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malagajames's review
4.0
This is a disturbing little book that takes place during WWII. It is about poverty, helplessness and mental illness. I usually enjoy books with at least some likeable characters, but this book doesn't have any.
tennilles's review
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
andrew61's review
4.0
I can't remember on what blog or podcast I was made aware of this book as a recommendation and whilst I was well aware of the status of the author on the crime writing wall of fame I had until now never picked up one of his books but this was certainly a great introduction and I'm definitely pleased to have learnt about this story.
The book itself is a tale of a town in occupied France and the main character Frank Friedmaeir felt like a combination of Pinky from Brighton Rock and Tom Ripley as he emerges from life in a brothel owned by his mother Lottie into a world where he wants to make his mark as a criminal via the seedy bar Timo's . In a France under occupation crime , including murder does not seem to carry much scrutiny from the police so his crimes expand until like Raskolnikov he does something of which even he is ashamed. When he comes to the attention of the occupying forces it is for something he doesn't expect and the secon part of the book involves a chess like interrogation which took this book into the realms of a Crime and Punishment reflection on guilt and the individual so like Pinky and Ripley I wondered what Pathology could be pinned on this unlikeable but interesting character.
A really interesting piece of work, with some great characters , and a fascinating picture of occupied France. Certainly every time it snows now and I walk past those piles stained by mud, oil or other waste I will immediately think of this book.
I will definitely now read more including the classic Maigret.
The book itself is a tale of a town in occupied France and the main character Frank Friedmaeir felt like a combination of Pinky from Brighton Rock and Tom Ripley as he emerges from life in a brothel owned by his mother Lottie into a world where he wants to make his mark as a criminal via the seedy bar Timo's . In a France under occupation crime , including murder does not seem to carry much scrutiny from the police so his crimes expand until like Raskolnikov he does something of which even he is ashamed. When he comes to the attention of the occupying forces it is for something he doesn't expect and the secon part of the book involves a chess like interrogation which took this book into the realms of a Crime and Punishment reflection on guilt and the individual so like Pinky and Ripley I wondered what Pathology could be pinned on this unlikeable but interesting character.
A really interesting piece of work, with some great characters , and a fascinating picture of occupied France. Certainly every time it snows now and I walk past those piles stained by mud, oil or other waste I will immediately think of this book.
I will definitely now read more including the classic Maigret.
bundy23's review
4.0
Nasty, snivelling little collaborator steals, murders & rapes his way through a few months of his life until the Nazis decide to put a stop to his shit. Would’ve been an easy 5 stars if the lead wasn’t so incredibly bland.
disappearer's review
5.0
(Creo que existe una versión del libro en español -traducido como la Nieve estaba sucia- pero lamentablemente no está en Chile. Sad.)
In a Nazi-occupied city, Frank Friedmaier lives the day-to-day, getting drunk with his not-friends and sleeping with the prostitutes that work at his mother's brothel. But Frank is looking for something that could break with his boring life.
The book starts with a murder, followed with more death, crimes and corruption. Frank's cruelty and apathy surprises you, makes you think of a dostoyevskian character, with a bit of Camus' Meursault, and a tiny bit of Freud.
The second part of the book was my favorite. It is introspective, psychologic. When Frank is in jail, waiting for some kind of trial, he descontructs himself, looking for answers behind his actions. This makes you wonder if this character is even sane.
A good, intriguing and mysterious book, with profound characterization, and a complete understanding of the human psyche.
In a Nazi-occupied city, Frank Friedmaier lives the day-to-day, getting drunk with his not-friends and sleeping with the prostitutes that work at his mother's brothel. But Frank is looking for something that could break with his boring life.
The book starts with a murder, followed with more death, crimes and corruption. Frank's cruelty and apathy surprises you, makes you think of a dostoyevskian character, with a bit of Camus' Meursault, and a tiny bit of Freud.
The second part of the book was my favorite. It is introspective, psychologic. When Frank is in jail, waiting for some kind of trial, he descontructs himself, looking for answers behind his actions. This makes you wonder if this character is even sane.
A good, intriguing and mysterious book, with profound characterization, and a complete understanding of the human psyche.
starsailores's review against another edition
3.0
[3.5]
review to come once i can properly formulate my thoughts
review to come once i can properly formulate my thoughts
j_m_alexander's review
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The cold, dirty bleakness of this book is perfectly conveyed through the title and this cover. Simenon has written a noir novel that propels the reader forward through what is a story of destruction, utter abjection of the spirit.
