A very engaging book was penned by a writer who dedicated his entire professional writing career to solely write about Hemingway. This remarkable work transported the reader to the vibrant and wild Paris of the 1920s. As I delved into the pages of this book, I not only thoroughly enjoyed the captivating narrative but also gained a wealth of knowledge. The author's meticulous research and vivid descriptions painted a vivid picture of Hemingway's life and the era in which he lived. It was truly a fascinating journey through time and literature. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Hemingway or the history and culture of the 1920s.

This is the only Hemingway biography that I've read by Reynolds, but I truly hope to read more of his works in the future.

Reynolds is an author who is known for his thorough research and engaging writing style. He has a remarkable ability to bring the life and times of Hemingway to life on the pages, making the reader feel as if they are right there with the famous writer.

What sets Reynolds apart is his objectivity. He presents the facts about Hemingway's life without bias or judgment, allowing the reader to form their own opinions. This is a rare quality in a biographer and one that makes Reynolds' work all the more valuable.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this Hemingway bio by Reynolds to anyone who is interested in learning more about the great writer. It is a well-written and informative book that is sure to satisfy.

For those who have a profound love for Hemingway or are enthusiastic fans of "Midnight In Paris" or perhaps both, this book is an absolute must-read.

It offers extremely informative background information regarding the years that Hemingway spent in Paris between 1922 and 1925. The descriptive prose within the book is so vivid that it paints a highly realistic picture of those times with every tiny detail being meticulously presented.

As you read through the pages, you will have the distinct feeling that you have traveled back in time, much in the same way as Gil Pender did in the movie. It allows you to immerse yourself in the atmosphere and experiences of that era, getting a closer look at the life and times of Hemingway and the vibrant Parisian scene during those years.

This book is not just a literary work but also a gateway to a bygone era, providing a unique and engaging perspective that will surely captivate and fascinate readers.

I have an intense love for Ernest Hemingway. I eagerly anticipate delving into the remaining volumes of Reynolds' biographical series, which explores Hemingway's early life and his later years. This particular installment, which focuses on his 1920s "apprenticeship" in learning to perfect short stories, pen a novel, and navigate life, is truly enlightening for an aspiring novelist like myself and a current expatriate.

What truly struck me about this work is its portrayal of Hemingway as a genuine human being, rather than an idealized "great American novelist." He is shown writing in private, serving in the military secretly, and engaging in passionate and perhaps indiscriminate behavior. Hemingway was a man of intense passions, yet he also had very real fears, extremely acute demons, and powerful delusions. This is vividly evident in his outstanding semi-autobiographical work, "A Moveable Feast." In this book, you get the sense of being a fly on the wall in 1920s Europe, with the impending doom of war constantly hanging over your head, a feeling that Hemingway, who had survived a real attack in Italy and the Spanish flu a decade earlier, could always sense enveloping him.

This is a powerful book that not only helps us better understand one of America's great literary heroes but also brings him down from the pedestal. Or at least, it lowers it a little. It offers a more nuanced and realistic view of Hemingway, allowing us to see the man behind the legend.

Volume 2 delves deep into the captivating story of how Hemingway evolved into the iconic figure he became.

Upon arriving in Paris as a newlywed, Ernest Hemingway was on a quest to establish literary connections. By the conclusion of the book, he returns to Paris after signing the momentous contract with Scribner's to publish The Sun Also Rises and is on the verge of leaving his first wife for his second.

He formed literary friendships with notable figures such as Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Ford Madox Ford, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, all of whom played crucial roles in his development as a writer.

I was thoroughly convinced and enlightened by Reynolds's astute observations and speculations regarding Hemingway's thoughts and motivations. The book was so engaging that I simply couldn't put it down.

My favorite sections were those when Hemingway overcame depression and soared to new heights as he found inspiration to pen the short stories of In Our Time. Another remarkable moment was the legendary summer of 1925 in Spain when he transformed real-life experiences, arguments, and romantic obsessions into the material for The Sun Also Rises. Amazingly, that iconic novel was written in just over a month following the events in Spain! It's truly incredible to witness the power of inspiration and be swept away by its current.

This book is an absolute must-read for both readers and writers who are curious about how Hemingway crafted his earliest and perhaps most renowned works in the 1920s.

This was so Hemingway when he was in Paris.

Ernest Hemingway, one of the most renowned American writers, had a profound and influential experience during his time in Paris.

Paris was a vibrant and artistic city, a melting pot of cultures and ideas. It was here that Hemingway honed his writing skills and developed his unique style.

He immersed himself in the city's cafes, where he would observe the people and the world around him, gathering inspiration for his stories.

Hemingway's time in Paris was filled with adventure, love, and struggle. He interacted with other great writers and artists of the era, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein.

Their conversations and collaborations had a significant impact on his work.

Paris became a backdrop for many of Hemingway's novels and short stories, a place that he would always remember and write about.

His experiences in the city shaped his view of the world and influenced his writing for the rest of his life.

This was truly a remarkable period in Hemingway's life, one that would define him as a writer and leave a lasting legacy in the world of literature.

The thing about a biography is that if the material is good enough, it can overcome a bad biographer and still turn out okay.

This is precisely the case here. Every time the biographer weighs in, this work starts to stink, especially when he comments on sex or politics.

Actually, the book serves as a kind of proof that the social mores of the 1980s were worse than those of the 1920s.

Nevertheless, Hemingway led an interesting life, and it's nice to see something about his time in Paris that is engaging but doesn't descend into the overly romantic.

