Rating: 
Summary: A Literary Masterpiece
Review: This novel opens the eyes to the magical world of Paris in the days when many young authors, playwrights and scholars romped about the city in search of their next idea. Hemmingway captures the feel of those days with a flair not exhibited by many other writers.
Rating: 
Summary: A beutifull but inacurate look at paris
Review: This is hemingways BEAUTIFULL ortrait of the paris of fitzgerald, ford maddox ford, John Dos passos, Stein, Pound, and all the rest. But while it paints a beutifull picture and gives some insight, it also is self serving,and at times inacurate. Due to intentionally being inacurate in a few scenes Hemingway takes away from the credibility of the entire work as we will never know what all is truth and what instance. For example, Hemingway talks about Fitzerald remarking "the rich are a very different people from us" and Hemingways response of "yes they have more money." In reality it was Hemingway that said the first line and Stein that said the second. The book is full of such instances where hemingway trys to appear the hero. Furthermore, Hemingway totally leaves out close friends such as John Dos Passos just because they had criticized him in public. Whatever the inacuracies though, this is a briliant work that is very enjoyable to read.
Rating:
Summary: The genesis of an artist
Review: Like his short fiction, Hemingway's non-fiction is so much more intimate and moving than the novels for which he is famous. "A Moveable Feast" is a wonderful chronicle of a lost time, and shows the genesis of so many themes that would prevail throughout his later works. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding both the writer and his work.
Rating:
Summary: A literary gem
Review: This is a gorgeous book. Enough said.
Rating:
Summary: A gem!
Review: If , as Hemingway advises, it is best to begin with one true sentence, I would have to say of this book: "It is a gem!"
Rating:
Summary: "A Moveable Feast" is a feast for the soul
Review: "A Moveable Feast" is a wonderous quick read that manages to transport the reader back to the bohemian Paris of the 1920s like a magical time machine. Hemingway's personal, casual and intimate accounts of such figures as Ford Maddox Ford, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Alistair Crowley and Gertrude Stein make the reader feel as though the reader has become great old friends with each of these romantic figures as well as with dear old grumpy Ernest himself. I read this book in preparation for a trip to Paris and when I got there, I almost expected to see Mssr. Hemingway at his favorite table at the Closerie de Lilas with a drink, his notebook and two blue pencils still writing observations about passers-by. Reading this marvelous little book is like taking a vacation back in time and as such brings renewal to a modern world weary soul. (As a footnote, the Closerie de Lilas is still there but it is now one of the nicest restaurants in Paris and the sort of place Mssr. Hemingway would not have dreamed about stepping into; no matter how much money he had won on the horses. Read the book, you'll know what I mean)
Rating:
Summary: Simple and Beautiful
Review: The simplicity, understatement and tenderness in the words make this one of the most enjoyable books that I have ever read. It is also an interesting glimpse at the character who produced so many American literary classics.
Rating:
Summary: Virtually Perfect
Review: Some of his finest writing. A recommendation to anyone starting on Hemingway before moving on to The Sun Also Rises and Garden of Eden. Wonderful
Rating:
Summary: Loss anchors this masterpiece in place and time.
Review: There are three perfect little books in 20th century English literature: The Good Soldier, by Ford, The Moviegoer, by Percy, and this sparse narrative written in Hemingway's familiar and still powerful limpid prose. There are descriptions here of many literary figures in Paris during the twenties and the famous cuts at Ford and Fitzgerald, but these are not reasons to read this book. You read this book to hear Hemingway speak to you with his guard down, as you cannot otherwise hear him except in the early Nick Adams stories. He is sitting at his typewriter in Ketchum, his great gifts chased from him by alcohol and hubris, and he remembers when he still had it, when he was poor and cold and hungry and he had Hadley, before he became Hemingway, and he types slow, each word pulled from the emptiness to become the next inevitable perfect word, and his words are the shroud over his loss, his bitterness, his grievous fault. This book was not published in Hemingway's lifetime. It was not written for us
Rating:
Summary: A guide to Paris and its writers
Review: I read this book while living in Paris. From reading other works by Hemingway, I realized that A Moveable Feast isn't as sophisticated as his novels. He writes as if in a stream of thought rather than being descriptive and evoking, so it was disappointing in that respect. Also, the novel, somewhat, lacks flow, but this could be so because of its posthumous publication. This doesn't hamper the ability to understand the novel in anyway, so it's a take it or leave it situation. The two things that I enjoyed most about A Moveable Feast was its adherence to places and people found in Paris during the twenties and, if you are fascinated by such writers as Gertrude Stein or F. Scott Fitzgerald or just writers in general, this is definitely a key text to learning more about the personalities of these writers...through Hemingway's eyes, of course, but always interested, insightful, and sometimes hilarious in a quirky way. What also impressed me about this book is the personal insight into Hemingway's own life--how he lived, how he felt, what kind of person he was. He describes several scenarios involving his wife and other writers that portray who Hemingway was as a person. Also, since this was written shortly before his suicide, it is possible to see a sort of descent in Hemingway's mood as he closes the novel, which adds a moving and sorrowful end to the novel. Considering these elements, I think A Moveable Feast is definitely worth reading, particularly if one is staying in Paris. (Hemingway mentions the adresses--most of which are still intact in Paris--of other famous writers as well as places, such as the Closerie de Lilas, where he ate, drank, and "shopped.") It can serve as a mini-guidebook for those interested in expatriate writers.
|
