bookcooker: The Paris Wife and Death in the Afternoon

For Paula McLain's The Paris Wife, I went back and forth between whether I wanted to make a cocktail or some food - alcohol is a big part of the book and of course a big part of the Hemingway story. But, then again, with a book set in Paris, Spain, and the Alps, how could I ignore the food? Food seems to be a big part of the Hemingway story as well. In classic Hemingway form of indulging in everything life has to offer to the fullest, I am doing two posts for The Paris Wife - this deadly (pun intended) cocktail of absinthe and champagne as well as a trout stuffed with ham and onions. This cocktail represents the bad side of the relationship of Hadley Richardson and Ernest Hemingway that is depicted in The Paris Wife. It is the type of thing they would drink when they were fighting, when they were bored, when they wanted to get obliterated and ignore the obvious problems in their relationship. The trout represents the good side of their relationship - their healthy love of the outdoors, love of each other and the incredible "down to earth"ness of their relationship. First, a recap of the book and the story of this cocktail, then in the next post a trip to Spain for some trout.

Paula McClain's The Paris Wife is a fictional retelling of Hemingway's first marriage to Hadley Richardson, told predominately from Hadley's perspective. Hadley Richardson was a quiet, depressed Midwestern woman from St. Louis. At 30, she was past the age that most women got married. She lived with her sister's family and did not work. It is unclear what exactly made her so melancholy and passive, but a trip to Chicago to visit an old friend changed her life forever. In Chicago, with her friend Kate, she meets the not yet famous Ernest Hemingway. He is handsome, brash and full of life. The two form a quick connection, though Hadley is reluctant at first. Hadley's friend Kate is grew up summering with Hemingway in the Michigan lakes and the two clearly have a past - Kate is immediately hostile to the Hadley forming a connection with "Hem." Despite her friend's misgivings, Hadley goes back to St. Louis but starts a romantic relationship with Hemingway via letter - they start out writing each other day. Hemingway's letters are filled with ideas and stories about the wild life he is leading in Chicago, Hadley's letters must be filled with her daily routines, but it is clear from the start that the lives these two lead, what they each to bring to the table is dramatically different. Eventually, the two meet again in Chicago and soon after that get married. It is obvious why Hadley falls so hard for Hemingway - he is charismatic and sexy and ambitious. What is not as clear is why Hemingway falls so hard for Hadley - in the end I think it is because he knew she would be loyal, that she was a good person, was solid and would adore him. Once married, the two move to Paris and become part of the chic and bohemian set of ex-pat artists and writers who populated Paris cafes in the 1920s. Hadley follows Hemingway to Paris and once there, does not really find a world of her own or a passion of her own - her point in life is to live for Hemingway, to support his work. She becomes resentful of the time he spends writing, causing tension in their relationship. For me, Hadley was a hard character to really like. She seemed so blah, so entirely devoid of any care or interest in the world other than Hemingway. The demise of their relationship was inevitable from the start. Hemingway hungered for the fawning attention and so at first it worked, but he eventually grew bored of it and wanted a challenge and a new spark. For Hadley, it was a shock where that "spark" eventually came from, but she let Hemingway be seduced by another woman right under her nose, and then passively let the affair continue in her own home. About half way through the book I became so frustrated with Hadley as a character that I decided the only good thing that I could get out of the book was to simultaneously read the book that Hemingway was working on during his marriage to Hadley - The Sun Also Rises. For those of you who haven't read it, it is the story of a group of wayward expats in Europe, who live in Paris and travel to Spain for the bullfights. The book is based on the real events of Hadley and Hemingway's life during a disastrous trip to Spain where Hemingway, who was obsessed with the bullfights, played the part of the flirtatious brute while Hadley sulked. I read the book in high school and really connected with it. I haven't finished it yet, but was disappointed from the start when I realized what a frankly anti-Semitic bent Hemingway displayed with his depiction of the character Robert Cohn. This is not a large part of the book, but reading it as a full fledged adult I found it tainted the book for me. So, while I didn't particularly like Hadley in The Paris Wife, Hemingway was in different ways no more likable. In the end, while I was frustrated with Hadley's passivity as it is depicted in the novel, there was a little voice in the back of my head reminding me that her behavior was not so rare, and that all of us, well at least speaking for myself, have let love paralyze us. I didn't want to identify with Hadley, but of course in some ways I really do. It is a frustrating book, but a good read nonetheless.

Death in the Afternoon
There is a lot of drinking in the book, drinking of all sorts. But when Hadley and Hem really want to forget their troubles, they go drink absinthe in a Paris cafe. This cocktail - a combination of absinthe and champagne, was actually allegedly created by Hemingway. While Absinthe today has lost a lot of its mystery and danger, it is still a delicious, strong, anise liquor. I was surprised at how much I liked the combination with champagne, it is a perfect cocktail to really take your mind of things...