Had the spirit been crushed prior to the start of this novel by the German occupation of this unnamed town? Is the violence by the MC, Frank, a reaction to this? Detachment merely being a result of harsh conditions and the examples around him? Frank seems to tell us no - he has always felt separate from, able to close-off. Frank does seem to be craving power and control (control=power?), and one way to gain control is to outwardly destroy and forcefully take; ultimately we are watching inevitable self-destruction (also a form of control). We ride upon Frank's shoulder as he takes repeated steps that further removes him from those around him (making enemies) and from his own humanity. Frank also exhibits obsessive thinking, largely around a figure he at once craves to know and wants to also degrade - does he see him as the stand in for a father he has never had? Then there is a woman in a window, is this just the life he realizes he will never have, the simple happiness denied to him? Frank... what a character - the reader can't help but despise him, but also to somehow pity him; his actions are monstrous, but is there no road to redemption? - this all takes some masterful writing on Simenon's part. In some ways the artistry with which Simenon manipulates the reader reminds me of Nabokov in Lolita, except where Humbert was deluded and vile (and Nabokov is clearly messing with his reader from the perspective in which the story is told), Frank is purposely cold and cruel, but ultimately recognizes his wretchedness. Does it matter that one recognizes their monstrousness? Which is more monstrous, the one that acts cold and detached and does terrible things, or those that are cold, calculating, and uncaring as regards those terrible actions?
In a year when I read multiple dystopian novels and some truly tragic memoirs, this may be the most horrific book I read.
Had the spirit been crushed prior to the start of this novel by the German occupation of this unnamed town? Is the violence by the MC, Frank, a reaction to this? Detachment merely being a result of harsh conditions and the examples around him? Frank seems to tell us no - he has always felt separate from, able to close-off. Frank does seem to be craving power and control (control=power?), and one way to gain control is to outwardly destroy and forcefully take; ultimately we are watching inevitable self-destruction (also a form of control). We ride upon Frank's shoulder as he takes repeated steps that further removes him from those around him (making enemies) and from his own humanity. Frank also exhibits obsessive thinking, largely around a figure he at once craves to know and wants to also degrade - does he see him as the stand in for a father he has never had? Then there is a woman in a window, is this just the life he realizes he will never have, the simple happiness denied to him? Frank... what a character - the reader can't help but despise him, but also to somehow pity him; his actions are monstrous, but is there no road to redemption? - this all takes some masterful writing on Simenon's part. In some ways the artistry with which Simenon manipulates the reader reminds me of Nabokov in Lolita, except where Humbert was deluded and vile (and Nabokov is clearly messing with his reader from the perspective in which the story is told), Frank is purposely cold and cruel, but ultimately recognizes his wretchedness. Does it matter that one recognizes their monstrousness? Which is more monstrous, the one that acts cold and detached and does terrible things, or those that are cold, calculating, and uncaring as regards those terrible actions?
In a year when I read multiple dystopian novels and some truly tragic memoirs, this may be the most horrific book I read.
naimfrewat's review
4.0
To read Simenon in his native language; to grasp his world, to indulge in every word he carefully selects, to capture his elusive characters is, without a doubt, to be privileged.
The story is narrated by an omni-present narrator from the point-of-view of its anti- (or is it modern?) hero, Frank Friedmaier.
Even though Simenon is one of the most respected crime writers, his plots are rarely constructed in the traditional crime or detective novel method. There are no shrewd detectives, no elaborate forensic technologies utilized to elucidate the identity of a murderer.
To further distance himself from the genre (a pursuit he spent a lifetime attempting to carry out with his non-Maigret novels, “romans durs”), he draws a clear distinction between killing and murdering.
Killing is literary, murdering is vulgar whodunnit.
Though “La Neige Etait sale” opens with (and revolves around) Frank Friedmaier committing his first crime and ends with his imprisonment and consequent execution, yet this book from the infamous crime writer is closer to Camus than it is to Rankin.
I was impressed with the idea that a prolific crime writer could write something serious that puts him on par with a figure such as Camus, until I started writing this review and did basic research on the publishing dates of Camus and Simenon’s works, and concluded that Simenon might have liberally borrowed from Camus.
Initially, it is difficult not to draw a comparison between Camus’ “L’Etranger” and “La Neige Etait Sale”.
Both revolve around one male character and his interaction with society in the first part of the book, and end with his subsequent imprisonment and execution.
