Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #568971 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

One of the better posthumous publication
This is one of the better posthumous publications of Hemingway. It has his wonderfully distinctive style and story themes. I even recommend this over some of the novels released during Hemingway's life. A worthy part of any Hemingway collection.

Tragic and poignantly romantic -- like Hemingway himself
This book was beautifully bitersweet to me. Thomas Hudson's life (the main character) is a story of tradgedy we've all experienced to one degree or another -- and the flicker of hope that remains when bitterness or despair sets in. As usual, the backdrop for the plot is classic Hemingway: romantic locales, adventure, insight and excellent observations on human character. I'd also like to point out that this is one of the most moving descriptions of fathers and sons (Hudson and his boys) that I've ever read in a novel. In addition there is an incredible sport fishing scene on the Gulf Stream that is the most vivid and exciting fishing account I've read. It will engross the reader totally. Without giving the story away, my only complaint was the second act of the book -- the bitter and nearly defeated Hudson living in Cuba during World War Two. Not to take away from the skill of the storytelling, but Hudson's bitterness during this part of the story is hard to ! ! witness. It left me feeling depressed at times myself. On the other hand it can be argued though that if a story has that sort of emotional effect, then it is successful. And who says stories must always be uplifiting anyways. As Hemingway experienced, as well as the rest of us -- life can be a downer at times. The dark mood of the second half is refreshed though by a dramatic, emotional and introspective ending that left a tear in my eye. I highly recommend this to the fans of Hemingway as well as anyone else -- a well done emotional journey.

A Rollercoaster in Writing
This is a very uneven book, unfinished at the time of Hemingway's suicide. Mary Hemingway and various editors slapped this one together from an on-again, off-again project Hemingway wasn't able to complete during his last decade of life due to his alcoholism, creaping schizophrenia and lack of fire. The sections of the book were meant to be virtually separate books and they read that way. Mark, the Calabrian reviewer, is right- the Cuban section is terrible. I believe Hemingway wrote much of it while drunk. The Bimini section is excellent except, having vacationed in Bimini myself, Hemingway sugarcoats the place. The Bimini he explains to his readers is actually more like Abaco, Green Turtle Cay, Eluethera or, most likely, Key West. The At Sea section is also fine to read. Funny, Islands in the Stream is a case where the movie version (starring George C. Scott) is probably of higher quality than the book.