The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

I finished The Aviator's Wife last week and am just getting around to blogging about it.  This isn't due to a lack of things to say, or because I am not excited to share this book with my readers.  No, it was due to the lack of time to do this book justice.

I heard about this book thanks to Amazon.  You know--"if you liked ______ you may like_____."  I have learned to trust what Amazon knows about my reading habits and don't feel the least bit worried about that.  If the worst thing anyone ever knows about me is what I read I'm happy about that. The Aviator's Wife was reccomended because I had recently downloaded and read our February book club selection The Paris Wife.  Amazon's intuitive software recognized the connection. 

The Aviator's Wife is about Anne Morrow Lindberg, the wife in the shadows just as Hadley Hemingway lived in the shadows of her famous husband. There are also many other comparisons.  Anne lived a life guided by her husband, his interests and his image.  In the pages I read how wonderful and how horrible life with a famous, egotistical man can be.

Anne Morrow first met Lindberg when he appeared on the big screen as the hero of our country with his plane The Spirit of St. Louis.  Not long afterward she met him in person at the home of her parents in Mexico where her father was a U.S. Ambassador.

I first met Anne Morrow Lindberg years ago when I read her book Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead the story of their life together and the tragic kidnapping of their firstborn, Charles Lindberg Jr.  While the story of the "Lindberg Baby kidnapping" was part of my childhood the details were either never shared or long forgotten.

This historically based novel by Melanie Benjamin offered a new view of this once famous family.  Love and commitment are not always enough.  Ego and loneliness both damage a relationship.  Trust is difficult to repair. Political alliances can harm reputation and image.

Please read The Aviator's Wife.  The Lindbergs already seem to be fading into distant history for our generation so we may not have the images and biases our parents carried of this celebrity couple.  Visit their lives from a perspective so very different from the sense of "celebrity" we carry now.  You will be treated to a wonderful story with all the trials, tears, mistakes and blemishes of a real life.

The Paris Wife, February's Book Club Pick

The discussion was lively and diverse when we met Friday to discuss Paula McLain's book The Paris Wife.  Everyone in attendance had great things about the book.  McLain covered all the bases, it appears, in discovering and depicting this portion of Ernest Hemingway's life.  They are all there, his friends, acquaintances, and his first wife Hadley Richardson.  The people who loved him, the people who trusted him, the people who used him and the people he used all make their appearances.  The list reads like a guide to literature:  Ezra Pound, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Sherwood Anderson and many more.

As a young teenager the people included in this book were more real to me than the students who passed me in the hallways at school.  They returned as I read, each as amazing and flawed as I had remembered them.

While this is a novel it is a wonderful way to discover the feel and lifeblood of Jazz Age Paris.  Literature was growing,developing and re-inventing leaving a lasting stamp on what we believe and read today. 

If you love Hemingway--read this book.  If you know very little about the man Hemingway--read this book.  If you ever wondered what the art and literary explosion in Paris during this time was really like--read this book.  The popularity of The Paris Wife by Paula McLain is not a fluke. You might as well save yourself a trip to the library or book store and get a copy of Hemingway's A Movable Feast while you are at it.  You'll want to read that as well!