The Paris Wife by Paula McLain is the January book choice of one book club. I foisted this on my second book club as well.
This historical fiction follows Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley from the time they met through their strange divorce. Set in the 1920’s there is plenty of alcohol, jazz, and cigarettes for the characters to get lost. Hadley, coming from a dysfunctional family where her father committed suicide, was the right partner for tolerating Hemingway’s PTSD, alcoholism, and depression.
Hemingway, a tortured soul from WWI, was caught up in his writing, his friends, his drinking. In Paris, where he hoped to be inspired to write, he was surrounded by friends who had spouses and lovers. When he took Hadley’s friend for a mistress, Hadley tolerated it to the point that the 3 of them went on vacation together. She eventually lost patience and the marriage broke down.
They divorced, both remarried (he had a total of 4 wives), and eventually Hemingway suicided just as Hadley’s father had.
Half way through the book, I was curious about Hadley. Here wikipedia page read exactly like the book outlined. When I read up to the part on the wiki that I was up to in the book, I stopped reading. I usually don’t mind spoilers, but I wanted the story via the book instead of the internet. I didn’t like Hemingway before this book and this reading experience did little to endear me to him.
