And another one down from the Summer Reading Program! We’re just cruising along in knocking off the titles appearing on that list!
With thanks to both Viking/Penguin publishers and to Audiobook Jukebox (their Solid Gold Reviewers Program) and Blackstone Audio for sending us both versions of Mrs. Hemingway. (I just find that if it is available in audio I will reach and look for it in that format every time!)
The cover for Mrs. Hemingway just gives off waves of “summer reading” doesn’t it? I’m certain this was a title that was included by many in their beach bag reads. Unfortunately for me, I found that I just could not care much for this group of ladies that fought and fawned over the attentions from one man – a man that seemed indifferent to their emotions or to them really as anything more than someone to fill a need whenever his fancy suited. Their petty jealousies towards one another angered me and I grew weary of their (self-inflicted?) plight.
Perhaps for me as well, it was the narration by Kate Reading that took more enjoyment away from this story too, as I found her narration was done in a tone of voice that was clipped but also long, drawn out monotony and caused my attention to wander frequently from the words she was reading. She had a habit of pronouncing too many words in this long sing-songy manner – such as waaaalllls and skiiilllls and looooongging that coupled with her droning sounding voice caused much irritation for me and shifted my focus from the story.
Synopsis: Paula McLain’s New York Times–bestselling novel piqued readers’ interest about Ernest Hemingway’s romantic life. But Hadley was only one of four women married, in turn, to the legendary writer. Just as T.C. Boyle’s bestseller The Women completed the picture begun by Nancy Horan’s Loving Frank, Naomi Wood’s Mrs. Hemingway tells the story of how it was to love, and be loved by, the most famous and dashing writer of his generation. Hadley, Pauline, Martha and Mary: each Mrs. Hemingway thought their love would last forever; each one was wrong.
Told in four parts and based on real love letters and telegrams, Mrs. Hemingway reveals the explosive love triangles that wrecked each of Hemingway’s marriages. Spanning 1920s bohemian Paris through 1960s Cold War America, populated with members of the fabled “Lost Generation,” Mrs. Hemingway is a riveting tale of passion, love, and heartbreak.
