A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway)

The last time I tried to read a novel by Hemingway I was in high school. I hated it and never made it past the hundred page mark. I suppose at sixteen I was rather shocked, when trying to read, For Whom the Bell Tolls, that when entering a war zone one of the first things the protagonist did was have sex with girl he'd just met. In my first year of University I was even more confused by a short story which I had difficulty, because of Hemingway's minimalist style, understanding. I suppose it didn't help, in another class, when my Introduction to Rhetoric professor tore another of Hemingway's stories apart using a gender-studies critique. To the point now. This morning I finished reading A Moveable Feast and I loved it. I no longer hate Hemingway. Perhaps a re-read of his works that I've sampled in the past would leave me with a different flavour as well.  

In the Preface to A Moveable Feast Hemingway writes that the book is part fact and part fiction. It is generally viewed as a memoir of Hemingway's time in spent in Paris in the 1920's and is considered one of his best and most loved works. The chapters are fairly short, each relaying a separate story about his days spent conversing with other well-known writers, writing in cafés, wandering art galleries, going to races, skiing, or drinking with friends. Each chapter could almost stand on its own as a separate story in itself. 

There is no fast paced problem driving the plot, or final point to be reached (unless you consider the long-lasting impact that Paris had on Hemingway as the final point). It is a gentle, rich read which, despite it being far from fast paced,  kept my attention from the time I opened the first page to the time I closed the back cover. Perhaps that sounds corny or cliche, but that's really the way it was. 

Hemingway surely had a way with words. One of my favourite lines in this book reads, " Work could cure almost anything, I believed it then, and I believe in now." Perhaps to many readers this brings to mind the image of a workaholic, unable to confront life because he or she is too busy burying all their problems in work. That's not what I see. Instead I see something relatable and truthful. Life is so much more fulfilling and easier to handle when one does not waste time in idleness. A good task or goal can help a person move forward and keep them moving forward. As Hemingway says, Work can cure almost anything.