A Moveable Feast in Around the World in 80 Books

Feb 24, 2019 Jim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, hemingway

I think that Papa Hemingway is falling out of favour with me. Or maybe I'm judging this one more on content than I am assessing it as a work of literature, I don't know. All I can tell you is that I didn't enjoy this book as much as some of his other works.

Hemingway passes this off as a work of fiction, although every word in it is undoubtedly true. I imagine the disclaimer was necessary in order to forestall any possible defamation lawsuits. In any event, he is absolutely beastly in his treatm ...more

16 likes · Like · see review

Jan 23, 2014 Judy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Hemingway wrote this bitter-sweet memoir of his days in Paris with first wife Hadley 30 years on, drawing from two forgotten trunks of papers from the time. All the way through there is an extra layer given from the fact that he is looking back, with contrasts between the hungry young writer learning his craft and the older man looking back near the end of his career and his life. The book isn't complete, but I think it still adds up to a masterpiece.

I was glad to read this in the restored vers Hemingway wrote this bitter-sweet memoir of his days in Paris with first wife Hadley 30 years on, drawing from two forgotten trunks of papers from the time. All the way through there is an extra layer given from the fact that he is looking back, with contrasts between the hungry young writer learning his craft and the older man looking back near the end of his career and his life. The book isn't complete, but I think it still adds up to a masterpiece.

I was glad to read this in the restored version which contains passages deleted by his widow Mary Hemingway in the first publication, as well as several additional pieces which Hemingway himself had decided not to include before eventually leaving the manuscript unfinished. There's an introduction by his grandson Sean, who edited this version - this was very useful for readers like me who don't know much about Hemingway, since it gives the context of his life at this time, as he underwent electric shock therapy for his bipolar disorder, which affected his memory and ability to write and led to his suicide.

The portrayal of 1920s Paris is vivid, with loving descriptions of meals and outings and surprising details like a goat being milked in the street. Hemingway constantly drops in the names of Parisian cafes and meeting places, conjuring up a lost world. He also describes how he worked on his writing style at this time, making it as spare as possible, and he uses the same terse way of writing in these pieces.

The book contains portraits of famous friends from the time, as well as unknowns. I'm now wondering if I failed to pay enough attention to those unknowns, but my impression was that the strongest sections are those about the famous names, including Gertrude Stein and, especially, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Three successive sketches about Scott really add up to a short story showing the signs of his alcoholism and marriage troubles, and Zelda's mental illness, written in the knowledge of how it all turned out later. Hemingway repeatedly mentions discussions of writing that he had with Fitzgerald, and how he urged him to write 'true' work, not twisting his short stories to make them more commercial. I think he is taking his own advice here, and, although the actual conversations and incidents are bound to be partly invented, given the fact that it was all so long ago, he is trying to tell the 'truth' about Scott as he sees it now. But he is equally aware of how his own life has turned out - when he portrays himself drinking at every opportunity while worrying that Scott had a drink problem, the irony is clear.

Some of the portraits have embarrassing and unpleasant aspects - there's an overheard row between Stein and her lover, and an incident featuring too much information about Scott's sex life with Zelda. These moments brought me up short, but I don't see them as just badmouthing. They tend to come at the end of the sketches, or stories (Hemingway insists in his fragmentary drafted introduction that the book is fiction), and I think they are a pointer to the fact that there is more to these lives than he witnessed, that there was more going on behind the scenes. It's harder to defend the portrait of Ford Madox Ford, however, which largely dwells on remembered body odour. At least he left out the second piece about Ford, which is one of those in the extra section of this edition.

Hemingway sometimes seems kinder to himself than to his other subjects, with romanticised portrayals of how in love he and Hadley were - but again the chapter endings tend to tell a different story, with sudden mentions of how it was all going to go wrong, how he was going to betray her. And he is also honest about his gambling addiction, mentioning how he was always giving it up. There is a rather self-pitying piece he had decided to leave out, which centres on his marriage break-up and claims second wife Pauline seduced him - but the fragments of introduction give himself more blame and repeatedly suggest that Hadley is the 'heroine' of the book. He also keeps worrying in these fragments about how he has portrayed Scott Fitzgerald and mentioning that there was more to say. ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2011 Sera rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, biography-memoir, library, audio

What a wonderful read, which likely played out better on audio than if I would have read it.

This book makes a nice companion piece to

by providing Hemingway's take on 1920s' Paris life. A small book but it gives tremendous insight into Hemingway's circle of friends during this time and a tiny glimpse into the end of his first marriage. The only thing missing is insight into Hemingway the man. There isn't really anything that the reader learns about Hemingway in this book as a result of his What a wonderful read, which likely played out better on audio than if I would have read it.

This book makes a nice companion piece to

by providing Hemingway's take on 1920s' Paris life. A small book but it gives tremendous insight into Hemingway's circle of friends during this time and a tiny glimpse into the end of his first marriage. The only thing missing is insight into Hemingway the man. There isn't really anything that the reader learns about Hemingway in this book as a result of his telling it to the reader directly. Instead, the reader is forced to read between the lines, which is challenging and may lead to the reader drawing incorrect conclusions. For example, Hemingway describes overhearing a conversation that Gertrude Stein had with her lover, the results of which lead to Hemingway's ending his friendship with Stein - but why? Hemingway never comes out and says why so that as the reader is left to speculate the reasoning. Is it because Stein showed weakness toward her lover? Or, is it Hemingway's homophobia finally getting the best of him? It's hard to say, but my money's on the latter, based upon again, other comments that Hemingway makes in this book.

I did, however, gain a greater appreciation for Hemingway's writing, i.e., the way that he is able to unfold a tale in such a direct manner. I was also surprised to discover that Hemingway had a subtle wit about him, which I found to be quite funny, laughing aloud from time to time in my car while I was listening to the book.

My favorite part of the book was about Scott Fitzgerald and his marriage to Zelda. Now I know why Hemingway hated Zelda so much if what he wrote what Zelda did to Scott was true. I was stunned that Hemingway had disclosed intimate secrets of the couple, which I considered to be quite scandalous. Interestingly though, Hemingway criticizes Scott for continuing to stay with Zelda while she was in love with another man, but later, Hemingway is in Zelda's situation and wants Hadley to do the same. It's a classic example of how we often say that we wouldn't act a certain way until we find ourselves in that situation and realize that we were wrong.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book on audio, and the reader was fabulous.

...more

1 like · Like · see review