Mrs. Hemingway: A Novel

4.75 STARS!! I found this to be an engaging historical FICTION read about the complex American writer, Ernest Hemingway, and his four marriages. There are a number of truly beautiful, poetic descriptions that made me stop and just enjoy. Within each of the book's four sections (one for each of Hemingway's wives), the author wove the endings of each marriage with the beginnings of the next. Her crafting of the novel led me to believe Hemingway truly loved being in love and couldn't bear to ever be alone. Of course, I don't know if that's truth or just her dramatization of his life. The novel is written in the first-person POV of each wife, and emphasizes the women's similarities, differences, connections, and possible real-life perceptions about each other--as well as Hemingway and the world at large.Some reviewers feel the scope of this book is far too narrow, since we learn only as much about the women as their connection to Hemingway, but that didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the story. I also found the factual to be woven seamlessly within the theoretical and fictional that I found myself tempted to believe ALL of it.It's been a few weeks since I finished reading this novel, yet I'm still very curious about a few points in MRS. HEMINGWAY. So much so that I wish I could have a chat with the author. I'd want to know which parts are true, which might be but can't be proven, and which are fabricated. I don't share or see having questions about a book I've read as a negative. In fact, the highest praise I feel an author can receive is when a reader says how s/he didn't want it to end and that s/he was left wanting more. Because of this novel, I want to research further about Hemingway's work, his life, and that of his wives and contemporaries. If you love history, women's fiction, beautiful language, and complex, introspective, and emotional reads, I'd highly recommend Mrs. Hemingway.Why not 5 Stars?? The jumping back-and-forth in time within each section (separated chronologically by wives) was irksome here and there, (but it was especially useful in the fourth section. In spite of that jumping around in time, I still very much enjoyed this novel. I'm a huge fan of history in general, and find Hemingway's professional/personal life endlessly fascinating. (I can't say I'm a fan of his, but I do find him an intriguing figure in American Literature/history.) At times repugnant, others endearing, I found Hemingway's depiction in this book to be well-balanced overall. I also felt so much more understanding and empathy for each of the wives than I've had after other historical/fictional accounts.

Mrs. Hemingway, a novel, revealed what the writer’s four marriages may have been like from the inside. Ernest did not like to live alone and he also had a wandering eye. Serial monogamy was the answer to his dilemma. Each wife apparently thought she’d be the exception and the solution for his womanizing. But each failed.It’s an interesting study of one man in many marriages, each completely different. The novel closely follows the documented events of his four marriages and shows the similarities and uniqueness of each relationship. The women are well drawn and their stories are sympathetic and believable. As always with historical fiction it’s perplexing not to known what is real and what is contrived, but the women fare well even if their judgment is often suspect. What doesn’t always come across is the intense appeal of Hemingway himself. He’s often rude, deceitful, selfish and childish and his need and capacity for alcohol is epic. (In fairness, his wives all try to match him drink for drink, but he’s in a class of his own.) It’s amazing he functions as well, as brilliantly, as he does.His alcohol-fueled candle blazed at both ends and scarred his life and the lives of the women who loved him.A good read for Hemingway fans.

I really wanted to love this book… I commenced reading, but something didn’t feel right. Some sentences in the book read like sentences in romance novels. But this thought did not occur to me until I had read approximately 25 percent of the book. I felt increasingly confused. I went back and reread parts of the book in an effort to discover what it was that I didn’t like.It occurred to me that the book may lack credibility. Many parts of the book are made up of dialogs between Hemingway and his wives and other people. I wondered if these people really could have said what was written. Perhaps. But how could the author know?At this stage I had a closer look at the table of contents. There was an Afterword and the first sentence said, “This is a work of imagination.”At this moment I realized that I was reading a novel, not a nonfiction book as I had assumed earlier. I went back to the first pages of the book and also had another look Amazon’s short description of the book, but I couldn’t find anything that could have warned me about the true nature of the book earlier.I was disappointed. I realized that I was, indeed, reading a romance novel: admittedly, a very sophisticated romance novel, a well-written work of biographical fiction, but nevertheless, in many respects “a work of imagination.”I think this should have been made clear to the reader from the beginning, perhaps in a Foreword, but not at the very end of the book in an Afterword.The good thing was, from the moment I had discovered the true nature of this book, I was able to read it from a different perspective. I started to get some enjoyment out of it it and the book turned into entertainment.

