What readers think of The Paris Wife, plus links to write your own review.

McLain’s novel took me back to the Hemingway stories and novels I have read as well as calling up much of what I once knew about the expatriates following WW1, of whom Hemingway was a member. McLain’s book does an excellent job of setting the scene first in the US and later in Europe of the wild life led by many young people who bought into living a Bohemian life with sex and seemingly endless drinking as well as using drugs. McLain lets Hadley tell of her infatuation with the charismatic writer (eight years younger than she is), their decision to marry and move to Paris. Readers realize early that this is not a relationship that can last. The best parts of the book are the descriptions of Paris which seems almost like a small town where the artists and writers, including Gertrude Stein, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound and others who form a united if unstable group of friends, as well as the descriptions of the bull fighting in Spain.

I really felt I was living in this unstable world and sympathized with Hadley as she watched her marriage fall apart while Ernest became more and more concerned with his own reputation and with fitting into a world that she could not accept. If for no other reason, the novel is worth reading for taking us back to a time many of us know little about.

I enjoyed this book for the description of the 20's life style. The relationship was dysfunctional and Hemingway so needy. After reading this book my interest was peaked and I went on to do further research about Hemingway and his life.

What a beautifully written and entertaining book!

It was a treat to be transported to Paris and experience life in the exciting 20's. Anyone who enjoys Ernest Hemingway will love the intimate story of his early years with first wife, Hadley. After reading this book, I wanted to read even more of his work!

The first part of this book (about 130 pages) is about the courtship and first years of marriage of Hemingway and his first wife, before he became a known writer, and I found it kind of boring. Then I got to part where she takes all of his original manuscripts with her on a trip to meet him somewhere in Europe, then finds the valise, in which she has placed the sum total of his writing to that point, is missing. It is such a shocking moment that it jolted my interest to keep reading just to find out if she finds it. This book gives a behind the scenes view of Hemingway's life while he was writing some of his early books, and the reality was surprisingly close to the fictional books. It made me want to read his books that I missed and re-read the ones I read so long ago. I would recommend this book to Hemingway lovers.

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. Something was missing. The facts were there, but I never quite connected with the main character, Hadley. I did, however, enjoy reading about "The Lost Generation"--American Expats in 1920s Paris. That alone was worth the read.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain was a disappointment to me. None of the characters, especially those of Hemingway and Hadley, became alive as I read the book. The relaxed pace of the book never gained enough speed to capture the excitement of running the bulls of Pamplona nor the intensity of the Paris when many of the most important literary figures of time gathered, or the intricate first marriage of Hemingway.
Ms. McLain used reliable research sources for her fictional account of the marriage between Hadley Richardson and Ernest Hemingway, and the reader wanting a Lost Generation moment or two would be better off to stick to those sources than The Paris Wife.

While I liked the book, I didn't LOVE the book. To me the characters were flat and stiff with the exception of Ernest who came away as a most selfish man. I felt deeply sorry for Hadley and her life with Hemingway.