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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Re-read most of this during my recent trip to Paris. Very evocative of a place and time, but still relatable to anyone who has spent time in Paris.
As per usual, it's love/hate with me and Hemingway. What a talented louse! It makes me so angry to read about Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein this way. He was lucky enough to know them, and be considered a friend, and he's completely betrayed them. Even worse, I can't stand the way he lionizes Hadley in retrospect when he treated her so awfully at the time. I call it not well done of him.
And this brings me to a fantastic excerpt from Tobias Wolff's _Old School_:
"Anyway, I myself was in debt to Hemingway—up to my ears. So was Bill. We even talked like Hemingway characters, though in travesty, as if to deny our discipleship: That is your bed, and it is a good bed, and you must make it and you must make it well. Or: Today is the day of meatloaf. The meatloaf is swell. It is swell but when it is gone the not-having meatloaf will be tragic and the meatloaf man will not come anymore."
And this brings me to a fantastic excerpt from Tobias Wolff's _Old School_:
"Anyway, I myself was in debt to Hemingway—up to my ears. So was Bill. We even talked like Hemingway characters, though in travesty, as if to deny our discipleship: That is your bed, and it is a good bed, and you must make it and you must make it well. Or: Today is the day of meatloaf. The meatloaf is swell. It is swell but when it is gone the not-having meatloaf will be tragic and the meatloaf man will not come anymore."
"...we were not invulnerable...Nobody climbs on skis now and almost everybody breaks their legs and maybe it is easier in the end to break your legs than your heart although they say that everything breaks now and that, sometimes, many are stronger at the broken places."
Let me say that I never got into Hemingway. He was never "required reading" at any of the schools that I went to, and I avoided his novels because I worried the hype was over nothing.
Someone was silly enough to leave this book at the bus stop, and I decided to give him a chance and read it. Why the hell not, right?
I became entranced with his way of writing, and I fell in love with 1920's Paris. Reading books like this make me feel like I missed some kind of magical time to be an artist or writer, let alone travel. I'm sure it's hard for some of us in the 21st century to comprehend traveling by boat instead of a plane, or walking everywhere instead of driving or taking the bus [or his opinion that the only way to beat poverty is to not buy anything]. Who knew Fitzgerald was that crazy? I sure as hell didn't. I never dreamed I'd read about Hemingway giving him sex advice either, or about a writer mad-dogging Aleister Crowley, but it allegedly happened. I also never thought I'd read such a gut-wrenching, candid piece regarding infidelity ["The Pilot Fish and The Rich"].
If you can, read this. Images of Paris in the fall will tug at your subconscious long after you're done.
Let me say that I never got into Hemingway. He was never "required reading" at any of the schools that I went to, and I avoided his novels because I worried the hype was over nothing.
Someone was silly enough to leave this book at the bus stop, and I decided to give him a chance and read it. Why the hell not, right?
I became entranced with his way of writing, and I fell in love with 1920's Paris. Reading books like this make me feel like I missed some kind of magical time to be an artist or writer, let alone travel. I'm sure it's hard for some of us in the 21st century to comprehend traveling by boat instead of a plane, or walking everywhere instead of driving or taking the bus [or his opinion that the only way to beat poverty is to not buy anything]. Who knew Fitzgerald was that crazy? I sure as hell didn't. I never dreamed I'd read about Hemingway giving him sex advice either, or about a writer mad-dogging Aleister Crowley, but it allegedly happened. I also never thought I'd read such a gut-wrenching, candid piece regarding infidelity ["The Pilot Fish and The Rich"].
If you can, read this. Images of Paris in the fall will tug at your subconscious long after you're done.
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
This was required reading for a class. Since it's not a book I would ever read willingly and one I had to force myself through, I can't give it a rating. I'm sure if I was a fan of Hemingway, of the 1920s, or of the authors he writes about in this memoir, I would have loved this book, but I don't care for any of those things. This class is going to be a nightmare as the professor is having us read mostly Hemingway... even though the class is not a Hemingway class. Ugh.
I have a love/hate relationship with Hemingway. I love how he writes, the phrases, the word choices, the vignettes that make me think I will give him one more chance. And then he writes something that makes me want to slug him.
Parts of A MOVEABLE FEAST I love. And parts make me want to throw it across the room. That seems to average out to three stars.
Parts of A MOVEABLE FEAST I love. And parts make me want to throw it across the room. That seems to average out to three stars.
Ernest Hemingway was a dick, but this is my favorite book by him.
I read this book to give Hemingway another chance. I had never been a fan of his and have to pretty much force myself through his books even if I can appreciate his talent as a writer. Then I picked up this. It was my "airport book" on my way to NYC. I always get one airport book - the one book I am allowed to purchase at the airport as opposed to pack and bring with me. I made this a rule of thumb after I went to Jamaica and ran out of reading material in 3 days. So now I always pack more than I could possibly read even if I am only going for a short train ride.
Anyway, back to the book. This book made me fall in love with Hemingway. It's his memoirs of living in Paris with his wife at age 25 with all the other Ex-Patriots floating around the city. He recounts his personal tales of all the other famous people he was chummy with. It kind of reminds you that yes, it really was a community of poor artists living together. Sometimes that needs reminding as we're taught to revere these names with awe from a very young age (especially us Chicagoans - Hemingway was born and grew up in Oak Park, just outside of the city).
His language is beautiful. The personal stream of consciousness gave me insight into his writing and his thought process. If people are going to teach Hemingway, they should teach this book alongside anything else. It is the essence of why he writes.
Anyway, back to the book. This book made me fall in love with Hemingway. It's his memoirs of living in Paris with his wife at age 25 with all the other Ex-Patriots floating around the city. He recounts his personal tales of all the other famous people he was chummy with. It kind of reminds you that yes, it really was a community of poor artists living together. Sometimes that needs reminding as we're taught to revere these names with awe from a very young age (especially us Chicagoans - Hemingway was born and grew up in Oak Park, just outside of the city).
His language is beautiful. The personal stream of consciousness gave me insight into his writing and his thought process. If people are going to teach Hemingway, they should teach this book alongside anything else. It is the essence of why he writes.
funny
lighthearted
this book basically captures the feeling you have when you’ve had two drinks and everything feels lush and magical and life is worth living again.