The narrative starts with his arrival in Paris and continues through to his sly maneuvering to get out of his Liveright contract. He did this by writing "Torrents of Spring," a satire on Sherwood Anderson et al, and foisting it upon them instead of "The Sun Also Rises."

This aspect of his life adds another layer of intrigue and complexity to the overall story of Hemingway's experiences and career.

It shows his resourcefulness and perhaps a bit of his shrewdness in dealing with the publishing world and his contemporaries.

Overall, despite the flaws in the biographer's approach, there is still much to discover and appreciate about Hemingway's life and times in this account.

The original article seems to be rather short. Here is an expanded version:

Good is a simple yet powerful word. It can describe a wide range of things. When we say something is good, it means it has qualities that are desirable or beneficial. For example, a good book can transport us to different worlds, expand our knowledge, and touch our emotions. A good meal can satisfy our taste buds and provide us with the nourishment we need. A good friend is someone we can rely on, share our joys and sorrows with, and have fun together. Good can also refer to a person's character or behavior. A good person is kind, honest, and helpful. They treat others with respect and dignity and strive to make the world a better place. In conclusion, the word good encompasses many aspects of our lives and is an important concept that we should strive to achieve and uphold.

Reynolds accomplishes an outstanding task of presenting Hemingway's growth as a writer, all the while revealing his imperfections. It is evident that Reynolds regards Hemingway as a genius, yet he is still capable of objectively observing Hemingway's rewriting of his past, his jealousy, and his antisemitism, among other things. Reynolds demonstrates how Hemingway learned from other writers, highlighting what he adopted and what he abandoned along the way.

By doing so, Reynolds provides a comprehensive and nuanced portrait of Hemingway, one that acknowledges both his remarkable talent and his human flaws. This allows readers to gain a deeper understanding of Hemingway as a writer and as a person.

Overall, Reynolds' work is a valuable contribution to the study of Hemingway and his writing. It offers new insights into Hemingway's development and sheds light on aspects of his personality that may have influenced his work.

If you are a fan of Hemingway, this might be of interest to you; if not, you can simply skip it.

Michael Reynolds goes into painstaking and repetitive detail regarding Hemingway's formative writing years in Paris. He explores Hemingway's marriage to Hadley Richardson and his interactions with other writers and artists such as Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I respected Reynolds' honesty in depicting Hemingway. However, I constantly found myself asking: why do people even bother about this man?

Thanks to my Goodreads friends for enduring my numerous Hemingway reviews. Although Hemingway behaved badly in many aspects, I understand that he endured suffering, and I feel a certain degree of sympathy for that. Nevertheless, at this moment, I still do not like him or his writing.

Biographers play a crucial role in presenting the lives and stories of their subjects.

They should maintain a certain objectivity and not let personal hatred cloud their judgment. However, they also shouldn't be overly slavish, blindly following every detail and opinion of the subject.

Reynolds, in this regard, comes close to the slavish side but manages to stay almost clear. This delicate balance is not easy to achieve.

If one desires to get the most accurate and detailed information about this, a great deal of it can be found in "Movable Feast".

It provides valuable insights into the relationship between biographers and their subjects, and the challenges they face in presenting an unbiased and engaging account.

Understanding this dynamic is essential for both biographers and readers alike, as it helps to ensure that the stories we read are as true and meaningful as possible.

I’ve now read Michael Reynolds’ second volume of his five-volume biography of Hemingway three times. It truly stands out among the biographies of the old fraud (though I don’t suggest Reynolds shared this verdict). However, it does have its flaws.

I read elsewhere (not in these volumes) that Reynolds’ interest lies in what he called the archaeology of biography, which is the snippets and nuggets of facts he can unearth. He believes these are crucial for building a comprehensive picture of the subject.

So, he spends an inordinate amount of time cross-checking facts to verify them. If he can’t independently verify a ‘fact’ about Hemingway, he excludes it from his biographies.

For example, Hemingway claimed to have rented a garret room in a cheap hotel near his flat in Paris where Verlaine died. But since the only source was Hemingway himself, Reynolds didn’t include it.

Other biographies repeat this ‘fact’ unquestioningly, and it has become part of the ‘Hemingway story’, but is it true? We don’t know. Hemingway played fast and loose with the truth and facts about his life. He didn’t lead a battalion of Italian Arditi troops up Monte Grappa as he claimed. His wartime experience was driving a Red Cross ambulance and running an R&R unit.

Why did he lie? No one knows. But he had told tall stories since he was young. He didn’t take part in the mass execution of Spanish falangists or the D-Day invasion as he claimed.

Reynolds’ scepticism is refreshing. Previous biographers, like Carlos Baker, repeated the bullshit as truth. But to be fair to Baker, he was writing shortly after Hemingway’s death, tasked by his widow, Mary, who was prone to litigation.

One flaw in Reynolds is his somewhat novelistic approach. For example, the claim that Hemingway and his wife couldn’t see the street lights due to fog on a specific trip is not sourced and jars a little.

I’m engaged in a long project on Hemingway and how a rather middling writer achieved such global prominence. I’ve read a lot on the subject and am struck by the contradictions in some accounts.

Among these works, Reynolds’ contribution stands out. If you’re considering buying it, go for it. I rate it 4.5/5.

Although I don’t rate Hemingway highly as a writer, his life story, feuds, and fantasies are entertaining. I’m about to read Kenneth Lynn’s latest and will review that too.