Reading Update // 4th December 2016

I have given up on Suite Française.

This is rare for me, I do not often just completely stop reading a book, but Suite Française is so lacking in plot and intrigue that I have to.

I appreciate the purpose of the book. It is an interesting tale of human behaviour, however because of this there is no real plot to it. It is simply people going about their lives. If the book had been much shorter then perhaps I would find it more interesting purely as a tale of human behaviour under pressure, however because it is so long it gives the impression of being a story when really it is not.

I think for my blog I will re-read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I read it a couple of years ago however I feel that I understand it more now and so I would like to read it again to see what my impressions are of it now.

Meg x

Reading Update // 17th November 2016

I have read/ listened up to page 189.

I say this because I find this book incredible boring. Don't get me wrong, the concept is interesting, it has commendable aspects to it, but as a whole it is incredibly dull. As luck would have it my Mum happens to have the audiobook, so I have begun listening to that instead in effort to try and finish it at some point.

Never the less, here are my most recent favourite parts:

Page 163: "Without the civilians, without everyone panicking, that wave of refugees blocking up the roads, we would have had a chance." 

"Everyone thinking of himself! Such egotism..." 

I particularly like both of these quotes because they are so immensely hypocritical. These sentences are part of an extensive conversation between the Count de Furières and Monsieur Corbin. Both have proven themselves selfish and lacking in compassion. They were both among the "refugees blocking up the roads" and even more so were both "panicking". I understand that this is most likely done deliberately by the author however that doesn't make it any less irritating to read. Honestly I'm not sure why this is my favourite, perhaps because it's simply so hypocritical that it's great.

Page 164: "The chambermaid had put a small framed picture belonging to Monsieur Corbin in Madame Corbin's handbag; it contained a photograph of Arlette, stark naked. The nudity itself might not have offended his wife - she was a person with a great deal of common sense - but the dancer was wearing a magnificent necklace."

For a little context, Monsieur Corbin has a wife (Madame Corbin) and a mistress (Arlette) who is a dancer.

I find this interesting because Madame Corbin is not concerned that her husband has naked pictures of another women in his possession, more that she is wearing a "magnificent necklace". In the novel we don't actually really meet Madame Corbin properly, but I think that you find out enough about her character from this single sentence anyway.

That is all,

Meg x

Reading Update // 30th October 2016

I have read up to page 150 of Suite Française. 

My favourite parts since the last update are:

Page 78: "soft June wind"

I simply like this because I think it sounds really nice - the syllables just seem to compliment each other into a beautiful poetic phrase. Never mind that it's in the middle of a war.

Page 136: "They felt a terrible kind of joy."

I like this (it's better with the context) because of the oxymoron. How can you have terrible joy? But the characters do. They are frenzied, murderous, sub-human. They kill their own priest! It also seems to relate to what the feeling of rare joy must have felt like during such an awful time as war. Any happiness that you have you know is short lived, and lives among the horror of what is happening around you, even if you can't actually see it.

An entire chapter dedicated to the cat.

This isn't particularly technically challenging, and won't help me when it comes to GCSE English Language exams, but I really like that there is a chapter entirely dedicated to the cat. It's quite cool.

Meg x

Reading Update // 4th October 2016

I have read up to page 17 of Suite Française. 

My favourite passages so far are:

Page 4: "In the hot rooms with blacked out windows, children were born and their cries made the women forget the sounds of sirens and war. To the dying, the barrage of gunfire seemed far away ... whisper that washes over those on the brink of death. Children slept peacefully..."

I think this passage is interesting because of the life/death juxtaposition between soldiers dying the war, and children being born. It creates a sense that although the war was happening not so far away, life still went on as always, and the people had to have the courage to continue despite the difficult circumstances.

Page 8: "It was in just this manner that different social classes all ended up on the top deck during a shipwreck."

This quotation is interesting because often in times of tragedy, social classes become insignificant, however it's clear that Madame Péricand believes that social classes should always stay in order. This tells us a lot about her character, namely that she values her status very much, and therefore wishes for it to always remain intact.

The last part that I particularly enjoyed was the introduction of Gabriel Corte on page 15, which is unfortunately a little too long for me to quote. The whole thing is brilliant. He is so obviously obnoxious and self-centred and pretentious, to the point of it being funny. I look forward to seeing how his character develops.

Meg x