The Paris Wife

McLain, P. (2011). The Paris wife.  New York:  Ballentine.

Ernest Hemingway is a name known worldwide for many different reasons.  Hemingway was a known alcoholic and notorious play boy.  He was part of the Lost Generation, which included voices such as Fitzgerald, Stein, Pound, Eliot, during the 1920's.  It was a time of breaking the rules to find oneself.  Hemingway was a love 'em and leave 'em kind of man.  But the first woman who trapped his heart was a woman named Hadley Richardson.  Together, the opposites lived a whirlwind life and tried to find consistency in a world full of chaos.

Paula McLain tells the story of the first of Hemingway's wives in her 2011 novel, The Paris Wife.  The novel is completely fiction but based on actual events of the Hemingways' life together.  McLain assumes Hadley's voice to tell the story through first person.  McLain truly and fully develops Hadley's character to the point that it seems that she's a dear friend telling a story.



The novel opens with the meeting of Hadley and Hemingway and continues through until their divorce with an epilogue describing the news of his suicide.  I loved Hadley's character.  She is so practical but so in love with her husband.  She completely puts his life and career first, which I don't always agree with, but Hadley seems so natural and able to hold her own with Hemingway.  The inspiration and development of The Sun Also Rises is prominent throughout the second half of the novel.  I know have a strong desire to read Hemingway's novel.

The Paris Wife is mainly set in Paris but follows the Hemingways on their journeys all over Europe.  I had hoped for some descriptions of the scenery, but McLain doesn't give too many details on the surroundings.  I also find it disheartening to watch the scenes of the Hemingways being absent parents to their son, Jack "Bumby" Hemingway.  I'm sure he was extremely close to his nanny who seemed to be a better parent during the Hemingways trips throughout Spain without their son.

Even though the audience knows the outcome of the marriage of Ernest and Hadley Hemingway, it is such a compelling story.  Surrounding the Hemingways are couples like Ezra and Dorothy Pound, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, and Gertude Stein and Alice Toklas, couples known for abnormal relationships.  Yet, Hadley and Ernest seem to stand strong until Pauline Pfeffier walks into the picture. She is the other woman in which you can't seem to find redeeming in any way.  I found myself rooting for Hadley and Ernest the entire way through, even after the point of no return.  McLain introduced me to a whole new generation of writers, who I often try to avoid.