Both books deal with man’s alienation in society and shed the light on a monotonous, senseless daily life; Frank in “La Neige Etait Sale” does not partake in the bread-queues in his currently occupied town, nor does he treat the girl he pursues with anything but humiliation; he further refuses to assign any logical justification for his actions or sparse words. Even the house in which he resides, in effect a makeshift brothel run by his mother, serves to further alienate him from his neighbors; not primarily because of the illicit activity, but because of its warm water, warm temperature, and fresh food.
Though we are left in total obscurity as to who tipped the authorities to arrest Frank (much like Joseph K. in Kafka’s “The Trial), one suspects that it could be triggered by the neighbors’ jealousy rather than by the pursuit of justice to the murdered victims.
Such a careful construction of the plot, rightfully places it amidst the classics of modern literature.
Though we are far from the locales of the “Quai des Orfèvres”, the police stakeouts and the relentless work of Simenon’s Commissaire Maigret, yet Simenon borrows quite a lot from his extensive repertoire. When he questions the imprisoned Frank Friedmaier, the restless inspector is endowed with quite a few of Maigret’s investigative procedure. In several decisive moments in the narrative, dialogue makes place for the Simenonian silence, as “silence tends to make people uncomfortable”, much like in the Maigret novels.
To conclude this rapprochement that “La Neige Etait Sale” has with the “popular” Simenon books, objects invoke more meaning to Frank than people do, and they have the power of softening him, therefore humanizing him, much like these objects do to Maigret who “sniffs” around ashtrays, tables, decorative items, couches, beds, etc... when trying to build up a psychological profile of the killer or the victim.
To conclude the review, I mention the obvious overlap between “La Neige Etait Sale” & Camus’ “L’Etranger” and “La Peste” as well.
Simenon wrote his book in 1948 while in self-imposed “exile” in the USA. “L’Etranger” came out in 1942 and “La Peste” in 1947. It’s possible that Simenon would have come in contact with both books, particularly “La Peste” whose success and reach was more important than that of “L’Etranger”. However, we should keep in mind that the book was written following the news of the death of Simenon’s brother, Christian, ambushed in the Indo-chine war. He was not known to be an avid reader either, which puts some doubt as to whether he might have known of the books and could possibly mean that he simply came up with a similar work to an author who was also suffering, in his own way, from occupation.
Though it is obvious how Simenon based Frank on Meursault with his attitude vis-à-vis society, his absurd crime and his execution, there comes the last part of the book wherein Frank “saves” himself by realizing the essential power of love. This again blatantly overlaps with “La Peste”. This conclusion about love, though not in terms of redemption but maybe more as a justification to some meaning in an absurd life, Camus makes it with Dr. Rieux in “La Peste”, where the village ravaged by the plague symbolizes wartime occupation; a similitude to the German-occupied town in “La Neige Etait Sale”.
Perhaps these details are minor, and certainly authors borrowing from each others is not the least uncommon, but it was interesting to note this observation.
Honestly, “La Neige Etait Sale” is easier to digest than the Camus novels, with the ending being more concrete, at least to non-academics, and whether Simenon borrowed or not is scholars to debate, but to me, if he did, he came out with quite a smart amalgam that makes the book quite a joyful read, and if he didn't, then he produced one of his best works.
Towards the end of such an absurd, psychologically complex book, in which Frank is fighting a losing battle with himself, we understand his longing to be simply human, to lead a normal life, to feel the love of a father.
This last point, the search for paternal love, Camus briefly addresses it in his unfinished “Le Premier Homme” which he started in 1953, 5 years after “La Neige Etait Sale” was published. However, the approach to it is quite different than in “La Neige Etait Sale” to warrant deeper questions, but it would be intriguing to know how close were these two figures of modern literature in understanding present-day Man.
The story is narrated by an omni-present narrator from the point-of-view of its anti- (or is it modern?) hero, Frank Friedmaier.
Even though Simenon is one of the most respected crime writers, his plots are rarely constructed in the traditional crime or detective novel method. There are no shrewd detectives, no elaborate forensic technologies utilized to elucidate the identity of a murderer.
To further distance himself from the genre (a pursuit he spent a lifetime attempting to carry out with his non-Maigret novels, “romans durs”), he draws a clear distinction between killing and murdering.
Killing is literary, murdering is vulgar whodunnit.
Though “La Neige Etait sale” opens with (and revolves around) Frank Friedmaier committing his first crime and ends with his imprisonment and consequent execution, yet this book from the infamous crime writer is closer to Camus than it is to Rankin.
