7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
VERY INTERESTING, INFORMATIVE AND READABLE - A WINNER!, January 5, 2009
This review is from: The Best Friend I Ever Had (Hardcover)
I have been reading Hemingway, indeed studying his work, sense well before his death. I have been collecting and reading Hemingway biographies for well over forty years now. You can imagine my delight when I heard about this work. Every bit of information I can collect adds something to my knowledge and adds to what my family refers to as my hobby. I was not disappointed with this work.
David Nuffer has spent quite a number of years now collecting the works of Hemingway, memorabilia, such as photographs and items of interest, and most importantly, seeking out and interviewing people who actually knew this complex writer and American icon. I received Nuffer's book, sat down and read it from cover to cover nonstop. It was well worth the read!
The author has interviewed a number of characters that are often overlooked by his biographers, i.e. those common folk who knew him on a daily basis, worked, hunted, fished and socialized with him. These people are not the usual pack of literary giants, publishers, movie actors and actresses, etc. we normally find in such work; but rather, for the most part, just simply people. By recoding these conversations we are allowed a peek into the life of Earnest Hemingway that is not often seen nor even considered. The author has also spent years traveling the globe visiting the places Hemingway lived, traveled, played and worked.
I was particularly interested in several previously unpublished letters, which are actually pseudo-medical records, from the Mayo Clinic which I was unaware of. Having spent much of my professional life in medical risk management I have reviewed and analyzed literally thousands and thousands of medical records over the years and am able to smell a dead carp at five miles. These documents are important as they do shed some light on Hemingway's ultimate tragic death. I only wish we had access to all the records. The letters this author does publish tell us much, in particular if we read between the lines.
This little book is well put together, written in a very articulate style and is full of unique pictures, some never published before.
Like many, even though I love Earnest Hemingway's writing, I must admit to being even more fascinated with Hemingway the man even more than Hemingway the writer. This book is a wonderful addition to my collection and has added to my knowledge. The author has done some fine work here.
I do highly recommend this one.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Friend, January 25, 2009
This review is from: The Best Friend I Ever Had (Hardcover)
At the author's request, I read and reviewed this wonderful book.
The work cites many things ; such as, the 252 books in the
Hemingway collection. Ernest was born to a middle class family
of Chicago. He liked to hunt, fish, camp and the thrill of
adventure. In "True at First Light", Ernest stated
" When you stop doing things for fun, you might as well be dead".
This statement is perfect advice for anyone contemplating a
career in a plethora of professions and/or pastimes.
There are a number of fabulous black/white pictures in the book.
For instance, "Papastone" is a luck charm given to Nita Jensen Houk
by Hemingway. Another photo shows Nita Houk herding cats at
Hemingway's Finca Vigia in Cuba. The author exudes shear
camaraderie while in the company of fellow jai alai pals
at Finca Vigia. The handwritten letters are very revealing.
Ernest Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in 1954 when I was
2 years of age. Let me reproduce his Nobel Comments
delivered by Ambassador John C. Cabot. The Ambassador made
the speech in place of the author. At the time, Ernest
was ill and unable to attend the festivities in his honor.
"Having no facility for speech-making and
no command of oratory nor any domination of rhetoric,
I wish to thank the administrators of the generosity
of Alfred Nobel for this Prize.
No writer who knows the great writers who did not receive
the Prize can accept it other than with humility. There is
no need to list these writers. Everyone here may make
his own list according to his knowledge and his conscience.
It would be impossible for me to ask the Ambassador of my
country to read a speech in which a writer said all of the
things which are in his heart. Things may not be immediately
discernible in what a man writes, and in this sometimes he is
fortunate; but eventually they are quite clear and by these
and the degree of alchemy that he possesses he will endure
or be forgotten.
Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for
writers palliate the writer's loneliness but I doubt if
they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as
he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates.
For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough
writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it,
each day.
For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where
he tries again for something that is beyond attainment.
He should always try for something that has never been
done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes,
with great luck, he will succeed.
How simple the writing of literature would be if it
were only necessary to write in another way what has been
well written. It is because we have had such great writers
in the past that a writer is driven far out past where
he can go, out to where no one can help him.
I have spoken too long for a writer. A writer should write
what he has to say and not speak it. Again I thank you."
In the "Introduction to the Treasury of the Free World",
Hemingway stated the following:
" No weapon has ever settled a moral problem.
It can impose a solution but it cannot guarantee it to
be a just one. You can wipe out your opponents.
But if you do it unjustly you become eligible for
being wiped out yourself. "
From reading this work by David Nuffer, I got a sense of
the Cuban community at mid-century. While in college,
I had two professors from the Universidad La Havana, Cuba.
Drs. Prieto taught me Ordinary Differential Equations.
He used to appear in class with a grey suit, white shoes
and Cuban cigars. Despite having had some difficulty in
English, he was a great teacher because every equation
was explained in great detail. I had another teacher
(also from Cuba) . His name was Prof. Joshua Zia.
He taught us Probability/Statistical Inference with
a background of Intermediate Calculus.
Again, he was a great teacher although he rarely gave
partial credit- no matter how difficult the question.
He used to say the following: " When you build a bridge
and the bridge falls down- you don't get partial credit".
Needless to say, I did well in both classes, although the
work was quite considerable.
Dr. Joseph S. Maresca
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