A Moveable Feast
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A Moveable Feast

4.02 of 5 stars 4.02  ·  rating details  ·  19,042 ratings  ·  1,977 reviews
Begun in the autumn of 1957 and published posthumously in 1964, Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast captures what it meant to be young and poor and writing in Paris during the 1920s. A correspondent for the Toronto Star, Hemingway arrived in Paris in 1921, three years after the trauma of the Great War and at the beginning of the transformation of Europe's cultural landsca...more
Paperback, 211 pages
Published May 29th 1996 by Scribner (first published 1963)
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Chiara Pagliochini

“Ma Parigi era una città molto vecchia e noi eravamo giovani e lì non c’era niente di facile, neanche la miseria, né i soldi improvvisi, né il chiaro di luna, né la ragione e il torto né il respiro di qualcuno sdraiato al tuo fianco al chiaro di luna.”

Sono sempre stata una persona di facili innamoramenti e di odi inspiegabili, repentini, istintivi. Ma giacché sono anche molto lunatica o debole di carattere o democratica, è facile che i miei odi si trasformino altrettanto inspie...more
Ellen
Though often containing gorgeous prose, Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast has a clear agenda. The book treats Hemingway’s life in Paris from 1921 to 1926. Although the book clearly is autobiographical, in the Preface, Hemingway, after explaining that several items were left out of his memoir, then suggests, rather coyly, that “If the reader prefers, this book may be regarded as fiction” and adds, “But there is always the chance that such a book of fiction may throw some light on what has been written...more
Larissa
Reading A Moveable Feast was a strange combination of pure pleasure and pure torture for me. On one hand, what could be better than reading a pseudo-memoir written by the unabashedly self-absorbed, and yet enduringly charming, Hemingway--all white wine, manliness, and burgeoning craft, with an excess of anecdotes and remembrances (often unflattering and unfair, god bless him) of his eccentric and luminous contemporaries? Not much. Especially with such memories: of Gertrude "Aldous Huxley wr...more
Kirk
Whenever a friend/Roman/lover/countryman/debtor/student/
jackass bar brawler tells me that Hemingway lost it after THE SUN ALSO RISES or (being generous) A FAREWELL TO ARMS, I say: read this book. There are moments of vile approbation. It saddens me infinitely to hear EH bang on Gertrude and Scott, and some of the dialogue is transparently punchdrunk. But when I want to read a book by someone who lost his shit and knew he lost it spectularly, this be the one. There are few passages more sel...more
David Lentz
During the early days of Hemingway's career Paris was was the most prolific writer's colony on the planet. The cost of living was cheap, the wine and food were good, and Paris attracted the talents of James Joyce, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ford Maddox Ford among others. Paris was truly a moveable feast in his day and, although Hemingway was poor at age 25, he was devoted to a career in which his primary objective was to capture a true sentence and then to follow it with another. This s...more
Brad
A Moveable Feast is a beautiful book. Gorgeous. The prose is Hemingway-crisp, concise and evocative, but even with the Ezra Pound love fest midway through the book (fascinatingly against the grain in an America predisposed to loathe the poet for his ties to Nazism), A Moveable Feast isn’t A Moveable Feast until Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda appear on the scene.

Fans of Fitzgerald’s probably cringe at Papa’s descriptions of the Scott’s sad debasement. Zelda is a mad bitch; Scott is a dr...more
Cait
Cait rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Cait by: Nicole
It's official. I'm a gossip whore. Try as I might to deny it, I love hearing the dirt on other people. It should come as no surprise then that my favorite sections of this books were about Hemingway's relationships with Gertrude Stein and (especially) F. Scott Fitzgerald. Holy crap, who knew Hemingway was a gossip whore too? The man can really dish it out. I'm embarrassingly unfamiliar with the Stein christened "Lost Generation" though, so I don't know whether to take what he say...more
Teresa
Teresa rated it 4 of 5 stars
4 and 1/2 stars

