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3.17 AVERAGE
3.17 AVERAGE
Solid overall, redeemed more by moments than the overall experience, with some really evocative description. wrenching snapshots of hollow and unsatisfying lives as a result of the constant erosion of trust and lack of opportunity in the Depression.
also why so many racial slurs
also why so many racial slurs
This book is a mess. It's essentially one solid 50 page story with 100 pages of Key West sad sack (both rich and poor) atmosphere. If it had been just the story, or expanded to a full length novel where all of the characters could breathe more or at least give me a chance to empathize, if not connect with them, it might've been better.
I love Hemingway, but I wouldn't recommend this to someone.
I love Hemingway, but I wouldn't recommend this to someone.
I found Hemingway's casual use of the n word, which appears about 30 times in the first five pages, too jarring, but I'd be interested in hearing whether anyone thinks this novel is worth another try.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This was my classic reading goal and it was dissapointing
It’s a really good story. It has that timeless theme in it where one bit of bad luck can trigger a series of unfortunate episodes that could be bring decent hardworking people down.
But - Oh My! I swear Hemingway was pissed when he wrote it. Such ramblings!!
But still a good story.
But - Oh My! I swear Hemingway was pissed when he wrote it. Such ramblings!!
But still a good story.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is my introduction to Hemingway and it definitely left an impression. I will start by saying that it's easy to separate the movie with Humphrey Bogart(in his peak btw) and Lauren Bacall because they don't have much in common. I think the movie just got "inspired" by the book and mainly for the role of Bogart and the theme with the illegal business.
We follow the character of Harry and occasionally we see some random character's point of view. The flow was definetely weird and there was no consistency between chapters. We start from a scene that it's definitely not an usual introduction to a story and occasionally we jump straight away in other events with no explanation.
Something that I really really liked and I give kudos to that, is that there is no back story of his characters. Hemingway doesn't try to explain his characters or their actions. I have noticed that a lot of writers try to put a back story and not necessarily because they want to explain their characters, but because the reader is supposed to feel empathetic towards them and excuse the action they committed. Here you get a raw view of what kind of person the main character is and it's focused only on the present.
Personal opinions and views in some themes of the book:
Let me start by saying that Harry is one of those characters that I can't decide where he belongs. He is a man with principles, putting his family above everything else, being able to feel sympathy and empathy for those who are in a worst situation or the same as him and his morals aren't exactly nonexistent. He is a criminal and it's not like he is a "Vigilante", he is selfish and he doesn't really care if the person who gets in his way it's a decent human being or not, and yet I found other characters in this novel way more disgusting.
Moving on to some of the other characters and scenes that play out. The second character that I think I will occasionally think about, was Albert. Albert was the kind of man that not only had principles and morals, but he took pride. We don't get to see him a lot but you can easily say that he was an actual good man, which is so rare. His ending was expected since that's the usual ending for those characters.
About Harry's wife, I don't have a lot to say since the only thing we get from her is how much she loved and how sexually aroused her husband made her. At the end after Harry's death, I wasn't surprised at all when she says that she has no interest in her daughters. :)
There was a scene with a rich couple fighting and 2 pages before we get the best description on the book, as a man was laying dying. He was describing the sea, how he felt by the shot etc etc. I was about to say what kind of irony and how meaningless their was, but I was false. It wasn't a meaningless fight and rich people's problems. This fight was actually the second or third best scene in the book. There is man who cheats on his wife with another married woman and this woman gets to cheat once but the problem isn't even the cheating. This man destroyed his wife emotionally and the description of if was so well done. The man was using excuses to not have kids, forced his wife to had an abortion, he cheated proactively trying to completely ruin his wife's pride, he neglected and made her feel like a fool in front of others. Besides all these he made her incapable of having hope and unable to love again. Unfortunately at the end Hemingway kind of ruined what he managed to do in here. Close to the end he did wrote a monologue of a rich woman who was cheating on her husband, and she was babbling about how men are made to cheat and blah blah, while she was doing the exact same. Her monologue was meaningless and repetitive and I was asking myself why he included it.
The last scene that left an impression,was the old prideful suicidal guy. We see him for a few pages and all we get is that he is a cynic that besides himself he has a hard time to care for others. There was a whole paragraph in here about how guns(talking about suicide) can cure insomnia, cancer, help with bankruptcy and how easily they can cure the American dream that became a nightmare. In the same page he says that he would follow the same fate as his father who decided to jump from the 42nd floor. This man that we get to read about him for like 6 pages managed to stay memorable. I don't know what to comment on here besides that it was very disturbing, very depressive and that people who are in a weird place shouldn't read this. Hemingway is selling it pretty well, with good writing.
We follow the character of Harry and occasionally we see some random character's point of view. The flow was definetely weird and there was no consistency between chapters. We start from a scene that it's definitely not an usual introduction to a story and occasionally we jump straight away in other events with no explanation.
Something that I really really liked and I give kudos to that, is that there is no back story of his characters. Hemingway doesn't try to explain his characters or their actions. I have noticed that a lot of writers try to put a back story and not necessarily because they want to explain their characters, but because the reader is supposed to feel empathetic towards them and excuse the action they committed. Here you get a raw view of what kind of person the main character is and it's focused only on the present.
Personal opinions and views in some themes of the book: