Book Nook: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Before I started reading The Paris Wife, I checked out the New York Time's review of it. I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed by Janet Maslin's mediocre review of what I've been told by patrons is a really great story. Maslin sees the character of Hadley Richardson as stilted, dull, and self conscious and doesn't understand the draw that this type of person would have had in 1920s Paris. Or even why we, as readers, should be interested in such a "stodgy bore."

This novel was based on extensive research about Hadley and Ernest Hemingway's relationship, so one would hope that the author would have used Hadley's real voice as much as possible. It doesn't seem like Hemingway would have ever married a stodgy bore, so perhaps the real voice wasn't executed in the way it should have been.

However, my interpretation of the story was different than Ms. Maslins. I didn't LOVE this book, but I enjoyed the details that McLain used describing the places the Hemingways lived and the easiness with which the story unfolded. The language seemed very real to me. One of the lines that Maslin commented about was, "Why couldn't I be happy? And just what was happiness anyway?"

She interpreted this type of language to mean the character was wishy-washy, shy and too insecure. But how often have I found myself asking the same questions? Maybe that's not the type of character some people want to follow, but I felt a real connection with Hadley and the struggle to be her own person in the shadow of Hemingway's ego. 

My only real problem with the story is that I think McLain was too nice to Hemingway. She was using Hadley's voice, so I believe it was done intentionally to represent Hadley's attachment to Hemingway. However, Hemingway was a bully, a drunk, a misogynist, and a philanderer. He wasn't always the nice boyishly excited guy Hadley met in Chicago. I wish there had been more of the italicized outside perspectives of Hemingway through the book. They really gave more depth to the narrative because readers were given a glimpse of the bigger picture and the demons that haunted such a talented and troubled man. 

This is not an actual biography of the couple, it is a fictionalized account of their relationship and unfortunate unraveling of their marriage. The detail that should accompany a biography isn't here in this story. McLain glosses over months of life, but manages to capture the frenetic pace of travel that the couple did and the amount of work that Hemingway undertook both as a novelist and as a journalist. We don't need to know the nitty gritty, because that isn't the purpose of this novel. We are supposed to jump into this strange world of alcohol, squalor, sexual freedom, and literature that isn't something familiar to us. We are taken on a journey and the glossiness of the timeline helps us move through the narrative with ease.

I found this book to be similar to The Hand That First Held Mine, minus the mysterious family secrets. It is a good historical fiction novel that spends the right amount of time on the sights and smells of Pamplona, Paris, and Chicago. I would recommend this book to anyone who is keen on traveling because the language really makes you want to experience Europe before all the beautiful places are destroyed. I would also recommend this book to readers who like just a little bit of romance in their stories. This isn't a bodice ripper by any stretch, but it's tender, messy and evocative.