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El Ardor De La Sangre (2007)

by Irène Némirovsky(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

8498381290 (ISBN13: 9788498381290)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Salamandra

review 1: At its core this book is about the difference between young passionate and all-consuming love and the slow burn of married love. Nemirovsky makes a point that having one does not necessarily mean you have the other as can be seen between the love triangle of Silvio, Helene, and Francois and later on Colette, Jean, and Marc. It can scientifically be seen in Helen Fisher neurochemical between dopamine and oxytocin love. I give this book 3 stars because it was more a novella than a novel and though impressive in its treatment of the different kinds of love, I thought the ending was rather abrupt perhaps due to Nemirovsky being deported to a concentration camp that the book was never finished. Cousin Silvio is the prodigal son who has returned to his humble rural surround... moreings. Silvio is attracted to his niece, Collette's fiery nature. Collette listens to how her father, François courted her mother, Helene. Apparently for him, it was love at first sight in which Helene was the object of his affection even waiting for her to come of age and her 1st husband's death in order to marry her. Helene was worried when François was not present next to her. Silvio wonders about the mysteries of conjugal love how one "knows" when the other is in trouble as when Helene knew that François was injured and she had to go to him and help him get well.To Silvio, the enviable age is between 40-60 b/c they have reach an equilibrium with life and no longer force the world to bend toward their desires but live life with contentment. Younger people want to see the world while older people want to be established. Silvio regrets his travels b/c he gave up his inheritance. Young women are tightly wound so they yearned to express themselves and be free.Silvio tells of Bridgette who is married to an old man but has a young lover and wonders when her husband would die so she could run off with her young lover. I wonder if the old man agreed for his wife to have a lover while he wants her to take care of him as his nurse. It turns out both Declos due to his age and Jean due to his inexperience with love are being duped by a lover. When Jean died, Colette fell into despair even though she was cheating on him. Both François and Helene talked about how to rehabilitate their poor daughter. While Helene thinks that work would be the best way for her to take her mind off her dead husband, François thinks new love after the mourning period would be the best way to keep her mind from feeling depressed.For Declos being cuckold is not serious as long as his neighbors do not know about it, so he can die in peace. Silvio thinks that peace is what the rural folk replace for the happiness they lack. Even though Silvio now laments the recklessness of his youth @ age 20 who was ready to see all the world has to offer, he would not trade his experiences for the comfort of old age. Though now as he gets older, he yearns for the solitude of the hermetic life.Bridgette is an enterprising young women who married her husband b/c of his wealth and used her looks to get him. Though she is nice and knowledgeable about farming methods, the town looks at her with suspicion b/c she dresses fashionably. Small town who covet their neighbors land and who do not fit the conservative norm of the land want to be forced out by the neighbors. It is happening to Brigitte as it happened to Silvio. In the meeting with the towns men, Silvio confirms his suspicion that Marc was having an affair with Brigitte and Colette.Silvio told Colette that the best way to love her child is to let him make his own mistakes and not to color his life with her biased experiences. Colette wanted the happiness of François and Helene but was saddened when her lover whom she shared with her best friend Brigitte was about to marry Brigitte.Although Silvio tried to keep Colette and her affair with Marc secret, all the farmers knew about it but did not want to involve themselves with the ensuing scandal. The son of the farmer was on the path to spilling the beans. Apparently, Marc killed Jean, Colette's husband on the bridge. Hearing the son's testimony, Colette felt guilty about her husband's death.Silvio separates his time between public engagement and private solitude which he likes to keep separate. Colette came to Silvio for advice. Colette told Silvio that Jean was waiting to catch Colette's lover which was when Marc killed him by throwing him in the water. Colette described a primal attraction that she had to Marc that she did not get from Jean and Marc pursued her so she finally acquiesced to the affair. She decided that as long as Jean did not suspect a thing, her affair with Marc was harmless. But now since the death of Jean, she feels enormous guilt in contributing to his death.Being in a state of panic and agitation, Colette decided to tell her bestfriend Brigitte who was schedule to marry Marc in two weeks time. When Colette confessed to Brigitte, Colette immediately knew that it was Brigitte who told Jean about Colette's affair with Marc. So since both the women loved Marc and wanted to avoid scandal in the small town, they decided that Brigitte would tell Colette's parents about while she was away.There is a significant difference of opinion between Helene insistence of sparing Colette from the talk of murder and François sense of duty to have the criminal apprehended so he would not kill again. Much to Silvio disdain and envy, François and Helene peaceful conjugal nights were antithetical to Silvio nights of loneliness. To François, Marc was a criminal and had to be tried in court and he tried to shame Brigitte into saying that she should have had more respect for the sanctity of marriage instead of having been bought by money and in return buying Marc to be her lover.In telling Helene and François about a Colette's lover as Marc, Brigitte exposes that she was a love child between Helene and Silvio after her husband died and before François and Helene got married. The news devastated François declaring that he really does not know Helene after all. For Silvio, the real Helene was the passionate women of his youth while François only knew the slow ember of married love. Both Silvio and François only knew parts of Helene not the whole person.In Silvio soliloquy on Helene's relationship between François, her and him, we have the differentiation between passionate all-consuming love and the slow burn of married love that present in the elderly. Silvio states that his affair with Helene parallels the affair that their daughter, Brigitte had with Marc in that both mother and daughter were waiting for their elderly husband to die and were young and bored fell easy prey to players' Silvio and Marc respectively. Cecile was jealous by the many men that loved her sister, Helene, but not her.Silvio tells of his love affair with Helene. Silvio tells of a premonition dream that made him aware that he was in love with Helene. For Silvio, it was love at first sight when he saw Helene. Silvio shared with Marc his adventure of youth in which his vivaciousness would make him steal a neighbors wife without thinking about consequences. He planned to seduce Helene until he left again but what he did not anticipate was the embers of love that was left behind ready to be rekindled at a moments notice. The young have the energy to burn with all-consuming love. Silvio knew that he began loving Helene less after he drank from her first kiss. Although Helene was betrothed to François, the fact that she was duty bound to take care of her elderly husband combined with the fact that François never contacted her made her more of an easy mark for a dalliance with Silvio.
review 2: Absolutely loved it - gave it to my mum to read and she didn't understand it. Oh well obviously shows different side of story - i will def read again and have bought suite francaise to read too. Also appreciate book too due to complexities of author makes it so much more interesting - I enjoy reading books by authors who have lived life - more so than the affluent writer in his/ her appartment either hiding from life or high societying it ( sorry I know it's not a word - yet ). less

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