The Paris Wife by Paula McLain Is an Intoxicating Retelling of the Life of Ernest Hemingway and His First Wife as They Sink Into the Heavy Drinking, Free Loving Life of a Successful Writer and His Muse.

“He often said he’d died in the war, just for a moment; that his soul had left his body like a silk handkerchief, slipping out and levitating over his chest.”

I was instantly swept into the painfully romantic world of the early 1900’s. From Chicago to Spain, Paris to Carmel. I would’ve followed these characters anywhere.

“We say what we mean, but it’s hard isn’t it? It might be the hardest thing of all, being really honest.”

It was refreshing to read such flowery but apt language and I found myself using more tabs in this book than most that I’ve read this year.

“Maybe no one can know how it is for anyone else.”

(the photo above is from the back cover of a biography about Hemingway’s first wife entitled Hadley.)

The Paris Wife is a great read for anyone who appreciates the Hemingway mythology and/or the Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris. Perfect publishing timing too as F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda are crucial characters in the book and attention is focused on Fitzgerald again with the new release of the Great Gatsby film.

“You have to digest life. You have to chew it up and love it all through. You have to live with your eyes, really.”