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What are readers saying about The Paris Wife: A Novel?
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-07-28 11:38:08.
(Language: English)
 
Finished the Paris Wife last night. I was initially enamored by the writing, but it became more of a narrative and less of a literary piece as the booked progressed. Eventually it was nothing but details about a hedonistic lifestyle and the dissolution of a marriage. I couldn't decide if the greater part was absurd or heartbreaking. Ernest Hemingway was such a shit.
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Alice posted a review at 2011-12-03 06:55:08.
(Language: English)
Terrible book. Depressing, disconnected story. Dry, slow moving prose. Gave up after a few chapters.
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Linda posted a review at 2011-04-02 09:37:38.
(Language: English)
Finished reading novel "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLaine. I am a huge fan of Hemingway, so of course I loved this book. Author read many biographies and read the letters between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Hemingway. Story of their life in Paris - Lost Generation - characters in the book include Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pund, Sherwood Anderson. Beautifully w
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Molly posted a review at 2011-10-09 05:38:52.
(Language: English)
Loved this peek at the inspiration behind the early work of Ernest Hemingway. This book describes Hemingway's life in Paris with his first wife, Hadley, surrounded by poets and artists on the verge of making it big, drinking too much and traveling in style beyond their means. You will want to dig out those dog-eared copies of Hemingway's work you still have from high school, and maybe even pick up some of his earlier books you haven't read before. :)
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-07-28 07:25:22.
(Language: English)
A Paris Wife is fiction based on fact and that has to be remembered when reading it. It is the author's account of the marriage between Hadley Richardson and Ernest Hemingway, from Hadley's point of view. Richardson was his first wife and he left her for her best friend. Hemingway isn't shown in the best light in this book, that is why it is important to remember it is fiction. ' it was enjoyable reading about Paris during the 1920's and their group of writer friends and they excessive lifestyle, not materially but socially. Good read...I would like to read more about Hemingway and his novels. Only Hemingway I have ever read was for school.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-04-14 07:58:14.
(Language: English)
Definitely one of the best I've read this year. The story of Ernest Hemingway's first wife Hadley and their unconventional romance and subsequent marriage. You want to believe the way in which this book is written that it will be happy ever after, but we know Hemingway and we know better. So well written that you believe it's an autobiography, and not fiction.
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Debbie posted a review at 2012-05-10 03:45:22.
(Language: English)
LOVED this book, about Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, who is from ST. LOUIS! They move to Paris as Hem/Papa begins his path to writing glory. Eventually, he falls for Hadley's best friend, Pauline. A great read and very well done.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-01-17 05:29:01.
(Language: English)
Very interesting. It is more about an inevitable divorce than a marriage. I thought the setting and time period were conveyed nicely. I learned a thing or two about the Hemingways. I wished that Hadley had pursued piano more...
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-03-06 12:08:32.
(Language: English)
Really enjoyed this one. Well written with restraint that seemed to preserve the historical voices of the characters.
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Nancy posted a review at 2011-06-20 06:39:42.
(Language: English)
I really liked this book. Great historical fiction about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife (before he was somebody), Hadley. I loved Hadley and seeing Ernest rise to fame and ourgrow her was very sad. It's also a fascinating look at the lifestyles of that group of Americansin Paris during the 1920s.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-03-28 07:48:16.
(Language: English)
Very moving without being overly sentimental. The story of Hemingway's first marriage and the breakup of that marriage to Hadley Richardson... as told by Hadley. It gives a fictional voice to Hadley in response to Hemingway's Movable Feast. Holds very true to what we know about the couple's life at the time. Hemingway, Fitzgerald and fans of the '20 expat era in France should enjoy this.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-02-27 08:08:10.
(Language: English)
Semi-biographical tale of Hemingway's first wife. An interesting read about the type of long-suffering woman I just cannot fathom!
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Carol posted a review at 2011-09-25 10:01:12.
