something many people can enjoy.

For my topic, I wanted to focus on Franco-Americans and their history. I have always been interested in this topic since I took a diversity of Franco-Communities class my sophomore year of college. I was so interested in the different aspects of the history and culture of Franco-Americans/French-Canadians and I wanted to know more.

So I looked for books, my advisor sent me the same articles that I read in that class, and I started to do my research and event planning. I read a mix of six different books, and about five articles, all which gave me great information and facts about the history and culture (and even the discrimination) of Franco-Americans. Then, when it got time to create the posters and chose my topics, I had a lot of work to do. There were so many aspects and facts that I wanted to feature. But I couldn't have them all.

I decided on having three large posters on Acadia and the Great Upheaval, Franco-American press and other writings, and lastly Franco-American names and their changes. For me, these were the most interesting topics surrounding them that I wanted to showcase. I did have a small paper about the discrimination of Franco-Americans, but I feel that so many parts of history mostly touch upon that aspect of history and I wanted to more show the better areas of their history. I was present at the event as well, for anyone who had any questions that I could answer, whether about the posters or another question off the top of their head. (I can answer some of these questions in the comments as well if you'd like). Here are my posters.

Franco-American names

Discrimination of Franco-Americans

Acadia and Acadian history

Franco-American press and writings

I also wanted to have two different aspects of Franco-Americans at the event. So I made a playlist of music by Franco-Americans (and some Quebecois songs because they are similar and connected in my opinion) and traditional food. For food I has Mulled Cider, Tourtière (pork pie), and Grand-Père dans le sirop (maple syrup dumplings) with ice cream. It was all so good! I think I'm going to make those dumplings when I get home over the summer because it was one of the best things I've ever tasted, if I'm being honest.

The Event

I held the event on the 29th of April, and I was surprised by actually how many people came and were interested in the subject and asked me questions! I felt so good to have my information and research pay off with people asking me so many questions and want more information on Franco-Americans. It was worth it, to myself and my education.

I had two different classes come by and take notes on my information, and most of the food was gone by the end when it was time to pack up the posters. I had so many people who came up to me and asked so many questions, and wanted to know even more than the information that I had hanging up. There was so much planning and research that went into this event, and then it was all over after three hours. It's jarring.

Presentations

me at student showcase

I presented about my Capstone event two separate times, and it was great to talk even more about my event and the outcome of it as well.

Student Showcase of Research & Engagement: This is an event that students can submit their projects and research reports and showcase them to members of the community. It was required for me to also have my capstone there and I thought it was fun to do it!

Celebration of French Achievement: This was a mix of awarding the students who won the Euclide Gilbert French Video award from the Franco-American Center of NH, and for all the French majors to show and their capstone research. I hadn't seen my classmates projects before this and I was excited to see them! They all did really great jobs.

You can watch the video that I made talking about the event (in similar and different detail) and see some of the event in video here on my YouTube channel. And don't be afraid to ask me any questions about my project and research! I'm very willing to answer questions and more of this topic.

À bientôt!

Photo/GIF creds: posters by me, Jordan's photo of me at SSR&E,