I loved this book. If you enjoy historical fiction and are curious about the Jazz Age in Paris you will appreciate this book, too. I enjoyed the author's writing style and word choice. I thought that Hadley was portrayed in a very "real" way. The more the reader brings to the page will make a difference. It is not necessary to have read Hemingway to enjoy this story, but if you have a vision of the artists, writers and social life of the times the story will certainly have greater meaning for you.

read Hemingway's A moveable feast first, and then you will be able to skim this novel. The beginning and the end were interesting, but the middle was far too l-o-ng and repetitive. The character Hadley, and the person, needed more self esteem...

I really enjoyed the writing style. I found Ernest and Hadley very relatable throughout all their ups and downs. The way people lived in Paris during that time period was very interesting, and in some ways not all that different than many of the artistic groups of my generation. I am now very interested in reading works by Ernest Hemingway.

good, not great, seemed to get better at the end.....lot of info on hemingway i didn't know...

Well-written fictionalized biography of Hemingway's first (long-suffering in many ways) wife. The author does a great job of putting us in her shoes and also of giving a sense of the times, both in Paris and other European cities as well as in the States. However, it seems to me the woman was darn lucky he had a wandering eye, since that ultimately freed her. Hemingway was no doubt a larger-than-life character, but he was also no doubt a bit of a cad and more than a little self-obsessed and difficult to live with.

I've read most Hemingway, being yet to dip into one or two posthumously published works. I am also aware of much of his life-story, and so expected The Paris Wife to yet again cover well-trod ground. It doesn't. Paula McLain's diligent research pays dividends in bringing to life the relationship between a passionately brilliant and struggling, often difficult young writer and the less-than-worldly Hadley who, while eight years his senior - something I didn't know, grows up in his shadow. McLain writes confidently of Paris and its American expatriate denizens, their gregariousness, their generosity, and often their pettiness and foolishness. Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda, Ezra Pound, and Ford Maddox Ford are but a few who truly come to life in these pages. McLain's effortless prose welcomes the reader into a world that Hemingway later turned into The Sun Also Rises. There is a harrowing moment when a well-intentioned Hadley loses an entire suitcase of Ernest's writing. Hemingway would later turn the incident into a masterful scene in the little known Garden of Eden. Other revelations include Hemingway unable to sleep without a light, the result of a nightmarish wounding in WWI, and how miserable he was writing for The Toronto Star. My only complaint is an extended section dedicated to the birth of Earnest's and Hadley's son waxing too poetic. I know Ms McLain is a poet but this is prose. It's a minor squawk. Hemingway, who went through several wives, once said he never should have loved anyone but Hadley. He might also have said of this book that it's a damn fine novel.

One word sums up this marriage: exhausting. To me, she was walking on eggshells in order to pacify him and prevent "bad moods." He was a child and needed always to get his way. This book left me feeling indifferent; but I'm glad to have read it because I did get to know them from a historical fiction standpoint.

Written in the first person of Hadley Richardson Hemingway, this biographical novel sends the reader back to a time when Paris was the place to be for up and coming artists and writers. The Paris wife uses Paris and other parts of Europe as the backdrop for the six years of Ernest Hemingway's life with his first wife Hadley. An unknown 28 year-old American girl, Hedley's meeting of and subsequent marriage to Hemingway was to change her life forever. Although Ernest was to leave Hadley for another woman, the reader truly believes that she was the love of his life and that he probably regretted his decision. An excellent book which depicts a very specific moment in time. Highly recommended.

The Paris Wife is a fascinating read for anyone who's every taken an interest in Ernest Hemingway. While it is a fictional account of his life in Paris with first wife Hadley Richardson, Paula McLain did copious amount of research which give the narrative the feel of a historical memoir at points. This book does a great job of making the reader feel immersed in Jazz-age Paris--an exciting time and place in history. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that we see everything through the eyes of a woman who is both an insider and an outsider in this rich world of still-remembered artists, authors, and poets.

After seeing Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, I was intrigued to read this book. Although Ms. McLain's The Paris Wife is a darker depiction of 1920's Paris than Mr. Allen's film, it proved to be a satisfying read worthy of discussion and reflection.