Customer Reviews

The Best Friend I Ever Had

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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I was particularly interested in several previously unpublished letters, which are actually pseudo-medical records, from the Mayo Clinic which I was unaware of.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

The Hindenburg LetterEvery Shape, Every Shadow: A Novel of Guadalcanal

So you've read most of Hemingway's books and maybe some biographies and you think you know the man. You don't -- not until you read David Nuffer's "The Best Friend I Ever Had." You'll learn things about Papa you never knew, from those who knew him best: his wives, friends, hunting and fishing companions, drinking buddies. The author is more than a Hemingway-phile -- he's a Hemingway scholar, perhaps the best yet. His book takes us on a great journey of discovery.
---Roger L. Conlee, author of "The Hindenburg Letter" and "Counterclockwise"

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

Anyone with even a limited interest in Ernest Hemingway will find "The Best Friend I Ever Had" riveting. I was captivated from the start, and found it almost impossible to put down. It's a rare book that is worth exchanging sleep for reading, and this beautifully written loving tribute to one of our greatest authors is one of those rarities.

David Nuffer has been an Hemingway enthusiast since 1958, and has been to many places connected with Hemingway (some written about in Nuffer's "A Walkable Feast") and in this book he has interviewed those closest to Hemingway. Perhaps because of their mutual interest and rapport, and Nuffer's remarkable talent as writer, conversations with people like Tillie Arnold, who was Hemingway's best friend during the years he lived in Ketchum, Idaho, become magically alive and bring forth information never before published.

Nuffer takes us to Finca Vigia and the famous La Floridita bar in Cuba, Key West, Florida, and many more places of interest with the interesting people who knew that champion of living life to its fullest, Papa Hemingway. There is extensive correspondence with Mary, Hemingway's 4th and last wife, and a chapter where Nuffer visits 2nd son Patrick. The book is filled with marvelous photos, and is an unforgettable look at a complex, creative and fascinating man, a man who touched the world with his genius.

It was up in northern Michigan in the early 90's, at Lake Ogemaw, when I wrote my first collection of short stories. Sometime that year I bought a slightly chipped bust of Ernest Hemingway at a garage sale in West Branch. I parked that bust next to me every morning I was inpired to write. "Talk to me Ernie, talk to me, is how I greeted the statue every time I agonized over finding the right word to describe a scene.
Though I was always a Fitzgerald fan, the one scene in, "A Farewell To Arms", when Frederic Henry nervously asks, "But what if she does die?" cemented in me a deep respect for Hemingway as a writer. It is a truly magic moment of writing and a scene only a great and gifted writer could pull off.
David Nuffer, the author of, "The Best Friend I Ever Had," could tell you much more about that book, that scene, or anything else you would like to know about Papa Hemingway. A Hemingway buff for years, Nuffer delves beyond the well-known names frequently mentioned in Hemingway biographies to give a reader a different perspective on Hemingway's true personality. As the book is merely snippets of information about the author from notes taken during meetings, the revelations on Hemingway from friends closest to him portrays the literary giant in a whole new light. In a way, you get to meet the kinder, gentler Ernest Hemingway.
Standing next to the Hemingway Memorial in Idaho, Nuffer was inspired to write a moving tribute to Ernest, a tribute he shared with the author's wife Mary. You can tell by her response, that Mrs. Hemingway too was impressed by how Nuffer captured the moment. It's apparent, as you read her correspondence, that Mrs. Hemingway was very fond of Mr. Nuffer. For she should be. As you ease your way through the book, you just have a general sense that Nuffer is a good man, a person who can be trusted, a man looking out for the best interests of the Hemingway clan. He exhibits all the traits of a good friend - perhaps the best friend a man could ever ask for.
There's no doubt in my mind what category Papa Hemingway would have placed Mr. Nuffer in.

David Nuffer spent most of his adult life searching for Ernest Hemingway, and eventually found him in El Floridita Bar in Havana. The two men even had their picture taken there. Hemingway appears in the form of a bronze statue, but to examine their photograph on the cover of Nuffer's latest book, The Best Friend I Ever Had, the affinity, even affection, between them is tangible. In what was to become a forty-year odyssey, Nuffer met, befriended, interviewed, debated, and corresponded with a number of people who were important in Hemingway's life, and death. What Nuffer learned from those encounters - here-to-fore unknown revelations from people who knew Hemingway best - provides fresh, immensely readable insight into the continuing discussion of America's greatest, and perhaps least understood, literary icon. And Hemingway himself would be pleased by the skill and sure-handed affection with which Nuffer addresses his subject. Without question, Nuffer's book is a labor of love - a perfect companion to Nuffer's "The Walkable Feast, a Left Bank Communion With Ernest".

The author of this book is justified in his high regard for Ernest Hemingway, a man who lived life large and made himself larger than life. Nuffer follows this passion for Hemingway by retracing some of his life and interacting with and interviewing people who knew Hemingway. The material is personal, in the sense that there is very little discussion of his works, other than to set the context of a story.
Since he was known as such a heavy drinker, the fact that so many people referred to Hemingway as "Papa" was a soft reminder that his life was not all about war, conflict and consuming alcohol. He is depicted as a complex personality, and this information emphasized his gentle, human side, the aspect of his personality that these interviews brought out.
One of the most interesting tracks of the story concern his health in the last few years of his life and the problems that led to his suicide by shotgun. Specifically, whether the medical treatment he received was a benefit or a trigger of his final action. Using photos, letters, the text of interviews and reports of his travels to places where Hemingway lived, Nuffer has created a retrospective commentary on Hemingway that gives him the qualified praise that he deserves. There is no blanket expression of his talents, just realistic statements of his complexity as a man and a writer.

After much inexcusable delay, the author's youngest (that would be me), finally took time to read his father's latest literary work. Unexpectantly, once started, I found it difficult to put the book down, and this coming from someone who admittedly does not subscribe to Hemingway mania and often wonders what all the fuss is about regarding this man. I especially enjoyed the remembrances from Tillie Arnold, Papa's good friend, as well as the author's emotionally charged writings about his 1972 pilgrimage to Ernest's burial site in Ketchum, Idaho. In sum, a great read, even for us non-advocates.

I have read everything that the author has written. This, by far, his best work.

I have never read anything by David Nuffer before but this work seems not only authentic and realistic but it is warm and has some humor to boot! It comes across like Mr. Nuffer really knew Hemmingway and that they were good friends. An enjoyable read.