Book Review: For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway)
Have I read this before: Yes! I read this during the summer of 2008. I remember reading it in the Wallace basement during our breaks on that U of I cleaning job.
Review: I vaguely remember that this book’s ending making me cry the first time I read it. It didn’t provoke that reaction at all this time, but it was still an impactful ending. And my opinion of any given book is heavily swayed by its ending. A Handmaid’s Tale? Not a fan, strictly because I hated the ending. A Prayer for Owen Meany? It was good throughout, but the ending nailed it for me and made it one of my favorite books. The ending didn’t “make” this one for me, but it was a good ending and it was a memorable book. I like Hemingway in general.
Favorite Part: Probably the ending, hahaha.
Rating: 6/10
Book Review: A Moveable Feast (Hemingway)
Have I read this before: Nope.
Review: Want to experience the Lost Generation via Hemingway? Then read this and skip The Sun Also Rises. This is much more real and raw, obviously in part because it’s based on Hemingway’s actual interactions with other prominent individuals of the time. It’s a memoir, and it’s a good one. Also, the Kindle edition has a bunch of photographs and letters at the end, which is super cool.
Favorite Part: His description of F. Scott Fitzgerald:
“Scott was a man then who looked like a boy with a face between handsome and pretty. He had very fair wavy hair, a high forehead, excited and friendly eyes and a delicate long-lipped Irish mouth that, on a girl, would have been the mouth of beauty. His chin was well built and he had good ears and a handsome, almost beautiful, unmarked nose. This should not have added up to a pretty face, but that came from the coloring, the very fair hair and the mouth. The mouth worried you until you knew him and then it worried you more.”
Rating: 6/10
Book Review: A Farewell to Arms (Hemingway)
Have I read this before: Yes! I dig Hemingway.
Review: I think it’s easy to forget that Hemingway served as an ambulance driver in WWI and actually got pretty seriously wounded in…1918 I want to say? I think of all his novels, this is the one that is most clearly based on his own experiences (yes, even more so than The Sun Also Rises in my opinion). You can really feel how personal it is all throughout the story.
Favorite Part: I really like how much of the book is focused on the non-fighting/non-battle parts of war. It emphasizes how “regular life” continues on even during a World War and how young men and women deal with trying to just live their lives despite the war taking place and disrupting everything.
Rating: 7/10
Book Review: The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway)
Have I read this before: Yes indeed. Sometime in high school.
Review: If you want to get into Hemingway, DON’T START WITH THIS ONE. Hemingway is a great storyteller, but there must be a story to be told – and that’s what this book lacks.
Like, I get it…it’s supposed to portray that “Lost Generation” vibe, but UGH. It’s like the characters in The Great Gatsby went to France, took too many tranquilizers, and got boring.
Favorite Part: Knowing that practically any other Hemingway work I pick up will be better.
Rating: 4/10
Book Review: The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway)
Have I read this before: I think I read this in high school? I remember reading it, but I don’t remember when.
Review: I dig Hemingway. I like his style. It’s simple but the ideas expressed in it are complex. I don’t know if it’s because this is a novella and not a novel, but this definitely seems like a slightly different style than “typical” Hemingway. But I like it. I’ve read that one of the criticisms of the story is now “ungrounded” it is compared to how Hemingway typically writes, but I think it works here.
Favorite part: I really like this reflection by Santiago:
“Then he was sorry for the great fish that had nothing to eat and his determination to kill him never relaxed in his sorrow for him. How many people will he feed, he thought. But are they worthy to eat him? No, of course not. There is no one worthy of eating him from the manner of his behavior and his great dignity.
I do not understand these things, he thought. But it is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers.”
Rating: 6/10
Another one off the list
So now three books have made me cry upon completing them: Watership Down, The Chosen, and For Whom the Bell Tolls.
I didn’t think Hemingway could ever make me cry, but it did in a totally unexpected fashion.
Very cool.
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