(Language: English)
Started off kind of slow - lots of kids partying - do I really care? No. Picks up after marriage and the move to Paris. It bothered me a little that it was written as if these things really and truly happened fact for fact, but I guess there is documentations from Hemingway's estate to piece together a lot - still didn't like putting words into real folks' mouths. All in all, a good book. What a bunch of drunks, I have to say--which I understand to be another truth of this group!
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-07-28 04:23:11.
(Language: English)
A fantastically written and moving novel. My mom once recommended a book to me because the author was originally a poet and she said you could tell that in the writing - the rise and flow, and the word choice. Paula McLain received her MFA in poetry at UofM and I think this study definitely comes across in her book. Even though I knew the basics of how the story would end, I could not put this book down. Even as I sat on the couch bawling, I could not put this book down. Even when I raged at the characters, I could not put this book down. The range of highs and despair I felt when reading this novel me of the Josephine Bonaparte trilogy by Sandra Gulland. Both combine historical figures with stories of love and regret, plus the backdrop of Paris. A fantastic mix.
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Lynne posted a review at 2012-06-02 07:51:17.
(Language: English)
Story - 3.5 Writing - 3.75 Characters - 2.5 Learning - 3 Entertainment - 4 Book club selection. This book is flawed. But I was hooked and I finished it in a short time. In the end I give it 3 stars because, despite my eagerness in reading it, there are still things that, when I finished, nagged me. For instance, The dialog seemed like it was out of a Fitzgerald or Hemmingway novel. I kept thinking, "real people do not talk this way, real people do not say things like that". Another thing was the way people were referred to as their first name, last name, nickname, pet name, 2nd nickname, someone else's nickname, etc. - it made it difficult to keep track, and sometimes I didn't bother. For as much as the book kept my interest, I would have liked to go a little deeper into the characters and their feelings or motivations. I felt like the Hemmingway's marriage fell off a cliff, but in real life it must have been more of a steep trail, right? But it didn't seem that way in the book - one day they were great, and the next he was in love with another woman. There was a hint that Hadley might have been a tad needy, but not enough to throw over the marriage. Hadley talks about how poor they were, yet they leave the apartment in Paris to go to Schruns for four months, or to the south of France. I don't understand Hemingway better for reading this book. And I don't much understand a woman who puts up with the stuff Hadley put up with - especially at the end, it was just surreal - why she didn't kick him and his mistress out, I have no idea, what was she trying to accomplish? She wasn't exactly mother of the year, either - handing her baby off to a nanny (where do they find the money?). Again, this hinted at Earnest's needs being put before anyone else's, but it wasn't like they had a big row about it and she sulked for days, she just mentions it in passing as if it's no big deal, so why did he throw her over? While I don't understand the historical Hems any better from reading this book, I was captivated by the fictional characters. Maybe it's a book that doesn't work as well if you know something about Hemingway or any of the notable names that populate the story. You'd have to be pretty clueless not to know some of those names but at least forget what you know. For me this wasn't an insight into Hem's early life in Paris. It's a story about a woman who met a man who was full of adventure and spontaneity at the exact moment she was ready for said adventure/spontaneity. The man met a woman who provided the unconditional love he needed. This is the story of their 5 years together in the backdrop of Paris. If it were not about the Hemmingways, it wouldn't have been as engaging, and I'd have been much more disappointed in the ending, but I think I was more forgiving because it was true life.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-09-26 07:39:54.
(Language: English)
The first half of this book was perhaps one of the most romantic stories I've ever read, but before you even start the book, you know it ends tragically - and you can never quite shake this knowledge. In the end, Hemingway is a self-absorbed narcissist and Hadley only garnered apathy from me. Still, a good read. The first half makes the book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-09-15 07:17:57.
(Language: English)
I loved this book. Spending my time with Tatie and Cat proved to be nourishing, charming and a little heartbreaking. But mostly this book has intrigued me to read some Hemingway - starting with The Sun Also Rises (from which Hem's wife is absent although the other usual suspects are - somewhat scornfully - represented). Then I move on to A Moveable Feast. For all of this I basically have to thank Woody Allen. Those of you who know what I mean, know what I mean. Those who don't are better off that way for now.
