3.7 out of 4 stars.
“Who doesn’t want to read about the artist life in Paris?”
After the Great War, Hemingway moves to Paris with his then wife, Hadley (he would go on to have a total of four). The year is 1921 and an amazing time to be a writer in the beautiful city. Other big names were also there, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sylvia Beach, to name a few. It seemed Ernest’s creative approach was to write every day as much as possible and not just focus on one story from start to finish. This can be seen that “A Moveable Feast” and “The Sun Also Rises” were written over the same period of time but just released different years.
This book is set up as a memoir; the reader is given a glimpse into his world of friends, marriage, and his habitual surroundings of Paris. Of course, it goes without saying that Hemingway became famous for his sheer brilliance of writing, but this book also shows that it is his confidence to be brutally honest that also added quite a bit to his appeal. F. Scott Fitzgerald had written “The Great Gatsby” and was a celebrity in his own right, but that did not stop Ernest from being open about his downfalls, especially involving his wife, Zelda throughout hints found in “A Moveable Feast”. This must of not hurt book sales for Gatsby fans to find out the dirty details of such a famous author. However, I do have to hand it to Hemingway, because he does not only put others on blast, but he is also truthful with his own pitfalls. For instance, toward the end of this book, he makes references to beginning an affair with Pauline Pfeiffer. Sadly, she was a friend of Hadley’s at the time and ends up causing the two to divorce.
It is always interesting to read a Classic book because in our day in age we are all spoiled with being surrounded by action packed bundles. Whether it be through television, film, or even current books. They are all trying to push the envelope. Ernest Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast” is a slow jaunt through a time period that was special for him. No real big highs or lows are evident but the reader still leaves remembering what he wrote about. This is another type of impact that I believe only the Classics can obtain when reading. No glitz, glamour, or cliff-hangers, but just honestly beautiful writing.
