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

Bloviations, Calibrations

Published posthumously in 1964 (3 years after Papa died), this somewhat scattered memoir covers his years as a young writer living in Paris. You may already know the title comes from a passage in the book, "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

For most of the memoir, Hemingway was married to his 1st wife, Hadley, containing the poignant description that, “When I saw my wife again standing by the tracks as the train came in by the piled logs at the station, I wished I had died before I had ever loved anyone but her." Of course, this was just prior to his leaving her for his next wife.

A MOVEABLE FEAST contains some wonderful tips for writers starting out and is a fascinating look at those heady days in Paris, with significant (sometimes overly nasty) parts covering, respectively, a friendly Ezra Pound, John Dos Passos, a charismatic James Joyce, Gertrude Stein (whom Hemingway described as resembling a "Roman soldier"), Ford Madox Ford (who seemed to have been awfully foul-smelling) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (whose wife Zelda apparently made him remarkably self-conscious about the caliber of his reproductive equipment).

As Christopher Hitchens so aptly explained the continued fascination with this memoir, it's "an ur-text of the American enthrallment with Paris," "a skeleton key to the American literary fascination with Paris...." And it serves the nostalgia of Hemingway "at the end of his distraught days, as he saw again the 'City of Light' with his remaining life still ahead of him rather than so far behind."

I Listen again and again

This is one of my absolute favorite audio books. I've listened to it several times and will keep doing so. This book can transport me back to the past like only "The Sun Also Rises" can.

Excellent Book

Loved listening to this great book. I loved this time in history, amazing how you can do so much for so little.. The narrator made me feel he was Hemingway himself.

the way he bridges the past to make it relatable to people of the present.

I loved the book and felt like I made a connection to the past and a respect to someone I have never met

outstanding

Far, far better than the original version, both in text and narration. Hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this book, and I'm not a lover of Hemingway's fiction.

Just great.

I read this in high school and again in college. That second reading led me to some of the bars and other places Hemingway hung out in while on my first trip to Paris in 1967 during my junior year.

Now that I'm a grown-up I listened to the book and was taken back to the Paris of my youth. This followed listening to "The Paris Wife" and seeing "Midnight in Paris" over the summer and a visit to his haunts on Lake Maggiore in Italy last fall, which is along the escape route in "A Farewell to Arms". Hemingway is a classic and this version of the book is, too.

Worth your time

Whether you like Hemingway or not this is a good book ... a peek into history ... the life of a writer ... paris ... food ... cafe's ... art ... a moveable feast is a must read for lovers of literature

Disappointing.

I read the Paris Wife and LOVED it and was excited to listen to this, Hemingway's point of view of the same time period.
I have to say the fiction was better than the non fiction.
I didn't find this entertaining at all to listen to, in fact, it was rather dull.

The truest moments of Hemingway’s fictional past

The man behind the stories invites you to breathe the air of the cafes in which he wrote the stories. Hemingway does not describe, but “makes” his past, including only the truest sentences he knows. Judge him not for what he has included but for what he has left out. Learn to listen and to write and to be happy. Share a bottle of Sancerre with him in a time when the skiing and the marriage and the writing is good. He is poor and he is cold, but the food is fine and the writing is good.

Hemingway reminiscing

The story is basically Hemingway reminiscing of his younger days. as an expat in Paris in Europe. You could hear the Deep angst. and regret that he had for ruining his first marriage. . He cuts right to the chase with his characters. And cuts deep with his own self reflection. . A very good listen That is well-read..