On Being Poor and Happy in Paris
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This book is Hemingway's recollection of living in Paris as a young writer, including the period when he wrote "The Sun Also Rises". Don't expect this to be a nonfictional version of the aforementioned masterpiece, but rather approach this book as an insight into the beautiful life Hemingway lived while he was younger. Like any book which is set in Paris, expect plenty descriptions of walking through the various quarters, written with such style that Hemingway's laid-back and gratified approach to life feels like more than mere words on a page. For me the best part of the book was Hemingway's section on F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is interesting seeing one great writer's (humorous) perspective of another. The only negative thing I have to say about this book is that Hemingway alludes to many other interesting situations that he does not expand on, but still, the book is a very enjoyable recollection.
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One of the lucky ones
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By the end of his life, Hemingway and his narratives had become so intertwined in so many ways that it was often impossible to know where the fiction ended and the real life began. Hemingway was a master at incorporating elements of his own life and experience into his fiction, and acting out elements of his stories in his own life, that by the time of this text, 'A Moveable Feast', written near the end of his life (and published posthumously) the boundary between fact and fiction was a very permeable boundary. Of course, for Hemingway, truth was about as fascinating as fiction could ever be. With this particular text, the reader learns much about Hemingway and the particular time of the artists and post-World War I community in Paris. The inscription shows the influence that this time and experience had on Hemingway: 'If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.' Hemingway wrote this to a friend in 1950, several years before working on this text. Of course, the Moveable Feast that was Paris for Hemingway was not simply Paris, but a particular Paris - the Paris of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, of Ford Madox Ford and Ezra Pound, of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda. Hemingway has a no-holds-barred sense of writing, both for those he liked and those he didn't. His description of Zelda, for example, in both physical and personality aspects, is a rather scathing critique - F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway were competitive friends, but Zelda Fitzgerald and Hemingway were rivals in many more ways. Hemingway's recollections of his wife, Hadley, are equally intimate, often romantic while remaining realistic. The Paris that was the post-war-to-end-all-wars bastion of moderns and artistry is no longer present, yet still remains an iconic paradise of sorts given the work that was produced from this hot-house of talent, reaching half a century later into the work of Hemingway for one last, grand proclamation. This is an important book, to be read by those who appreciate Hemingway, American authors, international influences in literature, and culture. Published after his death, this was perhaps Hemingway's way of having the final word in many then-unfinished conversations.
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A guide to Paris and its writers
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I read this book while living in Paris. From reading other works by Hemingway, I realized that A Moveable Feast isn't as sophisticated as his novels. He writes as if in a stream of thought rather than being descriptive and evoking, so it was disappointing in that respect. Also, the novel, somewhat, lacks flow, but this could be so because of its posthumous publication. This doesn't hamper the ability to understand the novel in anyway, so it's a take it or leave it situation. The two things that I enjoyed most about A Moveable Feast was its adherence to places and people found in Paris during the twenties and, if you are fascinated by such writers as Gertrude Stein or F. Scott Fitzgerald or just writers in general, this is definitely a key text to learning more about the personalities of these writers...through Hemingway's eyes, of course, but always interested, insightful, and sometimes hilarious in a quirky way. What also impressed me about this book is the personal insight into Hemingway's own life--how he lived, how he felt, what kind of person he was. He describes several scenarios involving his wife and other writers that portray who Hemingway was as a person. Also, since this was written shortly before his suicide, it is possible to see a sort of descent in Hemingway's mood as he closes the novel, which adds a moving and sorrowful end to the novel. Considering these elements, I think A Moveable Feast is definitely worth reading, particularly if one is staying in Paris. (Hemingway mentions the adresses--most of which are still intact in Paris--of other famous writers as well as places, such as the Closerie de Lilas, where he ate, drank, and "shopped.") It can serve as a mini-guidebook for those interested in expatriate writers.
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Can never decide with Hemingway
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I'm not sure if I'm the only one that feels this way - but its just that Hemmingway is so hyped and supposedly amongst the best authors of the century. But I just dont see it -for the life of me I cannot get over his 3 word sentences. " she was pretty." " we drank some more". " I went to bed". Its like reading a seven year old's story book. For me to enjoy a book, it has to engage me in more ways than one - the language has to be beautiful. The story has to captivate me completely. As much as I try to like him, Hemmingway just doesnt seem to prove his worth - I've read The Sun Also Rises and now A Moveable Feast. I dont think I'm going to pick up another Hemmingway.
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Memoir or Just A Bunch of Memories?
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After returning from a trip to Paris I decided to read this memoir by Hemmingway because I heard he loved Paris as much as I. I have to say I imagined a beautifully descriptive book filled with telling prose and wonderful scenes of Paris. I love the way Hemmingway writes but this book disappointed me. It may be that it was published after his death and slapped together without his perfectionistic control. "A Moveable Feast" is an interesting read, simple even. If you know Paris you can even walk with Hemmingway along the Rues and conjure up a few old cafes that are still in business. If you are a writer it is nice to imagine yourself as the poor and struggling Hemmingway bent on a dream. But the stories are really nothing more than gossip about other writers and reknown figures such as, Fitzgerald, Stein, James, Pound and others flocking through Paris in the 1920's. I was hoping for more. The only paragraph I paid much attention to because of its "Hemmingway" quality read like this, "They say the seeds of what we will do are in all of us, but it seemed to me that in those who make jokes in life the seeds are covered with better soil and with a higher grade of manure." Gems like this can be found but unfortuneately not often. Paris and Hemmingway are both such profound enigmas that I expected a gourmet feast not just a trip to Denny's!
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