The Young Hemingway

In general, I find myself bored with most biographies. They are either overly tedious or inane in their detail, too dry or too glossy in their treatment of the subject. Michael Reynold's work here is a powerful exception. The Young Hemingway captivated me as thoroughly as a novel, and rather than finding myself skipping sections and slogging through chapters, I found myself unable to pry my eyes from the pages. Reynolds does an excellent job distilling new primary sources and a lifetime of scholarship into both an extremely readable and valuable work. I feel the essence of Hemingway in this time period is more clearly evoked than in any other biographical sketch I've read. The author is also fair in his treatment of the subject. There are no axes to grind, nor are there halos around young Hemingway; he is as real on Reynolds' page as anyone we might know, and that is one of the Reynolds' major achievements here: by the end of this work, one actually feels as if they understand some real aspects of the fabled author, the myth is stripped away, and we see something very human. This is the first book in a five part series. I'm going straight out to get the next volume.

Reynolds is the first biographer who came out and directly stated what many others had known for years--that Hemingway had fabricated and overstated his heroic experiences in the First World War. In other words, he lied then and continued to lie about his experiences throughout the rest of his life. That Scribner's aided and abetted in the lying is reprehensible. Those who consider this line of inquiry to be disrespectful should consider that Hemingway, more than any other writer of his time, promoted the cult of the soldier and himself as its prime exemplar. Within the military fraternity, lying about one's accomplishments in combat is disgraceful. Those who are interested in pursuing this line of inquiry further should purchase a copy of Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky (P.S.) by Paul Johnson, which contains a chapter, "The Deep Waters of Ernest Hemingway," that provides substantially more detail. It is interesting to consider the role of the cumulative lying upon Hemingway's eventual decision to commit suicide. For a more honest depiction of combat, consider buying George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia."

There are over 70 Hemingway biographies out there. You want to read one, a good one. How do you choose? You flip through the pages of a few at your local bookstore and then, relying on your intuition and luck, you pick one. Hopefully it will be the one written by Michael Reynolds. The Young Hemingway is the first in a 5 volume set. The other books in the set are The Paris Years, The Homecoming, The 1930s and The Final Years. (I ended up reading all 5. While reading this first book, it is important to keep in mind that it is only a part of a bigger story.)This is a well-researched and well-written book (as are the other 4 in the series). Reynolds, to put everything into perspective, gives background information on the society, politics, art, culture and trends of the times. He tells us which songs are popular and which books are on the best-seller lists. All of the important events that take place in the US and in the world are mentioned. Reynolds does not miss anything that might have helped shape Hemingway or that might help us understand him and his works better. When a day is significant in Hem's life, you can be sure that Reynolds will also tell you the headlines of European and American papers' headlines of that day.It is a very smooth flowing, easy to read book and when you are finished you know that you can't just have one, you have to read all five. A note to the reviewer who found excessive family info (or gossip) in the first book: I think the first book, The Young Hemingway, is concentrating on the family to give us a solid background of the man, of where he is coming from. It is important to keep in mind that this is only one fifth of the whole study. The family falls to the background in following books and other "shapers" come to the foreground. It is a work that needs to be reviewed as a whole.

Mr. Reynolds has done a first rate job on Hemingway's early years. The research is excellent, the writing is always interesting. Reynolds does a fine job of portraying Oak Park(EH's home town) at the turn of the century(1900). Hemingway's war experience is well presented. His life in Illinois and up in Michigan are well documented and portrayed in a lively manner. The personalities of his mother and father are presented in a manner that anticipates Hemingway's later problems and preoccuapations. Overall, a first rate job. One minor objection- Hemingway was a bs artist like lots of young men, and Mr. Reynolds is repetitious in his demonstration of Hemingway's falsehoods. He is a bit harsh on young Ernie. But the book deserves a top notch recommendation.

I often find biographies to be either too tedious and scholarly on the one hand, or too fluffy on the other. This book is a scholarly pursuit at its best, yet it is still a good read, even a page turner. Author expertly balances facts from the young Hemingway's life with the history of the times, exceprts from his later work and observations about the life influenced the work. A nice, insightful story.