“Book Concierge said: 4****
Early in his career, Hemingway lived in Paris. This is his memoir of that time, when he was poor but he could still afford to spend an afternoon in a café sipping wine and writing. He and Hadley were in love and had time to enjoy themselves and each other. At the same time, he was immersed in a world that fueled his creative juices. He remembered encounters with Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and other luminaries of the day.
Here’s how he describes Scott Fitzgerald: His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly’s wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred. Later he became conscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learned to think and could not fly anymore because the love of flight was gone and he could only remember when it had been effortless.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have shared even one afternoon with these young writers! I’ve been a Hemingway fan since I first read The Old Man and the Sea when I was in high school. There is immediacy to his writing that just draws me into the world of his work. Naughton does a wonderful job of narrating. His bass is perfect for the uber masculine Hemingway.”
