I read this biography of Hemingway's first wife when it came out in 2000 and I really enjoyed it. Wish I still owned a copy because I'd like to re-read parts of it now. My Mom also read it back then and we agreed that it gave readers a fresh, new way of seeing both Hemingway and his writing. I just now (2010) finished Hemingway's The Garden of Eden and had flash backs to reading Hadley. This is a spoiler, but one of the revelations in Hadley was that Hadley and Hemingway played around with gender roles in the bedroom and also got the same haircut at one point. The Garden of Eden seems to use those experience, albeit in a rather dark way. ( )

Diliberto takes a more romantic view of the Hemingway marriage than I do. But this book remains indispensable if you have any interest in Hemingway's first wife. If you are tempted to read [b:The Paris Wife|8683812|The Paris Wife|Paula McLain|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320545874s/8683812.jpg|13556031], read this instead. ( )

Diliberto takes a more romantic view of the Hemingway marriage than I do. But this book remains indispensable if you have any interest in Hemingway's first wife. If you are tempted to read [b:The Paris Wife|8683812|The Paris Wife|Paula McLain|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320545874s/8683812.jpg|13556031], read this instead. ( )

Having read "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain recently, I became intrigued by Hadley Richardson and her life. In this biography (which Paula McLain relied on heavily as research for her fictional book), Gioia Diliberto traces the life of Hadley from her birth to her death. Although she was only married to Hemingway for five years before they separated, much of the book focuses on this relationship. It's a fascinating account not just of Hadley and Hemingway, but of an era, a place and a stellar cast of characters who provide a vivid backdrop to the main story.

It's a book that can be read on many levels. It's claimed that Hadley was the inspiration for many of Hemingway's female characters and that his perception of love and romance was fundamentally shaped by their marriage, despite its brevity. It's also a look at a time when women were becoming increasingly independent and while Hadley was the woman behind the great man, the assumption that women in literature and the other arts should be relegated to the role of wife or muse was being questioned.

The facts of the book have been meticulously researched and rely on many sources, including interviews with those who knew the characters personally, including their son Jack, and many letters. The author has done a brilliant job at bringing all the facts and characters to vivid life and it's as absorbing (if not more so) than the fictional account. She has managed to round out the character of Hadley far more fully than Paula McLain and the account of this woman who some say was responsible for precipitating Hemingway's fledgling career onto its eventually illustrious path, is compelling reading. ( )

I've read a lot of books about Ernest Hemingway, and none of them show him a a particularly favorable light.This book that focuses on his relationship with his first wife, Hadley, however, does a fairly good job at assessing the demons he dealt with & his ultimate regret at how he treated his fist wife.

If you've read The Paris Wife this is a good non-fiction follow-up to see how the story ends. ( )