My review of author Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway (1899 – 1961) was born in the United States, but traveled all over the world. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He was an ambulance driver in WW1 in Italy, which is the background for the novel A Farewell to Arms. He was married 4 times and also covered the Spanish Civil War in the book For Whom the Bell Tolls. He was a journalist, yet wrote many books, some of which were posthumous. He also wrote short stories. Hemingway also stayed for some time in Cuba, which is the background for the books Islands in the Stream and To Have and Have Not. Ernest traveled to Africa where he wrote a book on big game hunting and was also a fan of bull fighting, in the book Death in the Afternoon.

Ernest Hemingway has a distinctive style of writing. His prose is condensed and to the point. He does tend to have run on sentences, but the descriptions are brief and the dialogues more elaborate. He influenced many writers of his period and changed the style of writing novels.

In the novels For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms we encounter many armed conflicts. There are many descriptions of gun fights and the atmosphere of the countryside. Both novels also talk about romances which he had, more so A Farewell to Arms. In this book he talks about his relationship with a nurse in a hospital. Hemingway was injured during the first world war and stayed for some time in the hospital. We see the emergence of the relationship in this novel. For Whom the Bell Tolls is more centered around the Spanish Civil War and its repercussions.

In the novels To Have and Have Not and Island in the Stream the background is Cuba. These books were released posthumously. To Have and Have Not is more of a tale of the black market. There are gun fights and trips abroad. In the novel Islands in the Stream, the book is divided into three parts. The first is a reunion with his sons, from divorced women. The second happens in a bar, and his reunion with his wife. The third, and final part, takes place around the island of Cuba. The protagonist and his ship crew chase a WWII German boat, to the final fight.

A Moveable Feast and The Sun Also Rises are more light hearted. The Sun Also Rises talks about his time in Europe as a journalist. We see, in the book, some interesting conversations with other ex-pats and how they saw the world of the 20's in Paris. It is a tale of going out with friends, and mingling with beautiful women.

He also had pastimes such as bullfights, seen in the book Death in the Afternoon. I did not finish this book, as it delved too much into the bullfighters and bulls, a little bit like the description of whales in Moby Dick.

The Old Man and the Sea is another classic by Hemingway. This book talks about fishing off the coast of Cuba. It also envelops the relationship between and old man and a boy. A great read.

The compilation of short stories Men Without Women and his complete Short Stories vary a great deal on the topic at hand. They reflect such themes as war, love, abortion, sports and friendship.

I have always loved reading Hemingway. He is a great writer, and talks from the heart. His details of relationships with women are believable and romantic. When he describes fights they seem plausible, even death is experienced in a plausible manner. His style of writing won him the Nobel Prize, and he traveled so much that his tales often have different flavors and backgrounds. He had the pulse of American ex-patriot of the 20's, 30's and beyond. His courage left him in the latter years, and he took his own life, but he left us with wonderful stories and a distinctive writing style. Hemingway shows us his ambitions and his past times in his books, they carry the books. He had the mind of an adventurer and the style of a storyteller.