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Loading... The Paris Wife: A Novel (edition 2011)by Paula McLain (Author)
Work InformationThe Paris Wife by Paula McLain
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. The Paris Wife is the story of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley. They lived in Paris for most of their marriage. They were friends with many of the writers who were popular in the 1920's. Even though it is fiction the author chose to stay true to events of their lives during their marriage. For most of their time together Ernest was an unknown. He was trying to sell his first book. They lived rather simply and traveled to much of Europe. If you are interested in the Jazz Age and the writers of the 20's this would be an enjoyable read. ( )
Paula McLain has built “The Paris Wife” around Hadley. Or at least she has planted Hadley in the midst of a lot of famous, ambitious people. The advantage to this technique is that it allows the reader to rub shoulders and bend elbows with celebrated literary types: the stay-at-home way of feeling like the soigné figure on the book cover. The drawback is that Ms. McLain’s Hadley, when not in big-league company that overshadows her, isn’t a subtly drawn character. She’s thick, and not just in physique. She’s slow on the uptake, and she can be a stodgy bore. Indeed, this book is a more risky affair than its sometimes sugary surface betrays. Taking up the Hemingway story inevitably means comparisons with Papa himself, and McLain courageously draws fire by including interludes written from his perspective: hard-bitten monologues with such lines as "You might as well bring yourself down and make yourself stinking sick with all you do because this is the only world there is." It's not exactly up there with John Cheever's classic parody, but it certainly does the job. An appealing companion volume to A Moveable Feast, then, but once it's finished, turn back to the original, with its cool, impressionistic prose. It can hardly be said that the least interesting thing about Hemingway is the way he lived his life, but let's not forget that it's his writing that endures. An imaginative, elegantly written look inside the marriage of Ernest Hemingway and Hadley Richardson. Colorful details of the expat life in Jazz Age Paris, combined with the evocative story of the Hemingways' romance, result in a compelling story that will undoubtedly establish McLain as a writer of substance. Highly recommended for all readers of popular fiction. The Paris Wife, McLain has taken their love story, partially told by Hemingway himself in A Moveable Feast, and fashioned a novel that's impossible to resist. It's all here, and it all feels real... Belongs to Publisher SeriesLe livre de poche (32844) AwardsDistinctions
Meeting through mutual friends in Chicago, Hadley is intrigued by brash "beautiful boy" Ernest Hemingway, and after a brief courtship and small wedding, they take off for Paris, where Hadley makes a convincing transformation from an overprotected child to a game and brave young woman who puts up with impoverished living conditions and shattering loneliness to prop up her husband's career. No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumPaula McLain's book The Paris Wife was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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