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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Based off of the Sean Hemingway's introduction to my edition, it's difficult to imagine that my review belongs with reviews of the Moveable Feast edited by Mary Hemingway. Mine is billed as the "Restored Edition," with all of the editing Mary Hemingway did (including a Preface attributed to but never written by Hem) stripped away to reveal the closest Papa every got to actually finishing the book. Other changes are undone, chapters reordered as Hem intended, and then, for extra fun, additional chapters he wrote but ultimately decided not to include (but some of which Mary included in her version of the text) and several drafts of discarded material are included at the end as "Additional Paris Sketches" and "Fragments." Had I not known that this edition existed, I probably would have enjoyed Mary's version, but I believe Sean's introduction when he says this is closer to the book Hem had written, and I am glad this is the version I have read.
I loved this book, but I am a Hemingway fan and a writer, and I think you have to either love Hem or like him and be a writer to really enjoy this book. It offers incredible insight into Hemingway, the man--both as a young writer in Paris and an old man coming to terms with his betrayal of his first wife, who is the heroine of this story.
I have read that this is book is a "portable Paris." and while there are delightfully funny moments, interesting pieces of gossip about Hem's contemporaries, and French words and phrases that will please any Francophile, this is really an unfinished memoir of a man who ultimately took his own life before finding the right way to tell this story--lest we forget. Mary's version might read less tragically--I don't know; I haven't read it--but Ernest Hemingway was the tragic hero of his own novel, and that is apparent in this restored edition.
I loved this book, but I am a Hemingway fan and a writer, and I think you have to either love Hem or like him and be a writer to really enjoy this book. It offers incredible insight into Hemingway, the man--both as a young writer in Paris and an old man coming to terms with his betrayal of his first wife, who is the heroine of this story.
I have read that this is book is a "portable Paris." and while there are delightfully funny moments, interesting pieces of gossip about Hem's contemporaries, and French words and phrases that will please any Francophile, this is really an unfinished memoir of a man who ultimately took his own life before finding the right way to tell this story--lest we forget. Mary's version might read less tragically--I don't know; I haven't read it--but Ernest Hemingway was the tragic hero of his own novel, and that is apparent in this restored edition.
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Fascinating story of Hemingway’s time in Paris as a young writer, making his way with fascinating friendships with Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, F Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso and others
it took me two years to finally finish this book, and while i can't tell you anything substantial about it, i can say that it resides in my brain like a vague memory of my own life in paris. needless to say, i have yet to go to paris, so that says a lot for hemingway's work.
This book will always have a special place in my heart. One of my first introduction to translation (as a potential career path) was through this book. The writing style is simple yet so so beautiful. I was having a total blast translating it for my class. I enjoyed every second of it. This book is sort of a "symbol" of connection between me and my teacher, who helped me a lot with my English and shaped me into the person I am today. I should totally read it again someday just to relive those years of my life.
Hemingway siempre escribe bien y casi siempre soberbiamente bien. A pesar de eso, no siempre disfruto sus novelas, que a veces desprenden una masculinidad hostil o tienen un tema de fondo que no me atrae. Que no disfrute sus novelas no significa que, línea a línea, no disfrute su escritura.
En estas memorias de su vida en París con su primera mujer, Hadley, aparecen multitud de personajes famosos: Gertrude Stein con su compañera, un Scott Fitzgerald bastante hipocondríaco, despótico y a la vez empequeñecido por Zelda, Ezra Pound bellísima persona, un fétido Ford Madox Ford, Wyndham Lewis que tenía pinta de mala gente y "the eyes of an unsuccessful rapist", Sylvia Beach adorable propietaria de Shakespeare & Co, que cobraba cuando podían pagarle y les prestaba libros, y muchos más artistas que recorren las páginas, ellos y su pelo, que siempre merece una descripción por parte del escritor.