I like to think I know a lot about Hemingway and his four wives. I've read many biographies, his works, and some based-on fiction. I enjoyed this latest work of fiction that chronicles the lives of all four Hemingway wives.Wood does a great job of painting each woman in a sympathetic but realistic light. I've always thought Hadley was a bit of a mouse, my favorite wife was Gellhorn, and Mary was just an afterthought in my mind.I know this is a work of fiction, but it follows the history of Hemingway's wives well.

In four parts, each from the point of view of a different Ernest Hemingway wife, each focusing on a marriage nearing its end, with memories of its beginning and history.It was ‘A Moveable Feast’ that got me hooked on all this last June. Since then, Paula McLain’s ‘The Paris Wife’ was wonderful, and had me keen to know how his second marriage went. Then ‘Fiesta: The Sun also Rises’ disappointed me – not a patch on ‘A Farewell to Arms’ or ‘For whom the Bell Tolls’ or indeed ‘A Moveable Feast’, but nor should it be – it was his first novel; the others came later. Interesting nevertheless. He wrote it while with wife number one, dedicated it to her and their son, thinly disguised all his friends in it, but excluded all mention of her.So, now, Naomi Wood’s book is great, giving me the lowdown on wife two (who got her come-uppance), wife three (who gave Ernest his), and wife four (who became his widow). Very readable, though the last section is a little confusing, not quite as good. I thought this might satisfy my interest in Hemingway’s love life, but it turns out that wife four wrote a memoir, which will surely shine some light on that confusing last section...

I knew very little about Ernest Hemingway but this book had been recommended so I was happy to learn more about it. The book shows his life through the eyes of his series of wives. The book is based on his real story but there is a heavy fictional element. Historical fiction sounds like quite a heavy description when talking about a book which is based in the twentieth century but I think that is how I would portray it.The story looks at Ernest from his wife's perspective and explores the change from wife to wife. We only see the women's view but the book is very clearly about Ernest and his passions.It is a very sensual book with emotions and sentiments always prominent in the narrative. The stories are set out chronologically but they move back and forward in time - the structure is very clever and is always very natural. We meet each wife, then we learn how she met Ernest, then we learn what went wrong.I felt that the book lost it's way towards the ending (as Ernest Hemingway did) but that didn't spoil the enjoyment too much.

Although I've read a few Hemingway books, I know little about the man himself other than an impression that he was a larger than life individual. Although a work of fiction, Mrs Hemingway has a real feel of truth and I was interested to see the references to Naomi Wood's research.This book works really well at a couple of levels; a work of fact and fiction. It's a compelling tale of multiple love triangles. Hemingway is the fixed central point, the sun around whom all revolve. He doesn't come out of the narrative well; an egocentric lush whose self interest, betrayal and duplicity beggars belief. He seems incredibly needy but I found it difficult to feel any sympathy for him.Naomi Woods' research gives a real sense of authenticity to the people and places. The narrative slips back and forth in time and place. The Antibes felt really claustrophobic as the the Hemingways entertain and relationships sour. Wives and lovers are seamlessly replaced as he indulges a whim that turns into a longer standing relationship. Current wives entertain the next Mrs Hemingway and seem to indulge the man in his betrayal. It's a unique and very compelling insight into relationships, love and betrayal. It's whetted my appetite to know more about the women and the bibliography and references should prove a rich resource.

What a fascinating account of a great writer by the women who knew him best (and for the worst)Each of the wives/mistresses in turn gave a new impression of the man and together with the jump from place to place, date and time, this created a vast and deeply interesting portrait of the man. The villa in Antibes was a holiday haven for one wife only to become a house of sin soon after. A walk on the beach in paradise when the topic of conversation was divorce, was anything but. But as one mistress became the next wife, Ernest seems to have lined them up as easy as a game of skittles – when he knocked them down the fallout was just as noisy.I can’t help feeling sorry and relieved for Hadley – she saw how Fife replaced her and then as we see the situation trough Fife’s eyes, I felt karma come and kick her up the backside. Yet as Martha made her mark, I did feel sympathy for Fife….What’s going on here and how did Ernest manage to get so many women on side?Would they really have jumped off balconies for him? Whatever the answer, this is a fascinating and only partially fictional account of one man seen through the eyes of a cycle, a merry-go- round of women.See the locations in the Literary Travel Agency - TheBooktrail.com

I am a male reader not usually reading books like this. However the life of Hemmingway is something I am casually aware as he has cropped up from time to time in other books, articles or documentaries. The approach of the book piqued my interest so I dived in.It is a well written easy read. You get the feeling that it is a well researched book and the leaps of fictional assumptions are based on more than artistic license. I enjoyed it, I especially liked how strong the book brought alive the times and locations (especially in South France and Miami). It is well worth a read.