Author: Paula McLain
This book is about the larger than life character that Ernest Hemingway was and had received a lot of accolades from various publications and numerous amazon readers as well. There was one small problem; I hadn't read a single Hemingway novel.
The book describes the early life of Hemingway when he left the US to live in Paris with his wife Hadley. From some of the reviews I gathered that the time-line covered in this book was when he published "The sun also rises" and so I first set out to read the Hemingway classic (link to my review)
The first thing that struck me about this book is that it is extremely well written and dramatized to make you feel that you were a fly on the wall in the Hemingway apartment in Paris. One thing that you will observe, especially if you have read "The sun also rises" is how the conversation in this book is very modern and phrases used here were definitely not popular in the period this took place. However, the use of comtemporary language constructs certainly make the story much more approachable and easy to follow.
The book also brings out the discipline and dedication that some of the great literary artists put into their work. Hemingway used to wake up early and go to his studio to write his novels and he did this consistently through the period described int his book. Another aspect that I found enlightening was how Hemingway spent a considerable effort in tweaking the manuscript for maximal effect.
Finally, the book will leave you envious of the wild life that the author and all the literary artists lived in the early twentieth century in Paris. I recommend this book, both as a work of entertainment, but also a chronicle of the lives of the early expatriate literary artists.
This book is about the larger than life character that Ernest Hemingway was and had received a lot of accolades from various publications and numerous amazon readers as well. There was one small problem; I hadn't read a single Hemingway novel.The book describes the early life of Hemingway when he left the US to live in Paris with his wife Hadley. From some of the reviews I gathered that the time-line covered in this book was when he published "The sun also rises" and so I first set out to read the Hemingway classic (link to my review)
The first thing that struck me about this book is that it is extremely well written and dramatized to make you feel that you were a fly on the wall in the Hemingway apartment in Paris. One thing that you will observe, especially if you have read "The sun also rises" is how the conversation in this book is very modern and phrases used here were definitely not popular in the period this took place. However, the use of comtemporary language constructs certainly make the story much more approachable and easy to follow.
The book also brings out the discipline and dedication that some of the great literary artists put into their work. Hemingway used to wake up early and go to his studio to write his novels and he did this consistently through the period described int his book. Another aspect that I found enlightening was how Hemingway spent a considerable effort in tweaking the manuscript for maximal effect.
Finally, the book will leave you envious of the wild life that the author and all the literary artists lived in the early twentieth century in Paris. I recommend this book, both as a work of entertainment, but also a chronicle of the lives of the early expatriate literary artists.
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