GARDEN OF EDEN

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Summary: A magnificent work; subtle and powerful.
Review: What a marvelous work! I just returned from a business trip in Europe and after reading The Garden of Eden, was compelled to visit the Cote d' Azur and take a holiday. I am sure that much has changed since Hemingway was there 75 years ago, but sitting along the canal in the Grau du Roi having grilled sea bass, looking into the Mediterranean was unforgettable. Read this brilliant book and feel the power of one of America's premier writers. When your through, you may even find yourself in the Riviera working on your tan, drinking a whiskey and Perrier.

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Summary: Hemingway 's Hidden Novel of Sensuality
Review: Hemingway molded sea, sex, bisexuality, masculinity, femininity, and all he felt to be taboo, into this story. I'm sure he pulled the original manuscript from beneath the sheets throughout it's long writing to place down short sketches of eroticism that washed over him during periods when he was alone...

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Summary: One of THE Best
Review: I would just like to say for the people who have not read the book, to go and read it. This was my first Hemingway story that I have read, and I got hooked. After that I could get enough of Hemingway. If you like to read, this book is a MUST on your list!

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Summary: 3 moronic people eat, drink, swim and make love
Review: Without ANY question, the most senseless and idiotic book I have ever read in my entire life...

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Summary: wonderful
Review: This book was a posthumous cut and paste job that took decades to edit down from the thousands of pages of Hemingway's manuscript, so I was expecting EDEN to be mediocre at best. But I was amazed to find it a wonderfully moving and graceful novel. Not much happens throughout, but what does happen is executed with such subtlety and artistry, that it makes for captivating reading. Harold Bloom--America's most famous and respected literary critic--put THE GARDEN OF EDEN on his list of Hemingway's masterpieces, and he only put four books on that list (the other three are A FAREWELL TO ARMS, THE SUN ALSO RISES, and COMPLETE SHORT STORIES).

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Summary: Love as hard and fresh as the cool cobble streets of Spain
Review: If all my life could be as cool and exotic as Papa's life in Spain.

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Summary: A sensual and frightening view of the Bourne's honeymoon
Review: This novel was intriguing, frightening and one of the most sensual books that I have ever read. The book could also be catagorized as a suspense novel, as this emotionally flawed and physically beautiful couple were so volatile and daring. I felt as if Hemmingway had allowed his Katherine of "A Farewell to Arms" to come back to life and live without rules or mortality. The tragedy of this relationship haunted me during the reading and for weeks after.

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Summary: INCREDIBLE
Review: This was the most fascinating book I have ever read. The fluidity with which Hemingway writes is unsurpassed. I have read it numerous times and have encouraged others to do the same. I have acquired a hardback version which has an unusually artistic cover. It is the most personally valuable book as it was the last book Hemingway are working on before commiting suicide. I highly recommend the book to anyone.

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Summary: dark, exciting
Review: Hemingway has to be the best at making the worst of a good situation. If you like his straighforward style, macho excursions, and dreary endings like I do, then this is the book for you. His characters lead you to a wider variety of emotions, from lust to pity to hate, than any other author's. This is a wonderful book, very honest about relationships and their faults. Be prepared to feel cynical for a while after reading this.

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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).