I was impressed with the idea that a prolific crime writer could write something serious that puts him on par with a figure such as Camus, until I started writing this review and did basic research on the publishing dates of Camus and Simenon’s works, and concluded that Simenon might have liberally borrowed from Camus.
Initially, it is difficult not to draw a comparison between Camus’ “L’Etranger” and “La Neige Etait Sale”.
Both revolve around one male character and his interaction with society in the first part of the book, and end with his subsequent imprisonment and execution.
Both books deal with man’s alienation in society and shed the light on a monotonous, senseless daily life; Frank in “La Neige Etait Sale” does not partake in the bread-queues in his currently occupied town, nor does he treat the girl he pursues with anything but humiliation; he further refuses to assign any logical justification for his actions or sparse words. Even the house in which he resides, in effect a makeshift brothel run by his mother, serves to further alienate him from his neighbors; not primarily because of the illicit activity, but because of its warm water, warm temperature, and fresh food.
Though we are left in total obscurity as to who tipped the authorities to arrest Frank (much like Joseph K. in Kafka’s “The Trial), one suspects that it could be triggered by the neighbors’ jealousy rather than by the pursuit of justice to the murdered victims.
Such a careful construction of the plot, rightfully places it amidst the classics of modern literature.
Though we are far from the locales of the “Quai des Orfèvres”, the police stakeouts and the relentless work of Simenon’s Commissaire Maigret, yet Simenon borrows quite a lot from his extensive repertoire. When he questions the imprisoned Frank Friedmaier, the restless inspector is endowed with quite a few of Maigret’s investigative procedure. In several decisive moments in the narrative, dialogue makes place for the Simenonian silence, as “silence tends to make people uncomfortable”, much like in the Maigret novels.
To conclude this rapprochement that “La Neige Etait Sale” has with the “popular” Simenon books, objects invoke more meaning to Frank than people do, and they have the power of softening him, therefore humanizing him, much like these objects do to Maigret who “sniffs” around ashtrays, tables, decorative items, couches, beds, etc... when trying to build up a psychological profile of the killer or the victim.
To conclude the review, I mention the obvious overlap between “La Neige Etait Sale” & Camus’ “L’Etranger” and “La Peste” as well.
Simenon wrote his book in 1948 while in self-imposed “exile” in the USA. “L’Etranger” came out in 1942 and “La Peste” in 1947. It’s possible that Simenon would have come in contact with both books, particularly “La Peste” whose success and reach was more important than that of “L’Etranger”. However, we should keep in mind that the book was written following the news of the death of Simenon’s brother, Christian, ambushed in the Indo-chine war. He was not known to be an avid reader either, which puts some doubt as to whether he might have known of the books and could possibly mean that he simply came up with a similar work to an author who was also suffering, in his own way, from occupation.
Though it is obvious how Simenon based Frank on Meursault with his attitude vis-à-vis society, his absurd crime and his execution, there comes the last part of the book wherein Frank “saves” himself by realizing the essential power of love. This again blatantly overlaps with “La Peste”. This conclusion about love, though not in terms of redemption but maybe more as a justification to some meaning in an absurd life, Camus makes it with Dr. Rieux in “La Peste”, where the village ravaged by the plague symbolizes wartime occupation; a similitude to the German-occupied town in “La Neige Etait Sale”.
Perhaps these details are minor, and certainly authors borrowing from each others is not the least uncommon, but it was interesting to note this observation.
Honestly, “La Neige Etait Sale” is easier to digest than the Camus novels, with the ending being more concrete, at least to non-academics, and whether Simenon borrowed or not is scholars to debate, but to me, if he did, he came out with quite a smart amalgam that makes the book quite a joyful read, and if he didn't, then he produced one of his best works.
Towards the end of such an absurd, psychologically complex book, in which Frank is fighting a losing battle with himself, we understand his longing to be simply human, to lead a normal life, to feel the love of a father.
This last point, the search for paternal love, Camus briefly addresses it in his unfinished “Le Premier Homme” which he started in 1953, 5 years after “La Neige Etait Sale” was published. However, the approach to it is quite different than in “La Neige Etait Sale” to warrant deeper questions, but it would be intriguing to know how close were these two figures of modern literature in understanding present-day Man.
iainkelly_writing's review against another edition
5.0
Simenon at his best, dealing with bad people in bad circumstances. Raw and powerful, and managing to find humanity and tragedy in among the horror of war, occupation and poverty.