A review by tomaxhull
The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway

reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A very strange collection. Hemingway writes about nothing happening so wonderfully - you’re completely there. He only shows, never tells, perhaps to a fault. I wanted just a little more emotion or context at times. Many of the stories you’ll get to the end of and think what was the point of that? But it does all come together like a novel, so some are more significant story beats than others. I loved The Two-Hearted River, it’s the best example of what Hemingway does a little better than Cormac McCarthy - writing every detail of a fairly mundane event, in such a way that you know just how the character feels by the end, and what it was “about”, without needing it spelled out. I absolutely believed in Nick, but I don’t know if I liked the time I spent with him.