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Beth posted a review at 2011-09-09 12:28:15.
(Language: English)
It's hard to be a traditional wife on the Left Bank of Paris in the 1920s. McLain's novel is a historical tour, painstakingly accurate to the details of a very public life among very public friends (Scott Fitzgerald and Gloria Stein make notable appearances). Hadley tries to maintain a traditional role and romantic worldview in an amoral culture. In the author' hands, the Hemmingway marriage fails not when Ernest betrays her, but months earlier, in a painful scene when Hadley realizes that she's been written out of Ernest's memories that become The Sun Also Rises. She has become invisible, and there's no going back for the young couple. This is a slow story about people who drown in absinthe and behave badly, but the bittersweet end is worth the journey.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-02-14 01:21:13.
(Language: English)
Everyone told me to read this book, and I will be honest I went into this book totally blind without knowing what it was about. I am now dieing for information on Hemingway! I want to know how much of the book is really close to his life! The book was fantastic and from what I do know about him, I can imagine him pull all this crap on his first wife!! Her supposed best friend, Pauline, all I have to say....KARMA BABY!!! You got what you deserved!!! I highly recommend this book!!
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-06-13 01:47:58.
(Language: English)
A fascinating portrait of Ernest Hemingway's first marriage and he and his first wife's life together in Paris when he was just starting out as an aspiring young author. The writing is good and although, as in all historical novels, the ending is somewhat of a foregone conclusion ("This isn't a detective story--not hardly"), there is still a certain sense of suspense that builds as the end approaches. Well done all around.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-07-10 03:29:47.
(Language: English)
I don't mean to buck the tide but i found this a little boring and also annoying. It is annoying because of who Hemingway was, and the story of his first marriage and early rise to fame just reinforced for me what a macho pig he was and how totally egotistical. I'm not sure what compelled me to read this - the time and place is interesting, Paris in the 20's with all the groundbreaking writers and artists - but it just didn't do it for me. The only good news is that his first wife finally divorced him, after one of her close friends and he became lovers, and makes a new life for herself. Other then that, it really is his story and I can't care.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-12-29 08:11:27.
(Language: English)
So similar to A Moveable Feast, was like reading the same book twice, but one original, and one a copy.
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Robin posted a review at 2011-04-23 11:05:44.
(Language: English)
I loved this book, a novel about Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson. Much as I felt about Mary, Janis Newman's novel about Mary Todd Lincoln, and DIDN'T feel about Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff -- perhaps using the novel form allows the author to fill in the (unknown) context of a woman's life. When Schiff stuck to the sketchy known facts, she might have been more historically accurate, but so dry it was like doing homework to read. The Paris Wife kept me enthralled. Here are two passages that really spoke to me: **He had a new energy, particularly in the evenings when he came downstairs after a day's work, because there was someone interesting to talk to and talk with. What was more exciting than that? I could love him like crazy and work very hard to understand and support him, but I couldn't be fresh eyes and a fresh smile after five years. I couldn't be new.** **In the end fighting for a love that was already gone felt like trying to live in the ruins of a lost city.**
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-04-18 04:54:03.
(Language: English)
I first heard of Hadley Hemingway, Ernest's first wife, through a Mary Chapin Carpenter song, so when I saw this book, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about her. The historical aspects were really interesting--the Roaring Twenties and all of that madness--but the story itself was a disappointment to me. The whole concept of the tortured artist is difficult for me. Because you're brilliant you get to behave badly and treat people with total disregard? And the wife is supposed to put up with all of it? I don't think so. So, I found the book a little hard to enjoy.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-07-17 12:10:40.
(Language: English)
Told from the point of view of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson, The Paris Wife is a first person look at the life of one of America's most influential and troubled authors. While fiction, it weaves real events and people from the fabled Lost Generation of writers who spent the 1920's in Paris: Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. The reader knows from the outset that the Hemingways' marriage is doomed, yet the paths they travel, literally and emotionally, are a fascinating read.
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| Reviews of The Paris Wife: A Novel - Page 1 of 3 |
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