The One You Remember

Review of The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Before I start this review I have to admit I’m very poorly read when it comes to Hemmingway. I’ve read a few of his short stories, but the only novel I’ve finished is “The Old Man and the Sea”. I enjoyed them all, but Hemmingway just isn’t one of my favorite American authors. I tend to vere more towards the dark romantics than the transcendentalists. Give me Hawthorne or Washington Irving any day. But Hemmingway?Well, I could take him or leave him. Don’t worry, I completely respect people who jumped on board the transcendentalist train, it’s just not for me. No need for debate (but I am more than willing to have a friendly one).
So why the soapbox on Hemmingway you ask? Well, for those of 
you who aren’t familiar with the plot of McLain’s The Paris Wife, it details Ernest Hemmingway’s relationship with his first wife. The wife he took with him to Paris. Her name was Hadley. Hadley is
twenty-eight and Ernest’s senior, but he makes her feel alive. He awakens in her a passion for life Hadley has given up on for years and the two fall madly, truly in love. The beginning of the book
describing their courtship is filled with the fairy tale kind of love girls want and the honesty and stability grown women crave.  In short, Hemmingway comes across as the perfect man. Even if he is broke, they’re living day to day, and Ernest is trying to make a career out of something almost no one believes in (the bane of most writers).
Then the two have the opportunity to move to Paris and become part of the classic “Lost Generation” and the Hemmingway we all know for his literary acclaim is born. But the Lost Generation quickly turns into the heavy drinking, up all nighting Jazz Age. Then the marriage starts to fall apart. Hadley wants a family and a life. Hemmingway wants to write with a mad passion that leads him seeking other women for…inspiration.
The story ends (as we all know it does) with Hemmingway and Hadley’s divorce, but it’s the story that takes them from America, to Paris, to America that is really the heart of this book. What I was most impressed with was McLain’s ability to keep this from being just a book about Hemmingway. In some instances Ernest Hemmingway is just a secondary character in this novel and it is Hadley and her fears and dreams and hopes, that keep this book moving and keep it original. Hemmingway and Hadley are transformed from the extraordinary to the ordinary. They could be any young couple moving towards their dreams, any young couple falling out of love.
While I enjoyed the book it didn’t quite live up to all the hype surrounding it, at least not in my opinion. I had this book recommended to me on all fronts and thought that when I opened it up I would be emersed in a world of literary phenomenon. The book is good. But it’s not quite that good. The transitions between chapters and perspectives is a bit choppy at times and the sections where McLain puts the reader in Ernest’s head aren’t nearly as well done or emotional as the majority of the book where we’re with Hadley. In this case the choice to switch perspectives really takes away from the story. I’d rather stay with Hadley than watch McLain struggle to recreate Hemmingway’s uncreatable voice.
If you’re in the mood for a romance and already have a knowledge of the writing world at the time (and enjoy it) this is a book I’d recommend you pick up if you haven’t already. But keep in mind you have to be looking for both parts. If you just want to read about the Jazz Age of Paris you’ll be disappointed. If you just want a romance you’ll find parts a little slow and monotonous. Come to this book with the right mindsight, however, and you’ll enjoy it.