A Moveable Feast

The Restored Edition

By: Ernest Hemingway

Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

When Ernest Hemingway died in 1961 he had nearly completed A Moveable Feast, which eventually was published posthumously in 1964 and edited by his widow Mary Hemingway. This new special edition of Hemingway's classic memoir of his early years in Paris in the 1920's presents the original manuscript as the author intended it to be published at the time of his death.

This new publication also includes a number of unfinished Paris sketches on writing and experiences that Hemingway had with his son, Jack, his wife Hadley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others. A personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, Ernest's sole surviving son, precedes an introduction by the editor, Sean Hemingway, grandson of the author.

©2009 the Hemingway Copyright Owners (P)2009 Simon & Schuster, Inc

The Fitzgerald story is one of his best

His story about his experiences with Fitzgerald in Paris is the largest of these stories, and it really a biography in its own right. His ability to describe Fitzgerald’s looks and quirks shows his own writing genius. This is Hemingway at his personal best: the man who supported another genius even though that genius had severe mental handicaps.

Hemingway's Paris of the 20's is Truly a Feast

I'm a big Hemingway fan (if I don't think about his love of hunting!). I read this years ago, but decided to listen to the newest edition that has additional material from the last editions. I love listening to good writing with well-spoken readers. I'm never disappointed with Hemingway, because his prose is so clean.

Paris in the 1920's was truly another world from the Paris of today. As as I progressed through the book, I found myself yearning for a trip to Hemingway's Paris.

This is sort of a food memoire. After all, how can you write about Paris and France and not include something about eating and drinking?
And although Hemingway's food and wine descriptions make you wish you were there with him, my favorite chapters were about his friendship with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway's son, Jack, who he called Mr. Bumby.

The last chapter includes Hemingway's various versions of his introduction to the book. Not only does it prove writing is always rewriting, but thinking that Hemingway kept every version of a short intro and they're all archived is even more fascinating.

Extremes of joy and sadness

I am in tears at the end of this story—Hemingway’s philosophy about putting the reader into the story worked on me. I’ve never been to Paris except in this story—and felt I was truly there. I recommend listening to this while reading “The Paris Wife”. They complement each other well. At the end you might realize that Hadley was the one “true and good thing” in Hemingway’s life.

40 years later...

A fictional depiction of Hadley as heroine. Slow, easy listen with an interesting last chapter relating notes about the book, hand written by Hemingway.

Long Over Due

Sooo sick I couldn't sleep- Sat on my couch all week with my i-pod. Spent 7 hrs in 1920's Paris with Hemingway & his unfinished novel 'A Moveable Feast' -the new Ed. LOVED every second of it -like crack cocaine to a writer. I WILL listen to it again and again. I esp enjoyed hearing his son and grandson. Thank you for this.

Interesting insight into Hemingway’s life.

A memoir - similar to a diary. Hemingway writes about 30 different experiences he had during the 1920s. Most were set in Paris, France, where he lived with his wife Hadley. Examples: his visits with Gertrude Stein, betting on horse racing, a trip he made with F. Scott Fitzgerald, a ski trip he made with his wife. I was sad thinking about the poverty he and his wife lived through. Sometimes he went hungry. He said he and his wife were in love and happy during that time. I was concerned about all the alcohol drinking by Hemingway and others. He said it did not interfere with his work, but I wondered.

I was sad that Scott’s wife Zelda sabotaged Scott’s writing, frequently interrupting him, and tempting him to drink. She was jealous of his writing.

I liked Hemingway’s comment about Ford Madox Hueffer and lying. “Almost everyone lies and the lies are not important. Some people we loved for their lies and would wait hopefully for them to start their best ones. Ford though lied about things that left scars. He lied about money and about things that were important in daily living that he would give you his word on.”

I would have preferred a biography written by someone researching Hemingway’s life - using these memoirs as a source but confirming them with other sources. Hemingway wrote several introductions for this book which appear in the last chapter. In all of them he begins “This is fiction.” I think he did that to avoid or reduce lawsuits since he was writing about people he knew. That troubled me. I’d prefer knowing this was factual, not made up. But it sounded factual because it didn’t have things that fiction usually has. One interesting chapter was about loving two women at the same time, which ended with his divorce from Hadley and marrying Pauline. He had great remorse over this, and he believed Hadley had a good life through marrying another man later.

A negative: this was unfinished. It was published after his death by relatives. The first publishers eliminated some sections. The second publishers included more. I regret that Hemingway was not able to edit and rewrite his own words.

Apparently the print version has pictures which I did not see, since I did the audiobook.

The narrator John Bedford Lloyd was fine.

Genre: memoirs.

a feast

What did you love best about A Moveable Feast?

His writing cuts all the trimmings/fat and leaves them on the flood for the dog to eat.

A good listen after reading The Paris Wife

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this audiobook because the language was so beautiful and it was an excellent description of Hemmingway's thoughts when he was young in Paris.

What did you like best about this story?

How the language flowed

Which scene was your favorite?

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If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

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Any additional comments?

no

Wonderful and Beautiful

The restored edition is much better than the previous edition as it gives you wonderful insights into Hemingway the writer. It‘s also read beautifully.

Slightly disappointed..

I just wish the sample was of the narrator speaking. It is really important to me to know what I'm getting in to, so it seems a bit silly to have a sample hat isn't who you will be listening to for hours.