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Ernest Hemingway

Oh, God, PLEASE don't read Hemingway. He is awful. I don't know how a man writing the way he did survived in this business.
I read A Farewell to Arms, which he wrote in an attempt to relive an affair with an army nurse in his younger days. It's boring, the characters are bland, no one seems to stick with their decisions, the dialogue is unbelievably disgusting, the plotline drags, and there was a whole chapter on horse racing that had nothing to do with the rest of the story. He'll mention a million insignificant things, and you'll pay attention because they'll be important later, right? Well, they're never mentioned again.
Here is a sample of the dialogue.
“ ‘I think we’re in Switzerland, Cat,’ I said.
“ ‘Really?’
“ ‘There’s no way to know until we see Swiss troops.’
“ ‘Or the Swiss navy.’
“ ‘The Swiss navy’s no joke for us. That last motor boat we heard was probably the Swiss navy.’
“ ‘If we’re in Switzerland let’s have a big breakfast. They have wonderful rolls and butter and jam in Switzerland.’”
And this one is even better.
“I was wondering whether Rinaldi had the syphilis.”
“Was that all?”
“Yes.”
“Has he had the syphilis?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m glad you haven’t. Did you ever have anything like that?”
“I had gonorrhea.”
“I don’t want to hear about it. Was it very painful, darling?”
“Very.”
“I wish I’d had it.”
I rest my case.
 
I can never decide whether I like Hemingway or not...perhaps I've not yet read enough of his work. I do, however, feel Fitzgerald was a better writer, alone for The Great Gatsby.
 
The disgusting thing about it is how stupid it is. "Oh, we're going to die. Let's eat breakfast!" It makes no sense to me.
And while these quotes may be funny, they were not meant to be funny at all. He was serious when he wrote it. While we all may laugh at his expense, the novel was near impossible to read through and it is the only novel I have ever said should be burned.
 
enjoying Hemingway

A farewell to arms is a tragedy, or better yet a commentary on the tragedy of life. You need to look deep at what Hemingway says in this one. There is a lot of foreshadowing imbedded in this seemingly unemotional narrating and dialogue (Hemingway’s style). I do believe Hemingway’s style is like presenting an iceberg…he only gives you so much and you must conclude the rest.

There is a lot written on how to interpret Hemingway and I have enjoyed this approach diving deep into his work for a couple of years. I do not make so much out of the Hemingway Code, although this is also enjoyable to apply while reading his stories.

Hemingway is not for everyone. I do believe that to start with Hemingway you need to start with his short stories.
 
I read Old Man And The Sea, and I am not impressed by Hemmingway. I know his writing style is rather simple, but It doesn't appeal to me in the least way.
 
I enjoy Hemmingway - THe Old Man and the Sea is probably the best place to start. It is the most accesible because of its length and was specifically cited in his Nobel Award.

His language is simple but his charaters and themes are complex. To really get into him try "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "A farewell to arms". Both of them take very personal stories and set them against the backdrop of some of the most siesmic geo-political events of the 20th Century.

A word of warning - Never challenge him to a drinking contest - you will lose.
 
I didn't find the characters in A Farewell to Arms complex at all. Most of them were completely meaningless and I didn't care about a single one of them. They had all the emotion of soggy cardboard.

I might agree that the theme was complex, since I seem to have missed and/or misunderstood the theme completley.
 
Subjective. The Snows of Kilimanjaro is often touted as the best. I enjoy Hills Like White Elephants the most.
 
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