Customer Reviews

Hemingway's Cats: An Illustrated Biography

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Though the illustrations of this book should have been sharpened digitally, they but slightly take away from this warm account of Hemingway's love for his pets.

I seldom mention this, but it was a 6-toed "Hemingway Cat" that spurred me into action one Spring day in 1997. I met Hemingway at his 1959 Pamplona Fiesta. He invited me to join his group. I was a young American freelance writer/photographer from Madrid and he generously let me photograph him. I had just returned from backpacking through the mountains of Tunisia to find a WW2 battle site called Hill 609 at a fortified mountain. Hemingway knew the outfit; he liked what I had done. Despite our difference in years, we spoke the same language.

Long after his death, many years later, a large black tomcat brought a trailing gray and white kitten into my Florida backyard and left it. My wife and I had no kids. I tried not to allow the kitten to adopt us. But that was impossible. She did anyway. I nicknamed her SuperPaws though she won our hearts as simply, Pooky. As she grew into a quietly beautiful young lady and our love for her grew deep, I wondered if Hemingway was trying to tell me something with this strikingly singular big-pawed cat. Her sudden appearance touched me. The big black tom cat that brought her to me, then disappeared from our neighborhood. It made me think of Hemingway and his cats. It made me in the back of my mind wonder if there was any connection at all. I am definitely not superstitious. Still, was there a meaning to this? I had always intended writing a Hemingway book, but never did. Now, I wondered if something -- Hem maybe -- was urging me to go ahead and do it.

Pooky's presence seemed more than happenstance. That spring of 1997 I kissed my wife, JuliaAnn, goodbye and returned to Europe to backtrack Hem through his Paris haunts, back to Pamplona before the fiesta, and then backpacked into Spain's high Pyrenees where I found such strange things as where he and his buddy had hidden bottles of wine to chill in a spring near where they trout fished, and an old piano in a hostel where he stayed, with his name, incorrectly spelled, scratched on it along with a wrong date.

After his death other books filled in unknown details for me. I put them all together, our chance meeting, his interest in me, what I saw at Pamplona, and then what others reported later. Things fitted like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. My memoir, "Hemingway's Paris and Pamplona, Then and Now" was published in 2000. In late 2003, Pooky, our beautiful long-furred gray and white neutered female cat disappeared after a full moonlit night outdoors. We believe she was visiting three new kittens that lived across the street. I was off on a trip but my wife searched fruitlessly, driving around the deep woods behind the houses across the street. No Pooky. The city said they had recovered no dead cats during that period. I figured she might have been catnapped. But losing her was as sad as losing a family member. Worse, the following spring, 2004, my wife of 48 years suddenly developed a fast-growing strain of lung cancer and died. The coincidence of these strange events still haunt me.

Hemingay's fondness for cats always had a subtle but very profound affect on his inner self. All cat lovers know and have felt this but none of us seem to understand why. Yet, there is nothing quite like a cat to make you appreciate the profound pleasure of their company. No wonder the Ancient Egyptians had such reverence for them. Cats were working their wily ways with mankind even back then. As for the peculiar circumstances surrounding the sudden addition, then loss, of a Hemingway cat to our family, I have no answers. But I still love and respect them all, mysterious as they are.

Robert F. Burgess

When one thinks of Ernest Hemingway, one usually thinks of a macho adventurer, going on safari, running with the bulls or deep sea fishing, just like the heroes of his novels. One does not often picture him at home caring for stray cats and dogs - yet that's exactly the Hemingway we meet in "Hemingway's Cats." We also meet his four wives and his children, but the stars are the many cats and dogs Hemingway cared for over the course of his life. He often brought home strays, and they became part of his extended family. At one point, he had over 35 cats at his estate in Cuba, and according to this book, he knew the names and family trees of every one. He even let some of his favorite cats eat from the table. This was one dedicated cat aficionado! The most interesting anecdote in the book, I thought, came after Hemingway's suicide, when Fidel Castro came to pay his condolences to the widow. The cats came up to investigate who he was, and Castro paid them not one bit of attention - he didn't pet them or acknowledge them at all. I think anyone who loves cats, Hemingway, Cuba, Florida, or any combination of the above would enjoy this book.

After buying my copy, had to rush out and buy five more for gifts! This is a must have for any Hemingway Fan or Cat Lover!! An enjoyable read but the best is the artistic display of the photos. The photos have a softer side and is so refreshing after a long day of computers and TV's. This book won't leave my coffee table!

This is the perfect book for Hemingway fans and animal lovers. Hemingway is seen as a compassionate man who was endlessly devoted to his canine and feline friends. The photographs are beautiful, and the book is very well-written.

The tender side of Papa Hemingway? You need to read this biography to get the whole picture of his macho persona. Hem was absolutely devoted to his cats and dogs. The sentiment ran fine and deep. My only qualm with this book is in the quality of the black and white photographs. So many of them are blurry and the contrast of nearly all is downright poor. It makes me wonder if no one around him had a camera that could shoot decent pictures. Composition is generally good, but, man, you would think that some digital enhancement could have improved the lot. The 4-stars are for these faults alone. Otherwise, it is nice to have these selections from his family photo album. The text is always revealing and charming.

Hemingway's Cats is a well written, well documented biography of Hemingway built around his relationship with his pets,owls,dogs, and mostly cats.

I have read other biographies of Hemingway, but this one published in 2006, has new information and details I hadn't read before.

Including details of his relationships with his wives and lovers in a non-judgemental but informative style.

Also, it reveals many truths about the Hemingway legend, such as the six toed cats that live on Key West today, are not decendents of former Hemingway pets. All in all, a good intertaining read.

I'd say it is a must for any true Hemingway fan.

An intimate portrait of Hemingway 'the man' is painted by this book. With details to his domestic life and loves, female, feline and otherwise we glimpse the very human side of this prolific writer who profiled others so well. Regrettably, the quality of the photographs in this book are overall very poor, taking away from the well written text. For Hemingway aficionado's it's a must read.

This book was very interesting...written well. It also had some great pictures of Hemingway's cats and also a few pictures of him with his beloved cats. I learned a bit more about Hemingway after reading this book.