The first 5 years in Paris, Hadley held his hand and supported him through the good times and the bad. Paris in the 1920s was full of experiment and non-traditional lifestyles and soon Ernest fell into the rhythms of society which shaped his future as a writer as well as a man. Many people know the reputation Ernest gained throughout his life. He had many women and partied throughout his travels. This book provides Hadley's perspective of life with Ernest.
I found this book interesting for many reasons. First, Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises is one of my favorite books of all time. He wrote it early in his career and The Paris Wife illustrates his experiences which led up to the book. I feel like I had a much deeper appreciation for The Paris Wife because I had read The Sun Also Rises and could adapt to the book much more easily. I also found it interesting to learn more about what life was like for artists in Paris during the era as well as how closely many of those artists worked together. At the beginning, Ernest is introduced to many authors and artists that have become timeless such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. The book emphasizes what a close-knit community writers and artists were a part of and how they influenced each other in good and bad ways.
I still don't understand the lifestyle that many chose during the 1920s but I feel like it influences the works that have come from that generation. The Paris Wife (though fiction) gives good portrayal of some of the challenges that spouses went through during the time and how their influence may have shaped some of the works we read today. I recommend this book because it is not only a good read, but it also provides depth to an era that many people cannot truly understand today.