Era una vida bohemia en la que Hemingway habla varias veces de pasar hambre, de tener frío en casa, de ser pobres y, sin embargo, comen en restaurantes, beben champán y brandy, invitan a copas, viajan a esquiar. No hay un punto en la novela en que H. no hable maravillas de su esposa Hadley, que es buena buceadora, aprende rápidamente a esquiar, tiene maravillosas piernas, entiende cuando tiene él que ausentarse por trabajo, la echa tanto de menos, disfruta los reencuentros... está claro que tiene la mujer ideal, o que al menos lo fue entre el 21 en que se casaron y el 25 que es cuando termina el libro. Más o menos.
Ya lo había leído y lo volveré a leer, no creo que esta vez deje pasar mucho tiempo.
En estas memorias de su vida en París con su primera mujer, Hadley, aparecen multitud de personajes famosos: Gertrude Stein con su compañera, un Scott Fitzgerald bastante hipocondríaco, despótico y a la vez empequeñecido por Zelda, Ezra Pound bellísima persona, un fétido Ford Madox Ford, Wyndham Lewis que tenía pinta de mala gente y "the eyes of an unsuccessful rapist", Sylvia Beach adorable propietaria de Shakespeare & Co, que cobraba cuando podían pagarle y les prestaba libros, y muchos más artistas que recorren las páginas, ellos y su pelo, que siempre merece una descripción por parte del escritor.
Era una vida bohemia en la que Hemingway habla varias veces de pasar hambre, de tener frío en casa, de ser pobres y, sin embargo, comen en restaurantes, beben champán y brandy, invitan a copas, viajan a esquiar. No hay un punto en la novela en que H. no hable maravillas de su esposa Hadley, que es buena buceadora, aprende rápidamente a esquiar, tiene maravillosas piernas, entiende cuando tiene él que ausentarse por trabajo, la echa tanto de menos, disfruta los reencuentros... está claro que tiene la mujer ideal, o que al menos lo fue entre el 21 en que se casaron y el 25 que es cuando termina el libro. Más o menos.
Ya lo había leído y lo volveré a leer, no creo que esta vez deje pasar mucho tiempo.
hemingway passed away while he was in the middle of writing this memoir, so it's been published in a half-finished state. i think this is actually very cool in many ways—i especially loved the inclusion of the "fragments" and the insight they lent into hemingway's writing/editing process—but it means that much of this felt more like a series of vignettes rather than a cohesive reflection on his time in paris.
and "series of vignettes" is really my kind way of saying that.... this read very much like a teenage girl's diary. hemingway is always gossiping and insulting his friends!! which, okay, diva. and some of that is absolutely hilarious (i will never ever forget), but i think it's ultimately not that rewarding unless you're really invested in the personal lives of the lost generation. i was hoping for more atmospheric writing about paris and less whining about gertrude stein. but hey, at least now i know that ezra pound started a gofundme so t.s. eliot could quit his day job, and to that i say, when will my friends do the same for me?
and "series of vignettes" is really my kind way of saying that.... this read very much like a teenage girl's diary. hemingway is always gossiping and insulting his friends!! which, okay, diva. and some of that is absolutely hilarious (i will never ever forget
Spoiler
f. scott fitzgerald being insecure about his dick size and hemingway telling him to compare his length with statues in the louvre....
“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”
I'll be honest: while this is extremely well-written, particularly when it comes to Hem's descriptive abilities, I expected more. Maybe because I expected a plot, a narrative, and got a series of stories with little output or connection between them. Other than a couple of them, they could all be scrambled into a different outline without loss of quality. This made me struggle to get going during the first half, as I got to realise I was reading a collection of stories.
I'll be honest: while this is extremely well-written, particularly when it comes to Hem's descriptive abilities, I expected more. Maybe because I expected a plot, a narrative, and got a series of stories with little output or connection between them. Other than a couple of them, they could all be scrambled into a different outline without loss of quality. This made me struggle to get going during the first half, as I got to realise I was reading a collection of stories.
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced