{"id":385,"date":"2015-12-16T11:48:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T11:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/16\/what-happened-to-winter\/"},"modified":"2020-10-28T17:13:15","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T17:13:15","slug":"what-happened-to-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/16\/what-happened-to-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happened to Winter?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

Theoretically, it is December. \u00a0I should be huddled in layers, slipping and sliding on ice and snow, and drinking innumerable cups of tea. \u00a0Only the last is true, but that is always true. \u00a0Right now it is 60 degrees outside and I only need a sweater. \u00a0If this keeps up things are going to start blooming. \u00a0I am not complaining, it is just strange.<\/p>\n

I am reading like it is winter though. \u00a0It gets dark so early that I don’t really want to go anywhere. \u00a0I just want to curl up with a book and an afghan. \u00a0I am just finishing up Suite Francaise <\/i>by Irene Nemirovsky.<\/p>\n

\"book--Suite<\/a><\/div>\n

I did not realize when I bought it that it was unfinished. \u00a0It was supposed to be a series of five novels, but only two were finished before she was arrested and sent to Auschwitz where she died. \u00a0Her daughters kept the notebook her writing was in but never read it until the late 1990s. \u00a0They had always thought it was a journal and that it would be too painful to read. \u00a0They were going to donate her writings and decided to read them first. \u00a0That is when they discovered what they really had.<\/p>\n

Suite Francaise<\/i> begins with the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1940 and draws a picture of a country in chaos. \u00a0It does not really tell the story of individuals, instead it uses the stories of people to tell the story of a country.<\/p>\n

I really enjoy her way with words and how she can use them to make a subtle point. \u00a0Here is one quote I liked that highlights the attitude of the townspeople toward the refugees.<\/p>\n

“But they were all right, time would pass, soldiers would fight while the ironmonger on the main street and Mlle Dubois, the hatmaker, would continue to sell saucepans and ribbons; they would eat hot soup in their kitchens and every evening close the little wooden gates that separated their gardens from the rest of the world.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That little line about closing “the wooden gates that separated their gardens from the rest of the world” says it all.<\/p>\n

Nemirovsky emphasized the effects of the occupation itself. \u00a0I found that so interesting. \u00a0The French and Germans were enemies, they fought each other, but then the Germans came in and took over a town, and the two peoples got used to each other. \u00a0There was a constant pull between the individual and the nation.<\/p>\n

“War…yes, everyone knows what war is like. \u00a0But occupation is more terrible in a way, because people get used to each other. \u00a0We tell ourselves, “They’re just like us, after all,” \u00a0but they’re not at all the same. \u00a0We’re two different species, irreconcilable, enemies forever.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this,<\/p>\n

“There had been no men in the village for so long that even the soldiers, the invaders, seemed in their rightful place. \u00a0The invaders felt it too; they stretched out in the sunshine. \u00a0The mothers of prisoners or soldiers killed in the war looked at them and begged God to curse them, but the young women just looked at them.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is obvious this is an unfinished work, some things don’t flow and there are inconsistencies. \u00a0However, it is an unusual and beautifully written work. \u00a0It is such a tragedy that it was never able to be completed.<\/p>\n

I know a movie was based on this. \u00a0I am debating whether or not I want to see it. \u00a0I have a conflicted relationship with movies based on books. \u00a0Has anyone seen it and if so, do you recommend it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theoretically, it is December. \u00a0I should be huddled in layers, slipping and sliding on ice and snow, and drinking innumerable cups of tea. \u00a0Only the last is true, but that is always true. \u00a0Right now it is 60 degrees outside and I only need a sweater. \u00a0If this keeps up things are going to start blooming. \u00a0I am not complaining, it is just strange. I am reading like it is winter though. \u00a0It gets dark so early that I don’t really want to go anywhere. \u00a0I just want to curl up with a book and an afghan. \u00a0I am just finishing up Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. I did not realize when I bought it that it was unfinished. \u00a0It was supposed to be a series of five novels, but only two were finished before she was arrested and sent to Auschwitz where she died. \u00a0Her daughters kept the notebook her writing was in but never read it until the late 1990s. \u00a0They had always thought it was a journal and that it would be too painful to read. \u00a0They were going to donate her writings and decided to read them first. \u00a0That is when they discovered what they really had. Suite Francaise begins with the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1940 and draws a picture of a country in chaos. \u00a0It does not really tell the story of individuals, instead it uses the stories of people to tell the story of a country. I really enjoy her way with words and how she can use them to make a subtle point. \u00a0Here is one quote I liked that highlights the attitude of the townspeople toward the refugees. “But they were all right, time would pass, soldiers would fight while the ironmonger on the main street and Mlle Dubois, the hatmaker, would continue to sell saucepans and ribbons; they would eat hot soup in their kitchens and every evening close the little wooden gates that separated their gardens from the rest of the world.” That little line about closing “the wooden gates that separated their gardens from the rest of the world” says it all. Nemirovsky emphasized the effects of the occupation itself. \u00a0I found that so interesting. \u00a0The French and Germans were enemies, they fought each other, but then the Germans came in and took over a town, and the two peoples got used to each other. \u00a0There was a constant pull between the individual and the nation. “War…yes, everyone knows what war is like. \u00a0But occupation is more terrible in a way, because people get used to each other. \u00a0We tell ourselves, “They’re just like us, after all,” \u00a0but they’re not at all the same. \u00a0We’re two different species, irreconcilable, enemies forever.” And this, “There had been no men in the village for so long that even the soldiers, the invaders, seemed in their rightful place. \u00a0The invaders felt it too; they stretched out in the sunshine. \u00a0The mothers of prisoners or soldiers killed in the war looked at them and begged God to curse them, but the young women just looked at them.” It is obvious this is an unfinished work, some things don’t flow and there are inconsistencies. \u00a0However, it is an unusual and beautifully written work. \u00a0It is such a tragedy that it was never able to be completed. I know a movie was based on this. \u00a0I am debating whether or not I want to see it. \u00a0I have a conflicted relationship with movies based on books. \u00a0Has anyone seen it and if so, do you recommend it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,64,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-irene-nemirovsky","category-review"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2899,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions\/2899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}