Review- The Paris Wife

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

I love it when the characters in a book draw me into their world completely.  That's exactly what happened to me with the characters in McLain's novel about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson.  From the first page, she had me in the palm of her hand.  She also had me in the heart of the story; the incredible connection between Hemingway and Richardson.  Despite their age difference, and distance between them, the two main characters fell deeply in love, and McLain put me right in there with them.  I found myself cheering them on, even though I knew the relationship was doomed. 
McLain's style made is simple for me to get to know the characters and to care about them. The further into the story I read, the more attached to the characters I got.  By the end of the book I was so wrapped up in their relationship that I wanted to throw my Kindle across the room in frustration at Hadley and her completely passive role in the destruction of their marriage.  Frustration turned to sadness as I read the last words.  In the end, I cried for several minutes at the loss of Hadley and Ernest's love and ultimately Ernest's life.
The Paris Wife is not the kind of book I usually read, but what a fantastic read this one was.  I read it for my first ever book club, and it is killing me that I have to wait a whole other month before I can sit down and talk to them about it.  I have to give this book a whopping 5 out of 5 stars!