Paula McLain

Follows the life of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, as she navigates 1920s Paris.

Book Club in a Bag

The Paris Wife

a novel

The Paris wife

Mellanie Ann Duque

P.S. this is just a short review

This is about a tragic love story and betrayal. it was hard for me to finish this book. but i was so moved on the last chapters. Specifically, chapter 46 and 47, it made me cry. Ernest Hemingway’s infidelity to Hadley (his wife) ruined everything. i doubted Ernest the whole time lol. this book explains that betraying someone is a choice. it is all about love and betrayal (opps! did I said that again?). which explains that everything has its end. this is a really touching novel. it also explains what can a man do for love…

-MellanieAnnS.Duque

Ben Jenkins

Audiobook with Meggie. Pretty sad and Hemingway is hard to like but then again it seems like that's how he was.

Amy Thibodeau

This was easy to read and had moments of being quite engaging, but overall, I found the writing a bit dramatic in a romance novel kind of way. The main characters were frustrating, which isn't actually the author's fault since they are based on real people. 

It was fine. I guess.

emily pearce

Brigid prior 

** spoiler alert **
           This book is depressing to the core. The entire time I was reading it, I was just trying to get to the end to finish it and put these characters out of their misery. I don't recommend it.

Selena Rivera

I have always believed Paris has magic in the air from the pictures and movies I’ve let myself into. This book did a beautiful job of making me feel this even more! This was my travel book bc I was lonely in quarantine read 😂 if you need to be transported somewhere else this is the book. It’s full of twisty turvy deep and sad love. I haven’t cried because of a book in awhile and this was it!

Melody Izard

Why don't I review my books right when I finish? Did I really like this enough to give it 4 stars? I guess I did so here I go.

I first read Moveable Feast, the Hemingway memoir on which this piece of fiction is based and maybe that is why I liked The Paris Wife so much. I liked having the blanks filled in with something - even if it was fiction. Hemingway hints in the preface to his memoir that he might have include some fiction. Memory can sometimes distort and rearrange and even sometime invent new events and words.

McLain was completely free to embellish. And that sometimes bothers me when the real is mixed with the created. But somehow, Hemingway's permission made me settle down and enjoy. Oh the 20's flapper girl affectation got a little old, but apparently not old enough to interfere with being swallowed up by the Paris literary life clouded a bit by a strong spirit or two.

Lisa Miller

Fascinating story that has made me want to read more Hemingway, in particular A Moveable Feast. I was entertained and enjoyed the story however there was a lot of foreshadowing which made it feel cold, distant and removed. It was not a biography but too much in the style of one. Recommended read but it will not blow you away.

noha

4.5

“We called Paris the great good place, then, and it was. We invented it after all. We made it with our longing and cigarettes and Rhum St. James; we made it with smoke and smart and savage conversation and we dared anyone to say it wasn’t ours. Together we made everything and then we busted it apart again.”

 I just finished the book and I’m overwhelmed by it :”> 
first and foremost, I love love love how the author captured the atmosphere of Paris; I felt like I was there, like I walked the streets of Paris, lived there, skied , went fishing, fell in love and wrote a book! 

 Mclain did an excellent job in capturing the personalities of her characters. Even though, it’s a first person narrative it didn’t feel like I was reading the book, instead, I was able to hear Hadley tell me the story; it felt so alive and achingly beautiful <3 
Each of the other characters had a fair share.. ygm? Also, even when i knew how the book will end it didn’t get boring at all ;-; aaah what a book, right in the feels!
Such an enchanting style of writing that just makes you feel like going to Paris, eat in cafes, take long walks, fall in love and write and write and write~ 


I love literature 💭✨

SnarkByThePage

interesting facts and background, but poor narrative

Rebecca Light

What a wonderful read. This book is a real treat. Read it in the summer or on vacation, or on a long train ride. It's not going to challenge your literary prowess by any means. I won't go so far as to say it's book candy. It has a bit more nutritional value and complexity than that. Let's say, it's a book petit fours. 

I loved this book for many of the same reasons I loved "Loving Frank." It's a story about a real woman from history who not many people know anything about but who meant so much to an incredibly famous man. You know what they say, behind every great man...

I'd say in addition to this book being a delicious peek into the world of early 20th century Paris, perhaps more so it's a very relatable story of two people falling love, and trying to survive when that love begins to crumble. It's very heart-wrenching.

If you liked Midnight in Paris, you'll love this book.

The Paris Wife Book Club in a Bag

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