Our book club got together last night to discuss this month's selection The Help.
Everyone really enjoyed it. We fell in love with some of the characters and truly hated others.
The story not only made us question how has society influenced us and our beliefs but our principals as well.
A very good read. Highly recommended.
Posted 9-17-11
CBC October's Read
A review - courtesy of J. Sullivan
The Paris Wifeby Paula McLain
The Paris Wife is a story/memoir based on the marriage years of writer Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson. I first took interest in the book because of the opportunity of a glimpse at the mystery of Hemingway during those years, of unncovering the secrets, the intimate details that took place behind closed doors before he became famous.
The story is told in Hadley's voiuce and from her point of view. It is historically accurate, since Paula McLain based the narrative on historical documents and reasearch. As a reader, I immediately sympathized and with Hadley and began to see that unique world through her eyes.
Reading this memoir from Hadley's point of view and seeing the progression, peaks and detereoration of the relationship through her eyes, gave me an almost behind-the-scenes, intimate and confidential peek at their lives. I really enjoyed this through-the-keyhole eavesdropping. Sprinkled throughout the book were a few narratives written from Henmingway's perspective, which added more clarity and insight into the story.
One of the things I most enjoyed was viewing the parade of colorful famous characters who inhabited 1920s Paris - the expatriate artists and literati and eccentrics - Gertrude Stein, the Fitzgeralds, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, etc. I felt immersed into an almost mythic, fabled world and given an unique chance to get a special insider's view. Fans of Woody Allen's recent film, Midnight in Paris would be able to relate.
As the marriage begins to deteriorate and the final debacle approaches, it becomes almost a painful read, though. But, the sadness and failure comes together in a bittersweet poetic way at story's end.
The attention to detail, extensive biographical references and pathos of the story makes The Paris Wife a narrative that I truly enjoyed. It give me an unique view of a place in time and a place in the heart of larger-than-life people as they lived their unique, but also intimate and ordinary lives.
CBC November's Read