This memoir (Hemingway coyly says in the preface that the reader may consider it fiction), with its idyllic tone, surely romanticizes Hemingway's life in France with his first wife and their child. It includes rather unflattering portraits of Stein, Madox Ford and the Fitzgeralds, while certainly leaving out things that would've made Hemingway himself look bad. But, perhaps, it is as he says here of his fiction writing: what is omitted is what strengthens the story. ...more
Matt
My sister spent some time in Paris recently, and told me I had to read a book. The book in question was ‘A Moveable Feast’ by Hemingway, which to be honest I never heard of.
The competition between Hemingway and Fitzgerald has been immortalized for a long time. I always sided with Fitzgerald as the better writer. I’ve read ‘The Great Gatsby’ three times, and ‘Tender is the Night’ three times, and will return to those books every four to five years. Fitzgerald writes beautifully, in deapth,...more
James Spina
James Spina rated it 1 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Ernie's great and not-so-great grandchildren
I'm heading for Paris on a work related trip in a few weeks so I thought I'd get in the mood by dipping into papa. BIG MISTAKE. I guess you had to be there. This is nothing but a bunch of mundane moments strung together by some boring name dropping and squalid hygiene habits.
I've never really been a fan of anything other than Ernie's shorter stories and now I remember why. He didn't write briefly for effect. He did it because he didn't really know enough words. It always sounds like he's p...more
Christine
Is it literature just because Hemingway wrote it? True, his name has become synonymous with The Modern Canon, but this gossipy tell-all might give you some inroads to the real person behind the monolith of drinking and literature. And if you're too high-brow to get your rocks off on reading about the bad behavior of whatever vacuous it-girl dons the cover of Life and Style this week, maybe the juicy gaffes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and James Joyce will take you there. ...more
Evan
To say that Hemingway writes clear, declarative sentences would be far too simplistic and inaccurate. I actually find his sentences twisty and harder to read oftentimes than more flowery and "correct" prose written in a more classical parallel fashion. I do miss the breather commas, for instance, in places where the conjunctions separate what are actually different clauses, which sometimes causes me to have to read the sentences twice. Honestly, I've never been a great fan of the way H...more
Wayne
Wayne rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: those interested in Expatriate Paris but there are much better accounts.
Recommended to Wayne by: Di and Kylie


ADITIONS to this review below...

What an abominable old Bore Ernest Hemingway is.

I really hoped to come out liking him ,at least a bit, but came out not trusting him and his faithless friendships.
Very few come out of this looking good after Ernie has gone to work with his poison pen...all except Ernie of course!!!(Surprising THAT!!!)

There are MUCH better books about the Paris of the Ex-patriates between the Wars - Janet Flanner who wrote a wee...more
مريم  شهریاری
اولین چیزی که با خوندن این کتاب تو ذهن آدم به وجود میاد آرزوی زندگی کردن توی اون دوران پاریس هست. دورانی که می‌شد با فقر هم خوشبخت زندگی کرد. توی یه هتل یه اتاق اجاره کنی که فقط برای نوشتنت ازش استفاده کنی و بعد از نوشتنت هم راهی کافه‌ها بشی و با آدم‌های مشهور معاصرت دیدن کنی و شب هم بری خونه و با همسرت که عاشقش هستی عشق بازی کنی و از زندگیت لذت ببری. یه زندگی شاید ایده آل برای خیلی‌هایی که دلشون می‌خواد نوشتن حرفه اصلی زندگی‌شون باشه.‏

همینگوی نویسنده کوچیکی نیست. نمی‌دونم هم که چند در...more
Becca
Becca rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: all people who appreciate beautiful language
Easily on my top 10 list of all time. Hemingway's memoirs from when he lived in Paris. My friend, who hates Hemingway, loved this one. More beautifully written than anything I've ever read, you'll get a kick out of what he has to say about the other American writers living in Paris at the time. It'll break your heart and make you cry but you'll be a more grateful person when you're through.
Diane D.
I am not finished yet, but I love this book. I am googling many names as I read this (Ezra Pound, Ford Madox Ford, Ernest Walsh, Gertrude Stein). Honestly, I never would have picked this up if I hadn't read The Paris Wife, and I think this book is a wonderful companion to it. I also like the order in which I read them: The Paris Wife first and this one second.

This book is a memoir, with the vignettes written by Hemingway himself. Here is a favorite part I just read (Bumby is his a...more
Lavinia
I never liked Hemingway's prose too much, but the moment I found out about this book of memoirs, I knew I'd love it. And I did.

There was a time when two people could live comfortably and well in Europe on five dollars a day, when young aspiring writers lived in Paris and wrote in cafés, when knowing Sylvia Beach didn't mean only borrowing books and reading the finest literature but also financial help for those in need, when writers helped each other getting out of menial jobs and st...more
Cheryl
Cheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: favorites, memoir
Remember where and when you were most satisfied intellectually and physically, stimulated to just the right measure, and your talents seemed limitless? In Hemingway's case, all this and more came to fruition in Paris in the 1920s.

Supported by friends like Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare and Company lending library and book store, mentors like James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein, Hemingway's youth, talent, and curiosity peaked in the City of Light. Sparsely written with th...more
Klim
Как всегда у Хэмингуэя перегруженный излишним вниманием к различным мелочам рассказ (мини-рассказы в данном случае). За всем этим перечислением названий улочек, имен владельцев бистро и забегаловок, которые попадались автору по пути домой, описание местоположения каждого носового платка в комнате довольно проблематично выловить тот дух беззаботности и легкости жизни еще начинающего автора в одном из самых романтичных городов. Но опять же, уловить все это получается только если хватит терпения пр...more
Ayat Mahmoud
Ayat Mahmoud marked it as couldn-t-finish  ·  review of another edition
ماقدرتش اكمل اكتر من فصلين .. أعصابي لا تحتمل مزيد من الترجمة السيئة!! و اللي يفرس ان المترجم - مع خالص احترامي - في بداية الرواية كاتب مقدمة في حوالي 30 صفحة بيحكي عن اهمية الترجمة و ازاي انه تراجع فترة طويلة عن انه يترجم مؤلَف لإرنست هيمنجواي حيث هو يملك حياة زاخرة بالتجارب الفريدة وان المترجم محتاج يملك روح مش عارفة عاملة ازاي عشان يقدر يترجم حاجة وانه لابد انه ينقل روحه دي في الترجمة وإلا اصبحت ترجمة خالية من الروح ولا تؤدي وظيفتها و كلام كبير أوي! و هووب تلاقي ترجمة ما يعلم بيها إلا الله!
...more
Aaron
Aaron rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: writers
Recommended to Aaron by: Marin Heinritz
A better writer told me this was a great guide to writing. So what did I learn? A few tips from Ernest Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast"

