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A review by thelizabeth
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway
3.0
I rather liked this. I think it's actually missing a lot of the typical Hemingway style (which may be a good thing) because it is 95% dialogue. It is basically a play. You could stage this right through and not change a thing. I'd like to see it, actually. You're dropped in the middle of this very, very brief moment, and just a few pages of conversation are the only source for your information. It's written with a little mystery, but becomes pretty clear.
Apparently, the timeline of this story is unresolved by critics -- is this taking place before they go, or after? I think it's entirely clear that this is the prelude to their journey, which loads every line of their debate with tension.
That spoiler isn't really a spoiler? Hemingway buries all his clues and wants you to spend time interpreting his meaning. And that, indeed, seems to be the only possible meaning. But. It's not exactly in the precis.
The only analysis that really surprised me: I had laughed at the line, "It tastes like licorice"/"That's the way with everything," because it's sort of a perfectly piquant thing for someone to say when they're not expressing themselves well. But it's followed by a line about absinthe, and someone in another discussion pointed out that this matters. Absinthe was never banned in Spain, and contains ingredients.
Honestly, I can see how this "gets all Hemingway" and everything, via its subject matter, and its gender relationship being just kind of a little bit wrong. A lot of the people I like most really f'ing hate Hemingway, but honestly it's been so long since I've really read some. Since an early grade of high school. I don't know. I'm a little curious, but I have a feeling that if he did offend me, it would be in that really upsetting way that's hard to pin down why he's wrong. Because, why is the gender relationship wrong, here? It's not? The guy's being pushy, but that's what the character's doing. But there is an indefinable sense of the author being on his side. It's not on paper, but it's in the air.
Apparently, the timeline of this story is unresolved by critics -- is this taking place before they go, or after? I think it's entirely clear that this is the prelude to their journey
Spoiler
to get an abortionThat spoiler isn't really a spoiler? Hemingway buries all his clues and wants you to spend time interpreting his meaning. And that, indeed, seems to be the only possible meaning. But. It's not exactly in the precis.
The only analysis that really surprised me: I had laughed at the line, "It tastes like licorice"/"That's the way with everything," because it's sort of a perfectly piquant thing for someone to say when they're not expressing themselves well. But it's followed by a line about absinthe, and someone in another discussion pointed out that this matters. Absinthe was never banned in Spain, and contains ingredients
Spoiler
that may induce miscarriageHonestly, I can see how this "gets all Hemingway" and everything, via its subject matter, and its gender relationship being just kind of a little bit wrong. A lot of the people I like most really f'ing hate Hemingway, but honestly it's been so long since I've really read some. Since an early grade of high school. I don't know. I'm a little curious, but I have a feeling that if he did offend me, it would be in that really upsetting way that's hard to pin down why he's wrong. Because, why is the gender relationship wrong, here? It's not? The guy's being pushy, but that's what the character's doing. But there is an indefinable sense of the author being on his side. It's not on paper, but it's in the air.