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A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway - 4* - My Review

Ernest Hemingway’s memoir about his time in Paris in the 1920s. He lived there with his first wife, Hadley, and their young son. He preferred to write in cafés so there are plenty of references to food, drink, sights, sounds, and locations. It includes essays about his interactions with other expatriate writers, such as Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Ford Maddox Ford, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. He includes several writing tips. For example, when he was blocked, his goal was to write “one true sentence.”

This book is quite introspective. It gives the reader an idea of how he saw himself. It does not always portray him in the best light, but it feels candid. He wrote the memoir toward the end of his life, and we know how his life ended, so the content of this novel is very telling. Death comes up frequently. It reflects his self-doubts and what was important to him. I was struck by how much reading he did, and his strong desire to discuss writing with other writers. It was his last book, published posthumously. Definitely worth reading.

I really enjoyed this one and the insight it gave to his writing and his time in Paris.

This is the Hemingeay read for those who don't like Hemingway. I read this while living in Paris in spring 1976...copy bought at Shakespeare & Company along the Seine. I have in mind to reread it in light of how much more I know about Hemingway and his life in Paris. Your mention of this being written at the end of his life...it is important to remember that he had suffered several -at least 3 - serious concussions before he wrote this and had feared he had lost his creative writing abilities. I also think tgese were actually based on notes and drafts he had written and tinkered with over many years. All that is part of why I think it time I reread it.

Yes, it seems he found a trunk full of old notes and wrote it based on those memories. (I have not fact-checked this.)

It's funny, I have read most of Heminway's books but I had avoided this one. I had no idea it was non-fiction about his time in Paris (obviously had not read the description - just the title).

Glad you all enjoyed it too, Theresa & Bnb!

I'm always intrigued with Hemingway and especially like the time he spent in Paris.

I just finished Mrs. Hemingway, a not very good book about all the wives and am about to start The Book of Salt about a cook for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.

I will look forward to seeing what you think of The Book of Salt. I've had my eye on it as a possibility.