Author: Ernest Hemingway
The new novel on Ernest Hemingway's first wife, "The Paris Wife" was getting rave reviews, not just for its historical storyline, but simply as a great novel. Some of the reviewers expounded on how it was during his time in Paris with his first wife, Hemingway wrote "The Sun Also Rises". Since I had never read any Hemingway, I felt that reading this novel before I read "The Paris Wife" might help me better appreciate the author and his life around the time he wrote this book.
For more than half of the book, I found it very difficult to get absorbed by it. There were several different characters that were very hard to identify with and they mostly spent time in cafes and nightclubs getting drunk and exchanging light banter. I found it hard to follow the dialog as well, since there were long sections of alternating statements and I had sometimes to go back and count every even sentence to make sure I was ascribing it to the right character. The content and context of these conversations were rather trivial and I couldn't easily figure out who was saying what and found no reason to care either.
Somewhere towards the middle of the book, it starts to make sense and some of Hemingway's description of the "Running of the Bulls" is very vivid and clear. It is here that I got a true appreciation for his genius at describing events with clear and precise prose. It almost seemed like his goal was to describe the scene is as few words as possible. I have to say I was converted and got sucked into the story in the latter half. Overall, not a book that I highly recommend, but definitely read it if you have "The Paris Wife" in your sights. As I will explain in the next review, it all makes sense when you read that book.
The new novel on Ernest Hemingway's first wife, "The Paris Wife" was getting rave reviews, not just for its historical storyline, but simply as a great novel. Some of the reviewers expounded on how it was during his time in Paris with his first wife, Hemingway wrote "The Sun Also Rises". Since I had never read any Hemingway, I felt that reading this novel before I read "The Paris Wife" might help me better appreciate the author and his life around the time he wrote this book.For more than half of the book, I found it very difficult to get absorbed by it. There were several different characters that were very hard to identify with and they mostly spent time in cafes and nightclubs getting drunk and exchanging light banter. I found it hard to follow the dialog as well, since there were long sections of alternating statements and I had sometimes to go back and count every even sentence to make sure I was ascribing it to the right character. The content and context of these conversations were rather trivial and I couldn't easily figure out who was saying what and found no reason to care either.
Somewhere towards the middle of the book, it starts to make sense and some of Hemingway's description of the "Running of the Bulls" is very vivid and clear. It is here that I got a true appreciation for his genius at describing events with clear and precise prose. It almost seemed like his goal was to describe the scene is as few words as possible. I have to say I was converted and got sucked into the story in the latter half. Overall, not a book that I highly recommend, but definitely read it if you have "The Paris Wife" in your sights. As I will explain in the next review, it all makes sense when you read that book.
