Papa Hemingway (Tr)

Had to take the cover off and throw it away. The pages were very yellow and ragged, not as smelly as the other book I bought still, to say this is "like new" is really a long stretch.

Decades after publication, this book maintains its freshness and rightfully takes a seat as a classic literary memoir. Hotchner, a dabbler in TV and magazines without literary pretensions, keeps his eyes, ears and nose open and delivers the best portrait from life of this complex writer which exists. Forget the criticisms about technical innaccuracies or adulatory tone; it is part of the game that the tutor, Hemingway himself, taught this tyro. Any lingering doubts can be resolved by looking at Hemingway's own Moveable Feast from this period. The name of Hemingway's game is creating literature, not scholarship or journalism. The writer is engaged in the early 1950s and followed to his bitter end. Hotchner makes you feel the sadness and loss. Imperfections, foibles, and silliness are all there -- also some cool wisdom. And you can't match the scenery -- Venice, Spain, Cuba, Montana. Obviously a portrait of this clarity is going to cause contoversy and hurt feelings; those maligned have spoken in their own memoirs which of course are well worth reading, too, even the brittle but brave Mary -- Hemingway's fourth wife who became Hotchner's fully armed foe. No matter: she is memorably on these pages too -- immortalized as the tough prickly pickle she was. It finally does not matter what you think of Hemingway or any of these people. "Getting it right and true" was Hemingway's code, so that the reader feels as if he were there and remembers it all down to the weather and the smells. The result is literature. The unlikely little Hotchner succeeded on Hemingway's own terms, delivering a searingly human portrait that the writer would never have been capable of himself, but certainly would have been forced by his own standards to approve.

Anything I say here will simply detract from this wonderful book, so I will keep it short. I've read a number of Hemingway biographies, but this is unquestionably the best. Hotchner only new Ernest for approximately the last 14 years of his life, so if you're looking for a comprehensive biography, try elsewhere (I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending any of the other Hemingway bios I've read). What Hotchner can give us is a portrait of Papa (Hemingway) from the perspective of a very close and dear friend (Hotchner hunted and travelled with Papa, helped edit and publish his books and essays, and even named A Moveable Feast). And Hotchner is no fool. He knows that Hemingway had a propensity towards exaggeration, and seems to have a pretty good B.S. detector.If you want all the facts, and want to know everything Hemingway ever did, read one of the opuses written by a college professor who got all of his or her information third-hand. If you want to know what Hemingway the man was like, read this book.After finishing, I think it is fair to say that Hemingway's most tragic character turned out to be himself. Read this book.

It by sheer chance I got this book while I was in San Jose,CA. I read the entire book in 2 days. It gave me so much information about the biographical details, mental make up and lonliness of a great author at the fag end of his life. I reread Hemingway's novels after this which gave me an entirely new insight into the writer's mind as well. The final days of Hemingway are touchingly elaborated by the author. I will certainly recommend this book to any one interested in studying Hemingway.

A friend rec'd this out of print book to me. He has rec'd many great ones, but this blew my mind. One of the best books I've ever read by one of Heminway's closest friends for the last 14 years of his life. The True, uplifting, and sad novel, left me with 2 regrets: 1.) That I did not read it sooner, while I was younger, and 2.) That my life will be nothing like a life touched by, or experienced like Hemingway's.