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Product Description
The Evening Standard
'This is a writer of rare power, make no mistake'
The Sunday Times
'A powerful description of a man's relentless decline'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Right from the first page, when David Golder refuses to help his business partner out of financial difficulties, this is a page-turner. An old-school personal fable, a morality tale about the perils of personal fortune and narcissism, Nemirovsky's short work is reminiscent of Dickens, Balzac and Tolstoy, yet it is a resolutely modern tale of cut-throat financial speculation. It should be compulsory reading for anyone seeking or more especially guarding a fortune!
David Golder and his family and associates are deeply unattractive people and there appears to be much anti-semitic stereotyping deployed here, although it is fair to say that Nemirovsky both knew this world from her upbringing and marriage and also wrote this before the Nazi rise to power in neighbouring Germany. That aside, this is a fantastic novel. David Golder is a thoroughly believable and believably flawed individual; for all his faults, I felt sorry for him and wanted to know how things would pan out. I had trouble putting this down, it's a real classic, in an old-school way, but a real gem to read.
David Golder and his family and associates are deeply unattractive people and there appears to be much anti-semitic stereotyping deployed here, although it is fair to say that Nemirovsky both knew this world from her upbringing and marriage and also wrote this before the Nazi rise to power in neighbouring Germany. That aside, this is a fantastic novel. David Golder is a thoroughly believable and believably flawed individual; for all his faults, I felt sorry for him and wanted to know how things would pan out. I had trouble putting this down, it's a real classic, in an old-school way, but a real gem to read.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Irene Nemirovsky's brilliant first book (originally published in France in 1929) deals with the eponymous businessman, a ruthless man in his late sixties who has amassed an enormous wealth, but who increasingly faces a brutal reversal of fortune. Hated by his wife and daughter (who only expect money from him), with a heart condition that augurs him just a few months of life, his business deals collapsing, he looks at his life and sees that he has never loved anyone, except a daughter that may not be really his. Reportedly autobiographical (Nemirovsky was the estranged daughter of an exiled Russian Jewish banker; she could be the inspiration for Golder's daughter Joyce), what is a bit disturbing about the book is how Golder's greed and the materialism of his wife and daughter are seen as an exclusively Jewish trait; to her defence, Nemirovsky wrote this before Hitler's rise to power, but in in a post-Holocaust world, this gives the book a strange feeling as if it was written by a very talented antisemite (paradoxically, Nemirovsky died in Auschwitz).
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is written in a completely,different style to Suite Francaise.In that book her style has matured and ripened into a dense,descriptive narrative.In the earlier David Golder,very little description,instead an intense economy of narrative,no ornamentation whatsoever,just brutal emotions.
A compelling read,which l had trouble reading slowly,as the sheer force of the writing drove me quickly onto the next page.She often comes close to characature with the characters in that they are so unrelentingly selfish and self-absorbed.Irene though stays within reality,just.
The author,jewish, has been wrongly suggested to be anti-semetic.She is that rare person who is critical of her own race and culture,but remains firmly within it.
The theme of pursuit of money at the expense of humanity is wonderfully explored.When Golders health deserts him,he wants to turn to something for comfort,but nothing exists as he has destroyed all possible compassion towards him.His own daughter and wife only seek money from him.
As a young women you can sense Irene's burning emotions in the book.The headstrong and uncompromising book reflects the young heart of the writer.Later in Suites Franscaise,her emotions have matured to a reflective and sad adult,and hence a different narration.A must read
A compelling read,which l had trouble reading slowly,as the sheer force of the writing drove me quickly onto the next page.She often comes close to characature with the characters in that they are so unrelentingly selfish and self-absorbed.Irene though stays within reality,just.
The author,jewish, has been wrongly suggested to be anti-semetic.She is that rare person who is critical of her own race and culture,but remains firmly within it.
The theme of pursuit of money at the expense of humanity is wonderfully explored.When Golders health deserts him,he wants to turn to something for comfort,but nothing exists as he has destroyed all possible compassion towards him.His own daughter and wife only seek money from him.
As a young women you can sense Irene's burning emotions in the book.The headstrong and uncompromising book reflects the young heart of the writer.Later in Suites Franscaise,her emotions have matured to a reflective and sad adult,and hence a different narration.A must read
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great ebut novel situated in 1926
The French publisher who read its manuscript in 1928 could not believe it was written by a woman of only 26 who fled Russia in 1917, spent time in Finland and Sweden before... Read more
Published 6 months ago by P. A. Doornbos
Another case where money does not bring happiness.
A well told short story (just 159 pages) about some truly dreadful people: David Golder has risen from having been a poverty-stricken young Jew in the Ukraine to being, in the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Ralph Blumenau
The Nazis had a lot to answer for!
I find it impossible to read her books without feeling sadness for what has been lost.
Published on 4 May 2010 by C. J. Jones
Nemirovsky
This is a wonderful book to read, & perhaps to consider alongside your understanding of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by David Kernow
Of its time.
Having read somewhere that this book (her debut) was immediately snapped up by a publisher I thought it would be worth checking out. Read more
Published on 23 Nov 2009 by Nikki Carman
Fabulous and topical from 1929
Nemirovsky's prose is unfaltering, acute in its observation, shocking in its portrayal of base emotion and remarkably current. Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2009 by Mick Read
a small jewel
From the first opening word -"No" - to the last, when its hero (or anti-hero) denies his partner a loan, this is a weirdly topical novel about debt, fraud, business and... Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2009 by A. Craig
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