To Have and Have Not

Rating:
Summary: In all fairness, I plan on reading it again.
Review: This is the first book I have read where I think my age impacts my ability to appreciate it's depth. I read it when I was 23 and immediately could not relate to the main character at all, on any level. Being a huge fan of Hemingway's writing otherwise, this will be a book I look forward to coming back to in twenty years or so. I'm glad for that, because somedays I worry that I'll read all his books too fast and be left with nothing of his to read for the rest of my life.

Rating:
Summary: The Downward Spiral Into the Abyss
Review: What a sad story. I enjoyed the book very much but felt so horribly for the main character Harry Morgan. In Harry Morgan we have a seemingly noble man. Who starts the book as a hard working Fishing Charter Captain. Through a series of unfortunate events Harry loses his work as a fishing boat captain. And goes headlong into the life of a smuggler.
Harry seemingly detests this life in the beginning of the narrative, but is somewhat forced into doing it.
It is amazing to see Harry, a man bound by duty to a life he doesn't want to lead, go down the dark dark path of destruction. The most amazing factor is how Harry appears to lose all his sense of ethics in a heartbeat.
Hemingway discusses one of his favorite themes, duty of man. Harry has the duty of providing for his wife and daughters and will do whatever it takes to provide for them.
Hemingways narrative reads like a series of flashbacks. Each time we see Harry he is in a new place in his decent to the abyss. He gets lower and lower each time. It all reads with a strong sense of predestination. It almost seems Harry is destined to walk this path... even though he wouldn't have chosen it initially. He didn't want to go in this direction. But he finds himself there and will do what he needs to do.
Harry seems so full of integrity at the beginning then begins to do all he can to make this lifestyle work no matter the end result. He seems driven to provide no matter what he has to do. It is almost a Machiavellian story. You have to feel for Harry and his wife. But Harry makes his choices and lives with them.
Read this book. It seems to be one of the darker Hemingway novels but it deifinitely satisfies! A great stroy and a sad story.

Rating:
Summary: Wilson's book report
Review: According to my thoughts and feelings, I truely believe that this book was really interesting, but yet sort of confusing. I had rated this book 3 stars because that the story was boring and confusing, although I still like the book. The book was about a man Harry Morgan, who at the beginning did not want to deal with the deal that the other yachtsmen had done with him. Harry was a boatman, and if he had done the deal, he would get a thousand dollars+, but he didn't want to risk it all. It was for his family.

Rating:
Summary: Courageous But Not Very Likeable
Review: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT was written during the Great Depression when there was also much revolutionary activity in Cuba.

The book is not very similar to the Bogart movie with the same title. The protagonist, however, is named Harry Morgan and as in the film Harry is a fishing boat captain. His wife is named Marie which is the same name as that of the Lauren Bacall character in the movie. The plot of the book is very different and the mood throughout is dark and sombre - except for a few humorous interludes while Harry is drinking in a bar with wealthy tourists.

Hemingway begins the story using the first person before switching to the third person after five chapters. The effect of this technique causes some confusion but it does add an extra dimension to both Harry and the plot.

As a protagonist Harry is courageous but not very likeable. He at times appears to be just a desparate man who does not mind killing in order to make a decent living for his family.

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT never rises to the level of Hemingway's more successful novels but it is still worth reading as an example of the author's writing during his early years in Cuba.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book.
Review: To Have And Have Not is too fragmentary to be Hemingway's best novel. It's divided into three episodes, which I think were written at completely different times, so Hemingway's objectives might have changed halfway through. The first episode was meant to stand on its own merits as a short story, but Hemingway liked it so much he came back to it later and added two more. That said, it's certainly a fine novel - gripping, moving and very well-written at every step of the way. It revolves around Harry Morgan, an honest man turned into a smuggler by necessity. In the context of the whole novel, the first episode serves mainly to establish his person and show what sort of man he is - his reluctance to get into illegal activities, his strength, his survival instinct and the cruelty that it sometimes results in, and his human qualities. This reads like a self-contained short story with no real point other than an action-filled scenario. The second and shortest episode is the weakest part of the novel - it's a cross-section of a day in Morgan's life after he already takes up smuggling. It certainly shows the risks he has to take, but doesn't serve to do much other than explain a certain point in the third episode.

