Grade 7 Up. Although Tessitore's portrayal of Hemingway is frequently unflattering, it is always fair. The author stresses the writer's enormous ego, his tendency to exaggerate or out-and-out lie, and his recurring thoughts of suicide. Yet the book makes clear that these negative characteristics are only part of a complex man who also demonstrated courage, resoluteness, and an extraordinary sense of adventure. The narrative opens with Hemingway's World War I exploits, then backtracks to trace his life and literary accomplishments chronologically. Written in an easy-to-read, straightforward manner, the text is occasionally interrupted by cogent quotes from Hemingway or his contemporaries. For the most part the book is accurate, but a few dates miss the mark; for example, the Gary Cooper/Helen Hayes version of A Farewell to Arms was filmed in 1932, not in 1937 as stated here. While chapter notes and a bibliography are helpful additions, the index fails to cite a number of prominent people mentioned in the text. Some of the black-and-white photographs are too small to showcase their subjects effectively. Richard Lyttle's Ernest Hemingway (Atheneum, 1992) offers a more thorough index and better illustrations. Nevertheless, The Hunt and the Feast provides a credible portrait of Hemingway as a self-destructive man who became not only a great writer, but also a cultural icon.?Pat Katka, formerly at San Diego Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 7^-12. "A big lie is more plausible than the truth," author Ernest Hemingway once said. Indeed, Papa's predilection for confusing fact and fiction in accounts of his own life is a major challenge for biographers. As Tessitore admits, "Searching for the truth is often like searching for a needle in a haystack." Happily, he usually finds that fugitive needle in his smoothly written account of Hemingway's life and literary output. Tessitore is candid in presenting the Nobel laureate's too-human character flaws and his later descent into crippling depression and paranoia. Tessitore's assessment of the work, however, is sometimes overgenerous, and surely his conclusion that "Hemingway remains the undefeated literary champion of the twentieth century" is hyperbole. Nevertheless, this is an excellent introduction to a complex human being and a reliable guide to the body of his enduring work. Michael Cart
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