Some weeks ago my boyfriend and I went wandering into a bookstore in Amsterdam named American Bookstore. He wanted to really get into readings, to read more and enjoy it more. So we went for some errands, looking for the perfect book that will make him fall in love with literature. As he was reading some blurbs on back covers I stumbled upon a book I firstly love for its cover. I know, it is stupid to choose a book for what its cover looks like, and even shameful for a literature student, but the golden art deco decor really did catch my eye, and I just grabbed it to see what it was. The title was as striking as the cover. "Hemingway in Love". This title was almost a contradiction for me. Years ago I read "A Moveable Feast" by the famous American writer, and his love stories, the fact that he got married several times and had numerous affair during his stay in Europe did convince me that Hemingway was far from being a man in love. As I was reading the blurb I almost felt bad. His dear friend - and also author - A. E. Hotchner is the author of this book, and tries his best on the back cover to change our mind on who Hemingway really was. A man in love. In love of his first wife until his last breath. In love with a woman he lost because he was young, not aware of the consequences of his acts, not aware that she was the love of his life. Hotchner depicts Hemingway in a way we never saw him. He tells the Parisian years, the trips to Spain, the plan crashes in Africa, the love affairs, the sadness, the hospitalization, the suicide. As a close friend, thanks to his novel he lets us enter the secret world of Ernest Hemingway, and makes us realize just how wrong we were to make up our mind on him so quickly.
This biography, "Hemingway in Love: His own story", went straight to my heart. As I was reading I went through many different feelings, but the leading ones where for sure sadness, compassion and love. This book is not only the 'truth' about Hemingway, it is not only a biography, it is Hemingway's injuries, his regrets, his unstoppable love for his first wife. To read it is to look into one of the most important American writer's wounds. After that read, you'll never see Hemingway as the same. Now for you he will be an amazing writer, but also a heartbroken man, who lost the love of his life.
xo
Amy
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