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kbratten 's review for:
The Paris Wife
by Paula McLain
I read A Moveable Feast last year and all throughout it Hemingway keeps coming back to regret and Hadley. He clearly had some demons about how things ended and now I understand why.
Reading through some reviews, I see criticism of Hadley for being a doormat, but I think McClain does a great job depicting Hemingway as this absolute force. There are people with massive ambition and magnetic personalities to go with it, and there is a lived experience of being someone living close to that. Even Michelle Obama struggled with finding balance between supporting Barack in his career and not losing herself. Hadley, I think, ultimately has the strength of character to walk away. People are critical of women who are figuring themselves out, and I appreciated the author's sensitivity to Hadley's experience navigating ernest's larger than life aspirations, friends, and ultimate betrayal.
The atmosphere throughout the book is really amazing. Her sense of place and time is evident in sounds, smells, dialogue, all of it.
I enjoyed the pacing too. Knowing from the get go what would happen with Pauline, it was like a slow building train wreck. I read the last third in one nauseous sitting. Then went on a Wikipedia rabbit hole about all involved.
I would LOVE an entire series on Hemingway's four marriages. I bet McClain could write up Pauline (the homewrecker) in an empathetic way. Hemingway's third wife sounds fascinating (a conflict journalist). He was always drawn to smart, independent women.
Reading through some reviews, I see criticism of Hadley for being a doormat, but I think McClain does a great job depicting Hemingway as this absolute force. There are people with massive ambition and magnetic personalities to go with it, and there is a lived experience of being someone living close to that. Even Michelle Obama struggled with finding balance between supporting Barack in his career and not losing herself. Hadley, I think, ultimately has the strength of character to walk away. People are critical of women who are figuring themselves out, and I appreciated the author's sensitivity to Hadley's experience navigating ernest's larger than life aspirations, friends, and ultimate betrayal.
The atmosphere throughout the book is really amazing. Her sense of place and time is evident in sounds, smells, dialogue, all of it.
I enjoyed the pacing too. Knowing from the get go what would happen with Pauline, it was like a slow building train wreck. I read the last third in one nauseous sitting. Then went on a Wikipedia rabbit hole about all involved.
I would LOVE an entire series on Hemingway's four marriages. I bet McClain could write up Pauline (the homewrecker) in an empathetic way. Hemingway's third wife sounds fascinating (a conflict journalist). He was always drawn to smart, independent women.