Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story

If anyone could be said to have lived a charmed life, it would be Gerald and Sara Murphy. They were wealthy, artistic and talented, with three beautiful, loving children and a circle of friends who became famous and accomplished in their own right. They gave wonderful parties that are still remembered a half-century later, were generous to those in need, and best of all, Gerald and Sara loved each other deeply, with an affection that grew as they lived their lives to the inevitable, bitter end.

Anyone who has read into the lives of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso and the other expatirot residents of Paris in the 1920s will recognize Gerald and Sara, perhaps unfavorably as hanger-ons who supplied the money the others lived on. That unfair assessment is turned on its head in Amanda Vaill's dual biography of the couple.

The Murphys were more than a bank account who gave parties; celebrity bottom feeders more interested in status than in accomplishments. They were something of an oddity. Both were from wealthy families, yet both wanted more than the family life they craved. Gerald had an eye for art, music and decorating; it was amazing to learn he was first to boost many artists who later became famous; "Grandchildren," he said as he showed them a copy of "Meet the Beatles." "Pay attention. These young men are going to be very, very important."

From their village in the Antibes, which was a backwater when they discovered it, they befriended people like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, Archibald Macleish, Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett as well, while Gerald became famous in his own right for his finely detailed studies of mechanical devices: a watch, a machine, of a boat deck and smokestacks.

But if there's anything experience teaches us, it's that no one really leads a charmed life. It's all filled with day-to-day worries, irritations, tragedies and, with luck, some glory. But Gerald and Sara came close -- the 20s were their time -- and it's a fine thing to finish a biography of someone and find that you like them even more than before.

This is IT! Ms. Vaill has graced us with a masterpiece. I have read of, and loved, Gerald & Sara Murphy for 30 years. Cast all other books aside & go grab yourself a copy of Ms. Vaill's biography: it is simply the best. Her scope, her profound grasp of pre-WW II 20th century art history in both Europe & America; her astonishing knowledge of that era's political history, cultural history, social mores -- Ms. Vaill takes all this in hand and combines it with such exquisite insight into the hearts and minds of the Murphys that the reader is left speechless at times. How she ever managed to bring together such vast & varied amounts of deep background on the era, the Murphys, & the seminal artists they safe-guarded and brought to acclaim -- from Picasso to Hemmingway, Fitzgerald to Cocteau, Picabia, MacLeish, Dos Passos, Parker, Benchley & many more -- it boggles the mind. Most remarkable of all is the tone of intimacy and immediacy: never was there a book before which makes the reader feel so palpably present to this great epoque & these very great souls, Gerald & Sara. You will weep, you will laugh, you will head out for East Hampton & Paris in search of them, convinced they are still alive. And they are: Sara & Gerald Murphy graced us all with their gallant & original lives; they changed the Arts permanently; and they are eternal. Thank you, Ms. Vaill; and thank you, Gerald & Sara.

Few books deserve to be 'raved' about but mark this one as a definite 5 stars. Brilliantly researched and detailed, the author made these people 'real' to me, I felt I knew them. The Murphys, so very different yet so very much alike were 'The hostesses with the mostest' to all the upcoming glitterati of the 20's furnishing both emotional and monetary support at crucial times to Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Cole Porter (and others) with a grace and charm that is as impressive now as it was then. It would have been so easy for Vaill just to cover that but she gives the lives behind the facade, the odd and distant relationships with both sets of parents and family, the heartbreak and sorrow of loss of their two sons that seemed to end all the lightness in theie lives. They and the world they had created were never the same after, as both they and their friends even at the time recognized. Its sometimes so easy to forget that the 20's were a brief flickering of a frantic time between a war and a depression. The Murphys lived before and after but somehow they both defined and were defined by that period. This book lets you know them for all they were.

What a beautiful, bittersweet work! It will leave you informed, inspired, exalted -- and annoyed that it doesn't go on for another 400 pp. Gerald and Sara Murphy knew and supported and inspired Hemingway, Dos Passos, Archibald MacLeish, Dorothy Parker, Edmund Wilson, Benchley, Fitzgerald, Philip Barry, the glitterati of five decades -- and yet, in many ways, the Murphys outglittered them all, at least if success as human beings can be measured in terms of fundamental decency and intelligence and kindness combined with impeccable grace and taste. The Murphys had everything, gave most of it away, their treasure and their souls, and enriched the literature of an era. "Everybody Was So Young" will wring you out and leave you in grateful tears.

I absoultely loved this book. I was so enthralled by the history and atmosphere that surrounded the Murphy's and this was a great example of a decadent couple in the 1920's. It took me 8 months to finish this book due to time constraints and by the time I finished, I felt like I knew the Murphys and was someone looking on as they lived their lives. It's a great thing to know Gerald and Sara were real people and lived real lifes and had real feelings and thoughts. I was amazed at how many people they knew and to the callibre of their characters, tragedies and happiness in their lives. I'd love to read more about the world of the 20's and this was a great, fabulous book to start with. As much as I love historical fiction, I loved this and Amanda Vaill did a wonderful job telling the story of the Murphys that more people should know.