Review: Beautiful Exiles: A Novel by Meg Waite Clayton

My Interest

As I’ve worked my way through Hemingway (slowly–lots left to go)–a writer I couldn’t stand in high school, I’ve discovered there is an entire industry of Mrs. Hemingway novels.  Beautiful Exiles interested me because Martha Gellhorn was a war correspondent first in the Spanish Civil War and on through to even Vietnam–pretty darned bad ass if you ask me! In addition, Meg Waite Clayton is another author who has become a must-read for me (my reviews of other books by her are linked at the end of this post). I plan to read her backlist, too.

The Story

While vacationing in Key West, Florida with her family, Martha Gellhorn meets Ernest Hemingway on a night out on the town. Hemingway is married to Pauline, mother of his two younger sons at this time, and does try to keep the friendship platonic for a while. Nonetheless, he invites Martha to his home repeatedly to discuss writing. Inevitably his friendship for her becomes his usual lust that must be satisfied. Meanwhile, the two go off to cover the war in Spain. Upon their return they move in together in the house Gellhorn buys in Cuba while Hemingway writes For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Once the chase is over and Hemingway has Gellhorn, he expects her to devote her time to adoring him and catering to his every bedtime whim. She is too independent for this and begins to suffocate emotionally. Hemingway goes out of his way on several occasions to humiliate Gellhorn. When World War II starts and Martha manages to get to London Hemingway feels neglected. The end is already in sight for their relationship which is marked by a cycle (in synch no doubt with his depression) of happiness, then put-downs, too much booze, not enough to do, humiliation and emotional abuse. The pattern was in all of his marriages.

My Thoughts

It’s hard to keep in mind just how much pressure was put on women to marry and to conform to what the husband wanted. Gellhorn was a great talent but constantly had to humiliate herself to pander to and placate Hemingway. I cannot imagine letting any man, let alone my husband, call me “Stooge” or “Daughter!” (The last is really creepy given that his eldest son was accused of bad stuff by his daughters). He also liked to make anti-Semitic statements, fully knowing Gellhorn had a Jewish father and grandparents. That and that she stood there and let him call her a “dry c–t” is beyond belief. That Martha went on to continue her successful career was not surprising, but the determination it took to do that was incredible.

Meg Waite Clayton captures “my” version of Martha well, even better than the rival book, though I did not count on quite such humiliating terms being used by Hemingway toward her. I could feel the humiliation of his words and of the way he tried to tear her down to embarrassed drinking buddies. I had tears in my eyes when he threw back at her the advice she’d given that got him to London. Despicable. I could smell the waft of the after-sex scent when Mary Walsh came into the hospital room in London, her bra-less breasts bobbing free to entertain the men. I have never liked women like Mary, always eager to take someone else’s man.

Clayton’s Martha (and my version of Martha) was too smart–she KNEW that if you marry the mistress you create a job opening. Hemingway’s “poor me” feelings during the down cycle of his depression (no meds back then) made him too eager to be comforted by whoever was available. His passive-aggressive actions were a recipe for the breakdown of any relationship. But, pathetically perhaps,  I also felt the attraction of Hemingway–a big, strong, masculine, guy but with talent to the moon. Who wouldn’t be swept off her feet? Clayton made all of that real.

What impressed me most though was that Clayton has Martha worry about her sex life in a different way–that it was painful. That was very poignant. It was not done in a tacky way, but in her thoughts. Martha thinks how she’d like to ask some other women if this was normal. In that day and age it just didn’t happen. Now, I did not really need to know the nickname for Mr. H’s little Mr. H, nor did I need to know that an iceberg looked just that little guy when it was “in repose,” but it was a love affair and then a marriage–this stuff is there to embarrass all of us our whole lives, right?

My Verdict

4.0

Beautiful Exiles: A Novel by Meg Waite Clayton is currently available with Kindle Unlimited on Amazon.

My Reviews of Other Meg Waite Clayton Books

Last Train to London One of my favorite books of that year. Click the link for my full review.

Race For Paris Scroll down in the post for the review

The Wednesday Sisters My review, from my old blog:“If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a writer….If you’ve ever wished for a writer’s group in your own backyard….
This is the book for you! A novel of my Mother’s generation–when it wasn’t taken for granted that women SHOULD, let alone COULD make their own dreams come true. The husband’s dreams–well, of course! This is a book of sisterhood, of motherhood, neighborhood and, if such a word exists, wife-hood. I loved it. Yes, there are stereotypical things….So what? is what I say this time. My one and only complaint was that the only negative character was a Christian. Otherwise, I loved it cover-to-cover.”  The Wednesday Sisters, by Meg Waite Clayton. (Sorry, I did not like sequel, The Wednesday Daughters, at all. It happens…..)