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'Nemirovsky paints a fictional picture that resonates deep in the contemporary mind...' --Guardian
Book Description
A masterpiece of early 20th-century literature
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Like Conrad's masterpiece The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Wordsworth Classics), this book first published in 1933 is also inspired by a true event.
Leon M is a child of Russian revolutionists and as he grows older he too becomes one. He is sent from Switzerland to assassinate the Russian Minister of Education. Due to the censorship of the papers the minister, Courilof needs to be killed publicly, ideally with foreign nationals present so that the thing is made very public. Leon M therefore takes on the guise of Marcel Legrand, a doctor, so that he can infiltrate Courilof's household.
What he expects to find, and what he does are two very different things. Courilof isn't the evil person that he has become known as, far from it. Courilof is a man in a good job and wants to hold onto it. He is dying from cancer and wants to stay where he is until his death. What he has become is a man who has to continually watch his back. He, like many others never knows if he is going to be assassanited whilst having to cope with plots by others to get his job, also he has to stay in with the Emperor or he could find himself given the boot.
Courilof isn't the most competent of men, but he tries his best, and Leon starts to find that he likes the man himself, after all as he can see he is just human like the rest of us; he has to juggle his job and his family whilst fighting through his ill health. The question is will he be able to do the assassaination? But I won't answer that or it will destroy your reading pleasure.
What Nemirovsky has written here is a tale that is still relevant in today's world. We still have terrorists and revolutionaries, and are they ultimately offering anything better than what they want to replace? As we see time and time again, in most instances there is still a tyrannical government in place, just with different names and supposed ideologies. At the end of the day we are all human and we want our security, and yes some do want more power than others, but that is just one of those things that can't be eradicated. What we have here is a book that will get you thinking and that would be ideal for a reading group. The question is, with such a good story can someone make a film of it that would live up to the book?
Leon M is a child of Russian revolutionists and as he grows older he too becomes one. He is sent from Switzerland to assassinate the Russian Minister of Education. Due to the censorship of the papers the minister, Courilof needs to be killed publicly, ideally with foreign nationals present so that the thing is made very public. Leon M therefore takes on the guise of Marcel Legrand, a doctor, so that he can infiltrate Courilof's household.
What he expects to find, and what he does are two very different things. Courilof isn't the evil person that he has become known as, far from it. Courilof is a man in a good job and wants to hold onto it. He is dying from cancer and wants to stay where he is until his death. What he has become is a man who has to continually watch his back. He, like many others never knows if he is going to be assassanited whilst having to cope with plots by others to get his job, also he has to stay in with the Emperor or he could find himself given the boot.
Courilof isn't the most competent of men, but he tries his best, and Leon starts to find that he likes the man himself, after all as he can see he is just human like the rest of us; he has to juggle his job and his family whilst fighting through his ill health. The question is will he be able to do the assassaination? But I won't answer that or it will destroy your reading pleasure.
What Nemirovsky has written here is a tale that is still relevant in today's world. We still have terrorists and revolutionaries, and are they ultimately offering anything better than what they want to replace? As we see time and time again, in most instances there is still a tyrannical government in place, just with different names and supposed ideologies. At the end of the day we are all human and we want our security, and yes some do want more power than others, but that is just one of those things that can't be eradicated. What we have here is a book that will get you thinking and that would be ideal for a reading group. The question is, with such a good story can someone make a film of it that would live up to the book?
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Russian Minister for Education, Courilof, is notorious for his cold-bloodedness and brutality and has been selected to be liquidated publicly to send a message to the masses that the revolution is coming. It's 1903 and Leon M is assigned to the task.
His initial job is to become part of Courilof's household so that he is not suspected, and after several months posing as a Swiss doctor treating the ailing Minster, he begins to understand and develop some sympathy for his target and see him as a fellow human. Courilof meanwhile has cancer and wishes ultimately to die on the job with the favour of the Czar rather than be assassinated. I won't spoil the plot with further details.
For a short novel, this had a slowburn start which rather got me bogged down, then once the young revolutionary was in place it picked up. The subject of terrorism versus tyranny is of course very relevant today and this raises many questions.
His initial job is to become part of Courilof's household so that he is not suspected, and after several months posing as a Swiss doctor treating the ailing Minster, he begins to understand and develop some sympathy for his target and see him as a fellow human. Courilof meanwhile has cancer and wishes ultimately to die on the job with the favour of the Czar rather than be assassinated. I won't spoil the plot with further details.
For a short novel, this had a slowburn start which rather got me bogged down, then once the young revolutionary was in place it picked up. The subject of terrorism versus tyranny is of course very relevant today and this raises many questions.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Others above this review have written eloquently about the plot of this book so I will not add to their synopses.
Irene Nemirovsky can do no wrong for me. Since reading Suite Francaise when it was first published in this country, I have been slowly ( yes, I never want them to end ) working my way through the smaller novellas. This one is dark, though not as dark as David Golder, with a very unappealing revolutionary at its heart.
It is a very good read, raising a lot of issues about morality, is it 'easier' to kill someone you don't know rather than someone you do, does it make any difference any way to the revolutionary process?
A thought provoking read that stayed with me for a few days after I'd finished it.
Irene Nemirovsky can do no wrong for me. Since reading Suite Francaise when it was first published in this country, I have been slowly ( yes, I never want them to end ) working my way through the smaller novellas. This one is dark, though not as dark as David Golder, with a very unappealing revolutionary at its heart.
It is a very good read, raising a lot of issues about morality, is it 'easier' to kill someone you don't know rather than someone you do, does it make any difference any way to the revolutionary process?
A thought provoking read that stayed with me for a few days after I'd finished it.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
An intriguing novel about a terrorist in 1903 Russia
I have really enjoyed other novels by Nemirovsky and this was no exception. Nemirovsky uses the character of a man in his fifties known as Leon M to recall the assassination of... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Kiwifunlad
One of the great losses to literature
As with all of her books, there is a poignancy to do with loss of people and culture.
Published on 4 May 2010 by C. J. Jones
The Reds v the Blues
Another fine book by Nemorovsky.This book is overtly political dealing with the historic brutality of the royalists and the neo brutality of the communists. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2009 by D. Glowacki
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