Customer Reviews

Remembering Ernest Hemingway

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Having just finished "Remembering Ernest Hemingway," I am eager to sing its praises! I have taught Hemingway for 30 years, have read all the bios of him--Baker, Reynolds, Hotchner, etc., and enjoyed them all--but this book still manages to surprise and delight the reader with previously unheard anecdotes, unseen photos, and candid, first-person recollections of Hemingway the friend, boxer, fisherman, hunter, and writer. The book is a compilation of interviews with close personal friends and relatives of EH. For instance, his sons, Gregory and Patrick tell what life was like with EH for a father; two men remember their experiences boxing regularly with EH; Charles Thompson, who went on African safari with EH (and was featured in Hemingway's "Green Hills of Africa")tells what it was like to hunt big game with Hemingway; Valerie Hemingway remembers being with EH during wild times in Spain, etc.

Reading each interview is as authentic and fascinating as watching an old home movie. Each person interviewed offers genuine incidents in which Hemingway's candid words and actions reveal the man in his many facets. All in all, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book, a must read for all Hemingway fans. And, as frosting on the cake, the book even has rare photos, some of which I have never before seen: photos of Hemingway and Gary Cooper; photos of Hem's boat, "The Pilar,"; photos of Hemingway with the Italian woman on whom he based his novel "Across the River and Into the Trees," etc. "Remembering Ernest Hemingway" is a wonderful glimpse of the elusive writer. I most highly recommend it.

After decades of reveling in the myth of Hemingway I now know the man they call Papa Hemingway. The book holds many intimate surprises as told first hand by those who were his friends and his sons. The book is easy and friendly like sipping daiquiries on the verando in the keys and talking among friends. But it is also voyeuristic in feeling as you listen to the interviews and hear what everyday people who knew him had to say. It is intimate in content and refreshing to the senses. I knew the myth and I now know the man. I still like him. This is a good read.

I've always held in high regard Hemingway's knowledge, as well as professionalism, when it came to his craft. Less impressed, through the years, I've been with what I've heard/read in regards to him, the person. A good book changes, to varying degrees, a reader's previous perspective. REMEMBERING ERNEST HEMINGWAY did that for me; and for that - to both Frank Simons and James Plath - I am grateful.

Most of the interviews in this book were with the people Hemingway lived and shared with. These interviews are not about the myth but more the person he was.