From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Paris Wife

Paula McLain

Start date: August 15, 2013

Finish date: September 15, 2013

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Mary Anne

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

May 05, 2016 Arctic rated it it was amazing

If you liked circling the sun, you will probably also like this, and visa versa. While The Paris Wife is likewise a fascinating stroll through a remarkable historical period, offering a compelling look at some of the more famous characters of the time with a romantic thread running throughout, the story is very different and in some ways opposite that of Circling the Sun. Both are historical romantic tragedies of a sort but offered up from opposite perspectives. Both involve letting go of the lo ...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Linda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, fiction, chcpl, booktopia, vt-2013-author

What a fantastic read! A fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson. The author "channeled" Hadley after reading correspondence between the couple as well as any books available.
I never wanted to put this book down. I was completely involved, thrilled to come across many familiar names (Ezra Pound, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Sherwood Anderson), delighted to discover new books to add to my TBR and sorry when the book, as the ...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Barbara rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

I started this book about a year ago, and recently picked it back up. It was a bit tedious to start, but at Chapter 21, about a third through, I began to connect with Hadley. She lost something very important, and I flipped through the pages. By Chapter 30, I began to interrupt my reading to check WIkipedia for the people (Flossie Martin) and the places (Montparnasse Paris in the 20s). I'm enjoying this book, but not sure if Hemingway books are for me.
bcm, 6/21/12.

6/27/12. Finished.
I felt tha ...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Sylvia Tedesco rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this book after reading it for a while. The character of Hadley Richardson came very much alive, and to a certain extent, the young Ernest Hemingway. Incidentally, the picture of the stylish woman on the cover couldn't describe Hadley. I looked up pictures on Google Images and she was very down to earth and a natural, healthy beauty. I have never liked the kind of adventure-seeking man I supposed Hemingway to be, so it was no surprise when he moved on to a richer, more sophisticated wo ...more

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May 28, 2018 Laurel Bradshaw rated it liked it

Shelves: themes-wife-titles, daytimers-book-club, audiobook, 1920s, shamrocks-and-stones, paris, authors, color-rating-green

A three-star average book for me. Interesting enough, and well-researched and written, but not a style of writing (leaning toward romancy chick-lit) that I seek out nor a time and place that I am interested in. I read this because it fit my "wife" titles theme, and the bookclub is reading Hemingway next - an author I have never read. If you enjoy Paris, the 1920s, and biographical fiction this would be a lovely book for you. My overall impression of this doomed marriage is that Hadley was woeful ...more

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Jun 27, 2011 Jeanne rated it liked it

Shelves: 2011-reads

An okay read. Portrayed the lost generation rather well. I am always leary of fiction based on real life. If it becomes my only knowledge of the life of the character, it sort of becomes my truth. Scary that.

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Sep 13, 2012 Abbey rated it liked it

a nice, quick, historical fiction piece about hadley hemmingway, ernest's first wife. nothing life changing, but i'm sucker for late 1920's ex-pat paris stories. ...more

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Jun 06, 2013 Beth rated it liked it

For the first third (half?) of this book I rolled my eyes a lot. It read like a romance, which isn't my favorite genre. Having read Hemingway's version of the same events already, perhaps I was biased to begin with, but I had very little patience for Hadley and her long-sufferingness. By the story's end, however, I was emotionally involved enough to feel genuine sorrow for Hadley and Hem.

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Jul 10, 2011 Alan rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, france

Seems like a watered down version of movable feast, with lots of name dropping, and female emotion larded on. Picked it up because I saw Midnight in Paris, which at least had jokes. This was too serious.

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