Strange Tribe: A Family Memoir

I just want to convey to potential readers that this is indeed a compelling read. I finished it in a couple days getting truly absorbed (I had read Gregory H.'s memoir just a couple weeks before). The book has a well developed narrative drive and the letters published in it are incredible (you are in for a ride!). The book includes a genealogy of the Hemingway family, which I found most helpful to orient myself. I noticed that I am born the same year as the author and I caught myself repeatedly asking the question: What was I doing this or that year along the time line of the book. Other reviews have given a summary of the chapters already. I'd just like to add that you may derive insights about your own life from this book, i.e. letting go of this hardliner need for untouchable icons to look up to, - icons that are never real in the first place and are bound to be "dethroned at lightning speed". My best wishes to John Hemingway.

Strange Tribe: A Family Memoir For those who have only known the adventuresome and rugged side of Hemingway, this is a real eye opener. It's like getting a peek at all the skeletons in a great man's closet. Who would have guessed that beneath that macho exterior lurked the soul of a tormented woman and would be the legacy he left his son? It is both sad and funny when viewed through the eyes of his grandson, but with probably more drama than humor. For those who want to remember Hemingway as the sun-tanned fisherman hauling in a huge marlin or the gutsy hunter facing down a charging rhino, I'd say be cautious about peeling back the veneer that hid the real person beneath that facade.

John Hemingway's honesty and courage in facing hard truths many might chose to live in denial of are the things that make this book so important for anyone who has experienced serious disorders in themselves or loved ones. The book is about a family, an afflicted family where some members have great gifts but too many were crippled by things that were not understood in the time they lived in. Had either Ernest or Gregory Hemingway ever received both the correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment (the requisite drugs were not even available when Ernest suffered from what in retrospect was clearly alcoholism and a bipolar disorder, and had Gregory been in the care of the appropriate physician one would believe his end may have been very different). Things may have been different for Ernest, Gregory and others in the family who killed themselves, different and better, had there been a different medical regime available to them. It's one of the points one comes away with in reading this fine book - - a belief that things did not have to happen this way in the "strange tribe" of Hemingways. The suffering of the afflicted and survivors could have been lessened - - there is hope for families today who face these illnesses and similar afflictions in their own tribes. Family members can emerge as strong as the author. What distinguishes this family from other families is fame. That's it. That's all. It is clear in John's book that this fame did not serve to alleviate the problems and may have well made things worse for them. In writing this note, I am sorry that most who find this book will be drawn to the last name of the writer and the fact that it deals in part with the author's famous grandfather, for this book is a very valuable volume for anyone who has suffered from any disorder or lived with a loved one who is so afflicted. That John Hemingway is obviously healthy enough, grounded enough, and caring enough to have the courage to honestly address the things in his book is remarkable. He reveals things to the reader about himself and his family, obviously hoping in the process that he is reaching out to someone who might benefit from the information, and in the process he created a gift to families that have troubles. And we live in a world today where many families have troubles. Though the troubles may differ from those experienced in the Hemingway tribe, the consequences can be so similar as to be identical. John Hemingway had a great victory in life. In that family, just surviving is a victory, and he not only survived but flourished. His life is a victory, his book is a victory, and a new very different kind of Hemingway writer emerges in these pages, an important voice I suspect we shall hear more from. Ray Mouton

I was lucky enough to see an advance copy of this memoir, and I can't say enough about it. I've read several books about Ernest and the Hemingway clan, and John Hemingway's book adds new and (until now) untold dimensions to the saga. STRANGE TRIBE is an intimate and poignant story written with a skillful, understated grace. Ernest would be proud!