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‘Expecting conceit they found courtesy. Expecting arrogance they found a man concerned with people’s thoughts and feelings.’
And me - expecting a sweet little story – found an in-your-face, wham bam, bordering-on-vulgar, yet nonetheless exciting mobster tale. Let me tell you, dear little Jackie Collins has got a mouth on her like a truck driver. She frequently drops the f’bomb, hesitates little in calling women C-U-Next-Tuesdays or – most blush-inducing for me because I hate the word – the p word {the p-word = sometimes followed by cat or willow}, and describes sexual acts in extreme details, aka this book is NOT for the faint of heart.
‘What could you possibly be fit for?’ she often said. ‘You can’t keep your head out of the clouds.’
‘The Paris Wife’ is an exaggerated and semi-fictionalized account of the relationship between famed, slightly misogynist, writer Ernest Hemingway and {his first wife – out of four} Elizabeth Hadley Richardson – of whom the above quotation references.
The book is narrated through the eyes and heart of Elizabeth – referred to by all who knew her as Hadley or Hen. The book is heart-filling and heart-wrenching all at the same time. You love and supremely hate Ernest Hemingway in the span of 314 pages. And whether you are a fan of Ernest or not, it is impossible not to become a fan of his red-haired first wife while reading this novel.
She is deliciously self-deprecating and humble about herself:
‘If the women in Paris were peacocks, I was a garden-variety hen,’
Me and SEP (Susan Elizabeth Phillips) go way way back. I discovered her novel ‘Fancy Pants’, sitting all alone on a little old bookshelf, in a small bookstore somewhere along the east coast. And since then I have religiously read every single one of SEP’s books – at least twice; a few a dozen times.
“There are some people who say they’re able to ‘compartmentalize’ things, as though it is possible to put negative or distressing thoughts into neat mental drawers to be taken out only at a psychologically convenient time. It’s a beguiling idea, but I’ve never bought it. In my experience, sadness and regret seek into one’s consciousness willy-nilly, or they suddenly leap out at you with a snarl. The only real remedy is time…”
Over the past several months I have learned a lot about friendship. I have learned:
1. Real friends stay by your side through the good times; better friends stay by your side through the bad times
2. Mom was right in saying that if I can fill one hand with good, true friends then I am one lucky duck
3. Sometimes friendship hurts
4. To forgive is easy; forget impossible
Maybe that is why I was drawn to this novel.
‘B*tch: a reflection of people’s lack of creativity & inability to acknowledge & embrace a powerful woman; a woman who won’t comply’
Have you happened to read Kelly Cutrone’s new book … ’If You Have to Cry, Go Outside’? Because I just finished it. The premise was all about personal experiences, funny anecdotes, embarrassing mistakes and a call for female empowerment. Some of it made me giggle … {see below}