¤ Write until you know what comes next, then you won't worry about what to write about the next day.
¤ Transplant yourself.

"In one place you could write about it better than in another."
¤ Start with one true, simple, declarative sentence and then from there.
¤ When finished writing, read.

...more
Kelly
Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: foreign travelers, fans of Lost Gen writers, writers
Who knew that Hemingway was a fanboy? After I read this novel, I found that out. This novel basically recounts Hemingway's days, mostly in Paris, among the famous of the Lost Generation, and his conversations and adventures with them across Europe.

I'll start with my problems with this book: The first 100 pages were incredibly difficult for me to get through, as I do not like Hemingway's writing style. I never have, and I very much doubt that I ever will (with the exception of Sun Al...more
Ryan
Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: EVERYBODY.
This book is both a collection of gems, and a gem in and of itself.

I read it for the first time a couple of years ago in Paris (I actually found it on one of the bookshelves on the quay, not knowing that such a book by Hemingway existed. What a find!) I read a lot, so I'd like to think I'm not overly easily impressed. But this book is breathtaking.

To me, the presence of Gertrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald add nothing. The value here is not celebrity cameos, but the stren...more
Sarah
I dislike Hemingway. I dislike his writing and I dislike him as a person. Still, I couldn't resist a famous author writing about famous authors. Certainly, he described F. Scott Fitzgerald more eloquently than Sheilah Graham did. Ah, that reminds me...
Ann
Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: writers and fans of the lost generation
Perhaps I've got a wicked sense of humor, but I adore this book in part for the obvious smallness Hemingway shows toward Fitzgerald, the man who really gave him his start. And it seems so fitting that a man like Hemingway, such a manly man, would always resent someone who would offer him a hand. The lack of factual truth makes for good fun. And I actually adore the style of his prose...more effortless than in earlier works. I guess I'm in the minority on this one. Finally I guess I love it ...more
Cody
Cody rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: favorites, modernism
Without a doubt my very favorite Hemingway. For me, the key difference with *A Moveable Feast* is his honesty (how's that for a loaded term!). I feel that there is a genuine candidness to be found here, which is often lacking elsewhere in his body of work; the layers of prentention have been peeled away, leaving us with a work that is at once confessional and nostalgic.

Admittedly, it also holds a very sappy place in my personal/literary/travel history, as I first read it just pri...more
Virginia
A waiter asks Hemingway who Fitzgerald was and why can’t he (the waiter) remember him. Hemingway says he has been planning to write about the old days in Paris and he would be sure to include Fitzgerald. This must be that book. It was published after his death. I wonder if Hemingway really intended to publish it or if he was just putting down memories that he didn’t want to forget. Stein said his writing was inaccrochable and I have to agree that this book is.

I read The Paris Wife...more
Michelle
A Moveable Feast is a relatively light-hearted collection of essays and vignettes about Hemingway’s life in post-war Paris with his first wife Hadley. His uber-mensch personality explodes from the page, as he expresses even the minutest details of his life at this time. From his obvious enjoyment at eating and drinking, to his somewhat guilty pleasure at gambling on horses, to his very serious and methodical approach to his writing, every word is carefully crafted to afford the reader a very int...more
Jack Wang
Hemingway's memoir of Paris is to me not so much a great work of literature as it is a great demonstration of how to journal. The book is known for its portrayal of the flawed nature of great American expatriate writers whom Hemingway associated with during the 1920s, but I find the most engrossing parts of the book to be his accounts of his day to day life with his wife Hadley and his discussion of subjects such as the quality of Russian writing (Hemingway seems to hold the Russian greats in lo...more
Jennifer Donahue
I just finished reading Hemingway's A Moveable Feast over the weekend. It took me a while to get through this small work, but it always does when I'm reading old Ernest. I love his short stories, but his longer works are difficult for me. I know- it is me Ernest, not you.

Hemingway relates his time in Paris in the circle of fellow artists like Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald among others. I bristle at his descriptions of Fitzgerald --there is too much jealousy hiding...more
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Awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style."
Received the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Literature for The Old Man and the Sea.
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