The Garden of Eden

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Summary: Sex/Art/Love/Madness = Papa maps this dark tangle. Whew!
Review: Simply-told though filled with dark implications, this lean-but-lyrical gem is as strong as vintage Hemingway. In this posthumously-published novel, Papa explores the many manifestations of desire as it excites, inspires, nurtures & drives us mad--often all at once. Set in the 1920's on the Cote d'Azur, it chronicles the honeymoon of David Bourne, a writer, & his lovely, impulsive wife Catherine. As her strange compulsions take her on a slide toward either freedom or insanity, David struggles to follow her and still practice his chosen craft. Soon after another woman enters their relationship, the struggle becomes one for control of David's art through his love for both Catherine & Marita, the newcomer. This is a love-triangle with three complete sides (as they pair & repair), and how each of these characters chooses to resolve their struggle belies the more prurient aspects of the book: this is less erotica than a story of how the dark & bright sides of desire inform lives, how they empower & weaken us, and how love may not be enough--even 'true' love. As entertaining as any romance, though much more provocative, this book is a masterpiece (despite the controversy surrounding it).

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Summary: Your heart goes wild, mad and broken.
Review: The best of the best. It beats into your heart and soul and all you ever wants to do is to run naked in warm sand or fly away in a lightblue buggatti. Go cut your hair. Get a suntan and let life go

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Summary: This novel was very intriging and hard to put down.
Review: The Garden of Eden was very erotic. It gave me a sense ofthrill to read it. The relationships between the characters aren'tyour ordinary run of the mill but with something a little different to intrigue my mind I was fascinated. Some things did get a little slow or repetitive but over all it was a book that was hard to put down.

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Summary: good
Review: This is goo

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Summary: Vintage Papa
Review: The best introduction to hemingway after 'the sun also rises', It take us into his view of life, and the role of the writer. it contains some of his finest prose. a triumph

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Summary: A complex love-triangle amidst a backdrop that is purely Hem
Review: It's hard to read this book without wanting a stiff drink, some fine food, and a month or so to chill in a Spanish costal Villa. It's dark, erotic, and offers some interesting insight into Hem's writing routine

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Summary: DON"T UNDERESTIMATE THIS ONE!
Review: A number of Hemingway's works were published afer his death. Some of them probably should have stayed where ever it was they were stashed. This is not one of them. I am not a big Hemingway novel fan, preferring his short stories. This is an exception though. This is a twisted story and does indeed have it's dark side. But, being obviously, at least partially autobigoraphical, it stands to reason that it would be rather quirky, as Hemingway himself was. In this work we see flashes of the old Hemingway, the young Hemingway and all of his brilliance. It is a far better work than some of his later stuff. I must admit to have read this one several times and it has become one of my favorite of his works. I remember putting if off for quite awhile, and am sorry I did as such. Recommend this one highly.

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Summary: Bizarre and Stark--in a good way!
Review: Very bizarre and disturbing love triangle drives the plot of this book, written in Hemingway's genius minimalistic writing style. Not my favorite Heminway, but worth the read regardless.

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Summary: Visit the estate and enter the garden...
Review: I recently had the opportunity to travel to Key West and visit the Hemingway estate. The tour guide talked about Hemingway being married and then his wife making a friend and soon after Hemingway was not married and with the ex-wife's friend. I think the tour guide said this happened more than once in the life of one of our most influential novelists.
Hmmm...I purchased Hemingway's The Garden of Eden and after reading it I couldn't stop myself from wondering if art truly does imitate life.
Caught between two loves on his honeymoon--one plot of this novel-- had me pondering all kinds of possibilities and brought me back to one of the oldest stories that exists to man...the story of temptation in the garden...and choices...outstanding Hemingway work, my favorite one.

Rating:
Summary: Provocative & Enticing
Review: On the surface, this tome may appear to be nothing more than a little love story of young American newlyweds set on the pristine beaches of France and Spain during the glamorous and decadent days of the 1920's. Well...yes..and no. Hemingway, to his credit, gives us a love story quite unlike any other Hemingway that you will ever read. It's not about bullfighting, war in Italy or Spain, catching an oversized fish only to lose it, or anything that most neophytes associate Hemingway with.

Hemingway, as is his custom, so masterfully creates the setting that you feel as if you are there on the white sandy beaches of France overlooking the majestic Mediterranean feeling the cool breeze while sipping one of David Bourne's mouthwatering martinis. Hemingway gives us the young aspiring couple, David & Catherine Bourne, who seemingly have begun a loving, if not somewhat banal, relationship.

Enter dark-skinned sultress Marita. From then on, the story takes a dramatic shift from a borderline hackneyed account of love into a steamy and provocative love triangle that makes for compelling and incredibly enjoyable reading. Perhaps due to the fact that it wasn't released until 1986, there exists a myriad of swear words and provocatively suggestive sexual scenes that no way would have made it into print earlier in Hemingway's life(e.g. the censorship of For Whom the Bell Tolls).

Overall, I found it to be an absolute great summer or fall book that will whisk you away to Hemingway's incomparable setting of lovers in paradise. Read it and ask yourself: Is this the real Hemingway hidden beneath the gruff exterior or is this merely an aberration? I believe the former. Read it and enjoy.