First of all, this is my all time favorite book, but it is the "Restored Edition", where they made some changes and softened the treatment of Mrs. Hemingway #2 of 4.

(He ended up being married 4 times. He had 1 son with Hadley and 2 sons with the 2nd wife. His 3rd wife was a famous war correspondent, and his 4th was Mary.)

I reviewed the original edition at .

The original book was published 3 years after Ernest Hemingway died. It was pulled together from what he had left behind, by his 4th wife, Mary Hemingway.

She (Mary Hemingway) did a great job and it was a credit to her and to Ernest Hemingway, himself. The book, as it was published in 1964, is a masterpiece, in my opinion.

At the end of his life, Ernest was troubled, to say the least. Shock treatments did not go so well for him and he ended up taking his own life with a shotgun.

Now, here is the problem here. The book is a memoir and a love letter to Hemingway's first wife, Hadley and their time together in Paris.

There are villains in their lives in Paris and one of the worst (in the original book) is Pauline Pfeiffer, Hemingway's 2nd wife. She is portrayed in the original version as a cunning predatory type.

The people who put this book together are Pauline's own son and grandson, Sean, who did the editing. I enjoyed reading the book again, but the changes did nothing for me. Still, I was not there so I cannot judge what happened between Ernest, Hadley and Pauline.

I could see where her direct descendants might take issue with her portrayal.

Still, I read this book (as orginally released, not this Restored version) every couple of years and have done so since the 1970's.

To be very clear, I read the one that came out in 1964, not this restored one. It is the one that is original to me that I love.

I must add that I did enjoy seeing Ernest's original notes for the book in this Restored version. That warmed my heart to see some of his notes and handwritings.

But, to me, A Moveable Feast is the perfect title and the original book and it's devotion to that time in Paris and to Hadley will always be the one that I choose. They couldn't get around the thing that Ernest said in his own writing and that is, "I wish I had died before I loved anyone but her." referring to seeing Hadley in Schruns.

No one can ever take that away from Ernest or Hadley - they had to include it. So, that is that. Ernest loved Hadley at the beginning of his life and at the end, when he did the best work.

Mary Hemingway should be praised for doing her best, not condemned for publishing the true work of her husband.

But the actions of Sean and Patrick Hemingway are understandable to a degree. I still think they are somewhat cashing in on Papa. I am helping them with that by buying and reading the book, but whatever. They are his family and sometimes family does not do right by each other. You only have to look at Hemingway's relationship with his own mother to see family issues.

anyone who wants to read some new (to readers) stuff that Hemingway had laying around and was scribbling on when he was writing this masterpiece.

anything about Hadley, Mr. Bumby, Mr. Puss and the stuff about F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda.

leaving out the Pauline stuff, but I think that was the point of the whole endeavor. It had to take something quite dramatic to break up Ernest and Hadley. Hadley was a good person and was no match for someone who was as manipulative as Pauline.

reread the original.

like when someone marries 4 women there is bound to be trouble during and after one's life.

It is ultimately Ernest Hemingway writing it, so it is fine.

I think if you want to read the best version, read the original and not the Restored. If you have read the original and are curious then check it out.

But if you read just the restored, you are not reading what is the best book I have ever read.

I majored in Literature in college, so I have read a lot of books. The original as published in 1964, A Moveable Feast, is the best book, by a mile.

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Created Mar 04, 2014 at 3:05pm • Submit your own review...