u/Papa72199

Papa himself gave me the idea in the disclaimer, where he says everyone in the book is real. He said that if there's not enough of a love story, the reader is free to insert their own love interest.

Well, it seems that Hem hardly calls his wife by her name in this book - it's always "my wife," or POM. In which case, I can just imagine that she's someone else. Hadley, even. Or myself, teehee.

Alright, let's goooooo. I like Hem's style so much that I don't care what he writes about - I'll read it. He can rant about women's underwear, for all I care. I can't wait to hear all his crazy takes on writing and the Gulf Stream and on life.

I've become such a Hadley stan after some of the things in A Moveable Feast and The Paris Wife that I hate anything that reminds me that she and Hem had a love, and he even called it his “first and best,” but it was not enough. I don't even like TSAR anymore, knowing it was born out of his emotional infidelity to her. And I've always loved TSAR otherwise.

The fact that Hem cheated on his other wives, oddly enough? I couldn't care less. With Pauline and Martha, maybe it was even poetic justice. But Hadley did Absolutely Nothing Wrong, and she supported him emotionally and financially, and her only potential flaw was... what? That family life eventually bored him? That they had a child and Hem felt the baby was dragging them down? That she lost the manuscripts?

Also I always root for the underdog, and Hadley was perhaps more plain than the women Hem usually went for. So there's that. Part of me can't shake the notion that this is "plain girl discrimination" striking yet again.