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leigh_reidelberger 's review for:
The Paris Wife
by Paula McLain
While I was reading this, my husband was reading The Sun Also Rises. It made for interesting conversation, to see how Hemingway had transformed real life (thinly) into his first widely published novel.
I’m still not totally convinced I love this author. Her voice sounded put on in the beginning of the book, and it was obviously a 21st Century writer trying to sound like the 1920’s. However, what she is able to do well is tell a story. She has fictionalized the bits we don’t know about Hadley and Hem and turned it into a lovely, tragic romance.
The most intriguing portion of the book was the who’s who of Hemingways’ Paris circle of friends. It was like a European Algonquin Table. Sherwood Anderson, Gertrude Stein, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, and on and on the list goes, even mentioning Dorothy Parker. Their lives were so interesting- the ex-pat nature of so many of them, their obnoxious spending habits, the booze, the drugs, the affairs- the stuff of soap operas, but with more refined tastes and a better storyline.
Confession: I cried a lot at the end of the book.
I’ve read several reviews in which readers claimed they didn’t feel any real connection to Hadley. They didn’t care for her as a character, couldn’t sympathize or empathize with her. It is here I must disagree. I found a kindred spirit in Hadley, silly as it may sound. The more she spoke, the more we read her thoughts, the more I felt like I had so much in common with her. As much of an ass as Hemingway was, theirs is a love story that is bitter, passionate, and ultimately forgiving, though to say it leaves with a happy ending is a lie. It ends with a real ending, and we all know real life endings are rarely positive. You’ll walk away from this book still tasting their sadness and anger, but you’ll also understand how it all came to pass and how they, especially Hadley, were able to go on with their lives.
I’m still not totally convinced I love this author. Her voice sounded put on in the beginning of the book, and it was obviously a 21st Century writer trying to sound like the 1920’s. However, what she is able to do well is tell a story. She has fictionalized the bits we don’t know about Hadley and Hem and turned it into a lovely, tragic romance.
The most intriguing portion of the book was the who’s who of Hemingways’ Paris circle of friends. It was like a European Algonquin Table. Sherwood Anderson, Gertrude Stein, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, and on and on the list goes, even mentioning Dorothy Parker. Their lives were so interesting- the ex-pat nature of so many of them, their obnoxious spending habits, the booze, the drugs, the affairs- the stuff of soap operas, but with more refined tastes and a better storyline.
Confession: I cried a lot at the end of the book.
I’ve read several reviews in which readers claimed they didn’t feel any real connection to Hadley. They didn’t care for her as a character, couldn’t sympathize or empathize with her. It is here I must disagree. I found a kindred spirit in Hadley, silly as it may sound. The more she spoke, the more we read her thoughts, the more I felt like I had so much in common with her. As much of an ass as Hemingway was, theirs is a love story that is bitter, passionate, and ultimately forgiving, though to say it leaves with a happy ending is a lie. It ends with a real ending, and we all know real life endings are rarely positive. You’ll walk away from this book still tasting their sadness and anger, but you’ll also understand how it all came to pass and how they, especially Hadley, were able to go on with their lives.