Customer Reviews

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro", and Other Stories

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" contains some of Hemingway's finer short stories. And like many of his works, they resemble his life. Everything from his childhood to his later years in Africa are material for these tales. The stories of Hemingway's recurrent character, Nick Adams, who some say is Hemingway himself, are contained in this book also. All the works bear his distinct imprint, even though many are under ten pages in length. "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" is what I consider Hemingway's most potent short story of all. This collection is a great primer for those who are unacquainted with Hemingway's work and wish to discover his talent.

This very short little volume serves as the perfect introduction to the work and style of Ernest Hemmingway. It contains ten of his most popular short stories. THIS IS BY NO MEANS A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF HIS GREATEST HITS. Notably absent from this collection is "Hills Like White Elephants." However, it does contain such perennial favorites as "The Killers," "A Clean Well-Lighted Place," and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." Ultimately, the consumer (like myself) will be tempted to buy The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemmingway, which is not much more expensive.

The editors at Scribners have chosen ten of Hemingway's short stories for this Paperback edition. Set both in America and
abroad, the subjects of these tales deal with some of his favorite--albeit morbid--literary interests: death, drink, war and illness. Possibly influenced by Anderson's anthology, WINESBURG OHIO, the author actually chooses one character, Nick Adams, to appear in several unrelated stories. Ranging in length from 3 - 33 pages these stories are the offspring of the imagination and morality of a Man's author. His protagonists include a solider, boxer, gambler, game hunters--even simple waiters. Set in Africa, Italy, France and the Chicago environs, this collection will transport readers back to the era of the Lost Generation, when personal choices were often painfully wrong, resulting in social and moral disaster. Vintage Heminway, with subtle hints of his interest in suicide.

Quite simply, "The Snows of Kilimajaro" is the greatest short story I have ever read. Hemingway's poignant prose powerfully touches the reader with its rather candid narration and lack of verbosity. A stirring portrait of potential wasted and talent corrupted, this story explores the classic Hemingway themes of death and corruption. As the protagonist faces death and bemoans the ruination of his talent by "betrayals of himself and what he believed in" and by "drinking so much he blunted the edge of his perception," the reader realizes the significance of living life in such a manner that when death beckons, the end will come without any regrets, could-haves, would-haves or should-haves. Perhaps no author embodied this philosophy more than Hemingway; a man who truly lived a life without regrets.

Be prepared: this story shall transform your philosophy on existence. Oh yeah, and the other stories aren't half-bad either :-)

There are two exceptional stories in this volume: The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Short Happy Life of Francis Mccomber. Both of these stories satisfied my need for other places and experiences while exploring the familiar ground of long term, mildly satisfactory relationships. The other stories are hit and miss, but still they are Hemingway's and so, if you like his work as I do, they hit the mark more often than they fall short.

If you've read only a few of Hemingway's major works (as I had), this slim volume of ten short stories is a wonderful way to get a better sense of this literary lion's take on life and the demons (real or imagined) that populate the lives of his wounded characters - and the author himself.

On the plains of Africa, convalescing in Italy, at an outdoor cafe in the middle of the night or in Middle America, psychological scars abound, women can hem you in, men can give you nightmares, family can haunt you, and life can be cheap. Hemingway experienced first-hand the pathos of humanity in the theater of war and brings deeply felt emotions to the table in his trademark punchy, rat-a-tat-tat, sometimes nuts-to-you style. And all the while, he evokes the landscapes, smells, sounds and sky of his settings in a manner captured for posterity by the mind's eye.

The bookends of this collection - "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" - tell of men in a setting that demands courage who, in their own way, try to measure up to their self-expectations while making peace with their choice of mates, all while nature closes in on them. Each has a compelling conclusion (the reader of "Kilimanjaro" may miss what has really happened if skimming at a critical point), but it is "Kilimanjaro" that soars in its lofty evocation of the release of death. And its flashback stream-of-consciousness, a precursor of the kind of New Journalism ushered in during the Sixties by authors like Tom Wolfe, provides a stark counterpoint to the stillness of the African encampment.

This collection is a superior introduction to Hemingway and is strongly recommended.

Classic Hemingway. Great depth in describing the characters and the situation. Like his other works, it is not surprising that he received a Pulitzer.

Heston did justice to the characters in this audio book, just as he does in his screen acting. It was an enjoyable read during my long commute.

This collection of short fiction is a reminder of Ernest Hemingway's place as one of the best authors of all time. The Snows of Kilimanjaro is full of Hemingway's wonderful, clear and timeless language and prose. "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," "A Day's Wait," and "The Killers" possess profound sadness and sentimentality. My favorite story is the semiautobiographical "Fathers and Sons." Hemingway illustrates his feelings about his father's suicide with rich, albeit sharp, prose. The subject title is also a wonderful story. This isn't Hemingway's best work, not as powerful as The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, but it's a memorable book nevertheless. His short stories have always touched me, and these aren't the exception.

I am usually not a short story aficionado, but I love Ernest Hemingway, so I had to read these. Also, Hemingway thought that his story "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" was about as good as anything he had written. And he, of course was right. This story on its own has about everything anyone could ask for when reading a tale. The emotions and character portrayal are remarkable considering that Hemingway put them within the confines of a short story. The best thing about anything that Hemingway writes though is that his stories are based on his actual experiences. And his "bare bones" method of storytelling cuts through everything and gets right to the meat of any of his issues. The stories in this collection are a bit graphic because there are quite a few about big game hunting and also about rum running in the gulf between Cuba and Florida, but they are each masterpieces in their own right. I for one want to read everything Hemingway ever wrote. To my way of thinking he is one of the best English-speaking writers we have ever had.

His short stories seem to get overshadowed by his novels, most notably "The Old Man and the Sea" but his short stories stand as testament to how well Hemingway could craft a story. One of the principal things about his stories is how well he captures the essence of the era in which he wrote. "The Killers" is almost a mafia-esque story decades before the world received "The Godfather" while "Fifty Grand" illustrates early 20th century boxing in America. And of course, there is Hemingway's deep-seeded knowledge of his travels across Europe and Africa.

The title story is a fantastic representation of Hemingway's philosophy of writing of only about the things you truly know how to write. And in "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" it is starkly apparent how much of Hemingway's personal experiences are juxtaposed into his stories.In the latter, the reader gets a fantastic sense of what a true African safari is like, down to the exact detail. In the title story, it appears that Harry's wondering imagination has been filled with Hemingway's detailed experiences in Europe.

Indeed, this seems to me like a common thread through all of his stories: a frustrated writer (commonly going by the reoccuring name of Nick Adams) who struggles to use his experiences as material for writing. It is almost as if Hemingway were saying that the reason he writes is to rid himself of the memories of his experiences, much like that of Harry from "The Snows of Kilimanjaro."

Whatever the ultimate reason, Ernest Hemingway represents his own domain of American literature. With simple sentences, he wrote the most complex and distinct discriptions through his common substitution of the comma for the word "and". Coupled with his excessive dialogue, he has created a category of literature that is entirely unique and well entertaining.