The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

"He was such an enigma, really---fine and strong and weak and cruel. An incomparable friend and a son of a bitch. In the end, there wasn't one thing about him that was truer than the rest. It was all true."
                       -Hadley, describing Ernest, from the novel

I chose this title for our book club with some input from members and because we could get multiple copies from our public library. Though I don't really like Hemingway's work, I did enjoy this work of fiction about him and his first wife, Hadley. And for the record, after reading it I not only don't like his writing, I don't have much respect for him as a man either! I gave the book a rating of 4 and the group average was 3.7.

When Hadley meets Ernest Hemingway in 1920, even after being warned by her friend, Kate, she falls madly in love. She had not had the best of family life and when Ernest was obviously crazy about her and so young and energetic, she was quite susceptible to his charms. She agrees to marry him and they go to Paris, where he feels he can take off with his writing. As it turns out, Jazz-Age Paris was probably the wrong place to build a lasting marriage. Their Paris life might remind one of The Great Gatsby with the drinking and self-indulgence and conflicting egos. In fact, Ernest and Hadley meet many others of the so-called "Lost Generation" including F.Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, John Dos Passos, and Archibald McLeish.

Ernest becomes somewhat obsessed by bullfighting and begins the novel which will become The Sun Also Rises. Truly I have never understood the attraction for that sport, if it can be called that. Being excited over seeing an animal taunted and killed----really? Of course, Ernest loved boxing and fishing, too, so some would call him a man's man.

Some in our group thought Hadley was a bit shallow and should have been stronger but I think we all liked her MUCH more than Hem. And I would venture to say all the women had strong empathy for Hadley. Pauline...well, let's just say she wouldn't want to meet us in a dark alley!

I just noticed there is a quote on the cover of The Paris Wife from Nancy Horan, author of Loving Frank, the last novel I read. What a coincidence! I did find myself thinking of that story and comparing the two, such things as homes in Oak Park and working abroad. Nancy Horan says, "This remarkable novel about Ernest Hemingway's first marriage is mesmerizing. I loved this book."