Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Interesting book about Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, and their life together in Paris between WWI and WWII. Reminded me very much of Loving Frank - why do "geniuses" get away with behaving like jerks and why do smart women allow men to treat them so badly? In relation to When Everything Changed (see post by Lisa), some of this was due to the period they lived in but I also realize that it still happens today. Earlier this year I read part of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein (NOT a book that I recommend)about the same group of people living in Paris during that time so I enjoyed getting a different view point. I confess that I haven't read anything by Hemingway but may do so in the future just to find out whether or not I agree that he was the genius that he and everyone else thought he was. The book is very well written in the genre that I recently discovered is called "creative non-fiction" - a story based on facts.
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I read this book based on Carrie's reco and had many of the same reactions. It was well written and I was insanely jealous of their travels/experiences but you did just want to give him a good slap. I read one of his stories in school, Hills Like White Elephants, and don't remember thinking it was a literary masterpiece.
ReplyDeleteI think my problem is modern art in general - I never understand why some things that go up at the MoMa are art when I'm pretty convinced a child could recreate it. The whole idea he and Gertrude had of whittling away at his stories so they were incredibly succinct and their whole existential exchange annoyed me - it makes me think modern artists know that we don't get their art but can hold it over our heads as though we are the "uncultured swine."