The third episode, where the real meat of the story is, is the best. It shows the further developments and the conclusion of Morgan's criminal career. It is also where the book's title comes in - here we see the contrast between those who have and those who have not. This comparison makes it easier to understand by contrast just how inevitably Morgan was driven to the life he now leads. Though Hemingway could have treated this issue by simply depicting the rich people as bad and Harry as good, he instead develops the story with tremendous emotional complexity - in a chapter dedicated to the former, Hemingway gets inside the heads of many well-off Americans and shows you their thoughts and fears. You might end up sympathizing with them more than with Harry, even though their glaring weaknesses are relentlessly brought to light. They are shown to be just as much victims of circumstances as Harry Morgan - while this does not exonerate them of their foibles, just like it doesn't exonerate him of his crimes, it makes all of them easier to understand. Nor does Hemingway paint the Marxist rebels that Morgan agrees to transport to Cuba in black and white - some are ruthless mercenaries, but some genuinely seek to make the world better, and others are just there by chance. The tragedy of the book is that all these people, who with a few exceptions really weren't bad sorts, were driven by much more powerful forces against one another, and all ended badly. Here we have Harry Morgan, a strong and intelligent man who really didn't want anything other than to have enough to subsist for him and his family, and he ends up hopelessly alone up against both the law and the lawless. His last monologue, where he ruefully summarizes his life, is one of Hemingway's finest moments.

Here I must add, as an afternote, that this book conclusively proves that those people who like to claim that Hemingway's treatment of women is somehow "sexist" or "disrespectful," or that his female characters are "stereotypical" or "weak," have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. Harry Morgan's wife doesn't have a large role in the book, but there is one crucial scene that revolves solely around her. In it, she shows titanical inner strength; she is possibly the strongest character in the novel, stronger than Harry. Yes, her role in life is "stereotypical," but that is due to the _realism_ of the story - in those days, in those parts of the world, that was the way things were, and that's that. It is undeniable that Hemingway treats her with great respect, admiration and fairness. Thank you very much.

Rating:
Summary: Ah, Harry Morgan and Key West in the '30's!
Review: If you want your Caribbean thriller, look no further than right here. Hemingway's descriptions of life in the Florida Keys and along the Gulf Stream will raise the sweat on your brow. If written today, this novel would be broadsided with charges of political incorrectness; precisely one of the reasons that it is so refreshing to read. The dialogue is vital and lively, the master's economy of style shines here as in most of his other works. And, it is the story of a man and woman's life in a difficult time in these United States, the Depression. The rich are rich and the poor, well, they're real poor. The characters are richly drawn, and pull the reader into the chain of events of the story. The first chapter sets the pace of the novel and the reader is gripped by the throat and pulled along into Cuba long before Fidel and Key West at a time when a gay parade on Duval Street would have resulted in bloodshed. Pour a cold beer, sit back in your Morris chair, and get set to cross the Straits of Florida.

Rating:
Summary: To Have
Review: I have finshed reading To Have and To Have Not by Ernest Hemingway. I'm 13 and extremmly advanced in reading. This book is extremly good and was written quite well. I would whole heartly recommend this book to any who wish to read it. But note that there is a lot of racism and men that are sexist. This book also tells of a smuggeling operation and has some violence.
Hope to keep you informed,
Sean B.

Rating:
Summary: The Most UNDERRATED Hemingway Novel
Review: This book belongs up there with Hemingway's better known books, The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea. Papa unapologetically presents characters who do bad things. Some people have cited the racial slurs and the crimes the characters commit as problematic, but Hemingway displays these things without condoning them. He isn't writing what is good and bad. He is writing what happens. These things happen. People hate. people kill. People become desperate. Hemingway is at heart a reporter and he has crafted a tremendous story and a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Very good Hemingway novel
Review: I read this because I liked the Bogart movie. The movie used the very beginning of the book then goes on to follow a completely different story line. The book is darker and more violent than the "feel-good" themed movie. The novel centers around Harry Morgan, a charter boat captain who does some bad things to make ends meet in 1930's Cuba and Key West. It appears that the book may have started out as a short story that was fleshed out into a novel-length work. The copyright page indicates publication in a magazine in 1934, three years before the book's publication date. This may explain the confusing change in narrators that other reviewers have mentioned. It also seems to me that the have versus have-not theme has been tacked on to contrast the lives of rich holiday-makers in Key West to the lives of struggling Key West natives. The parts dealing with the wealthy aren't particulary interesting or believable. I suspect they were added to give a simple action story more social consciousness. This fault is more than made up for by the scenes with Harry Morgan. He is a tough man of action who wont stop at killing if necessary. It makes for an exciting read; I read it through in one night. I must diasagree with those critics that feel this novel is one of Hemingway's worst.

Rating:
Summary: A Tough, Gritty, Poignant Novel
Review: Hemingway's story of Harry Morgan, a fisherman in Florida who is compelled to start smuggling things with his boat, between Cuba and Key West, is dark and intriguing.

The writing is a bit uneven, and from 3 different perspectives. While this book is definitely a good read, it is far from a masterpiece, and I recommend it as a good, tough, gritty, dark, interesting story that entertains, but is not wholly cogent of everything it invokes. Hemingway's wonderfully "styleless" style, with minimial use of adjectives is still effective here, and it is a gripping story.

This is a good, interesting, dark, gripping story. It's just not a great story. Still, it's well worth the effort.