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Summary: True Hemingway
Review: I had my doubts that this book would match up to other Hemingway titles but thank the maker I was wrong. It was all the classic elements of a Hemingway novel. I am glad that the family held on to this book until now because it truly will be the last great novel of the 20th century. If only Ernest had been around to edit the book it would have truly been a masterpiece of literature. As it stands now it is just a notch below that point, but still a five star book
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Summary: I'm not telepathic, but this should be great.
Review: I can't wait
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Summary: Very Fine Hemingway treatment of Eastern Africa
Review: Considering its vague "fictional memoir" designation and the fact that it is a posthumous work, "True at First Light" is a surprisingly good book. It came out of Hemingway's 1953 Kenyan safari (two decades after the trip that resulted in "Green Hills of Africa") and tells the story of the narrator's hunting and game warden adventures, his affair with an African woman, and his wife's pursuit of a lion. The safari party is vividly portrayed and the local Africans are documented with respect and understanding. Hunting and the African flora and fauna are well described, as the British colonial administration and the ensuing Mau-Mau comprise the background. As usual, Hemingway shares his philosophy of life, love, art, and death, and shows himself well versed on things African and literature related to Africa. Son Patrick Hemingway, who was there in 1953 and who worked in Kenya as one of the last generation of white hunters, did an excellent editing job, forging the book from the original manuscript and providing a very useful introduction, cast of characters, and Swahili glossary. This is highly recommended for any Hemingway fans and anyone interested in Africa.
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Summary: Good brothers are difficult to find
Review: ..but you can encounter a bad brother in any town. This is one statement in this story which is not a real memoir and not a real novel but just writings that Patrick Hemingway put together. I read it through and was sorry that Cast of Characters and Swahili Glossary were at the end of book instead of in first pages. His wife Miss Mary asked "the liars write books and how can you compete with a liar?".Hemingway answered,."I am a writer of fiction and so I am a liar, too and invent from what I know and what I've heard.".Then he made a interesting comment about DH Lawrence as they discussed his affair with the young native, Debba. Is it any wonder that they had nightmares and "Papa" had to reach through the netting into the rainsoaked ground and find his bottle of gin to put them back to sleep..This is a well told story of a most gifted writer who chose to have it his way always..
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Summary: True at First Light
Review: I can always trust Hemingay to be a good read as well as Baronesbooks to send me a quality book at an even better price, and within a reasonable shipping time frame. I no longer have to worry whether my book will come before or after my vacation--I can count on Baronesbooks to send it to me in plenty of time to relax and read on the beach! Baronesbooks lives up to the rating of 5 stars and is a dependable, trustworthy seller. Thanks Barones!
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Summary: This one made the bell toll for me
Review: The fact that this book is not The Old Man and The Sea isn't going to get me to rate it any less than it deserves. Writing, as with any art, takes time and hard work to perfect, and for a first draft this book is perfect in its own way. The only sad thought I had while reading it is that it is not finished.The description of the camp and the country was especially good, and though there are many long run-on sentences (which are very necessary, I assure you), and they're good run-ons, the writing is better crafted and cultivated than any other I've read. I keep a journal regularly, and in terms of memoirs, I could never hope to achieve what he performed in True at First Light.
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Summary: Papa Revealed in Unflattering Ways
Review: One of the most interesting stories that I have read about Ernest Hemingway described his patrolling for submarines during World War II as a booze-ridden exercise in self-indulgence. I was astonished to find that same quality described in the master's own hand in this mildly edited version of Hemingway's personal notes about his last African safari. Hemingway's son, Patrick, makes the same observation in an aside in the book's introduction. If you read this book as fiction, you will rate it somewhere around two stars. If you rate it as a journal, you will rate it around four stars. I chose the latter interpretation. This book is described as a fictional memoir, but I think the memoir part is here more than the fiction. Hemingway's problems with women, fascination with exercising authority, reticence in sharing his personal thoughts, and open courting of an African "fiancee" will probably make your realize that someone who can write like an angel may not have those same qualities in the rest of his life. There's a section in the book where his publisher sends a letter from a reader making these kind of critical observations about Hemingway's flaws as a person, and he is enraged by what the reader says. Yet the material in the book certainly supports the reader, rather than Hemingway's self-image. The book finds Hemingway at the head of a camp as a sort of temporary, assistant wild life ranger. His "job" is to kill off rogue predators that are destroying villager cattle. While camped there, Hemingway is authorized to kill a limited amount of the old and lame game to provide meat for his camp. The book is quite penetrating in capturing Hemingway's need to build fictional story lines in his every day conversations, to consume way too much booze, desire personal challenges in the classic masculine tradition (this goes as far as hunting at night alone with a spear), and becoming part of the daily life of the Africans he meets. The book's most interesting parts come in his description of the role and ethics of the person who is trying to help another hunt, in this case a massive, cattle-destroying lion that his wife wishes to shoot before Christmas. Last summer, I had the opportunity to visit Hemingway's family home in Oak Park, Illinois and learned a little about his formative years. His mother was the powerhouse in the family, earning an enormous income as a singer while his father, a doctor, handled day-to-day details. Hemingway apparently never forgave his mother for not being a traditional, nurturing mother of the type common in those years. As you read this book, you will see that Hemingway took great pleasure in practicing medicine without a license, undoubtedly feeling closer to his father's role model as he did. I wonder how much each of us feels compelled to play out the emotional dramas we experienced in our youths. Work on improving who you are, as well as what you produce!
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Summary: This was better than not releasing it at all
Review: This book shows what was right about Hemingway as well as what was wrong. His writing ability continues to shine through but his subject matter shows what was so disappointing about some of his later works. I'm not what I would call an environmentalist. I hunt occasionally as do most adult males in this part of the country. However, the trophy killing described here and in "The Green Hills of Africa" is a bit much to take. Many people might wonder at the irony of the main character also working as a game warden of sorts. The female characterization here is also a typical Hemingway short-coming. The female lead is just a little too dependent on Hemingway and doesn't seem to be bothered by his affairs with other women. Hemingways women are always incomplete and totally dependent on his men. The story line doesn't offer much except a life that must get boring after a few days and we're kept there a lot longer than that. Still, even when the subject matter is as bad as this, it is something of a pleasure just to read Hemingway.
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