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Summary: Okay
Review: I had already read the collected letters of Hemingway, so had read a lot of what is in this collection. So it was of less use than it would have been because of that. Other passages were new to me, though, and very interesting. And if you've never read his collected letters, then this will be all new to you. Good for the Hemingway-phile.
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Summary: Reviewer from Savannah
Review: I read "Hemingway on Writing" in nearly one session. I had recently completed a series of difficult articles and felt drained, at least creatively. I took a few days off and read this book. It energized me and gave the wherewithal to jump back in the fire. When Hemingway writes that he suffers like a -------, when he doesn't write or just before, what writer can't relate? Equally powerful is his, "Need to read some bloody thing I've written in order to convince myself ... to write something else." Whatever the particular writing problem, whether fiction or nonfiction, Hemingway's advice can help. Highly recommended! -- Timothy Daiss
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Summary: A great resource for aspiring and even veteran writers
Review: Larry Phillips' compilation of the comments Hemingway made on the process of writing contains a wealth of material for writers at every level. I had the good fortune to read the book in its original hard-cover version when it was published in the mid-1980s. At that point, I had been a newspaper and magazine writer and editor for about a decade, and I found several key ideas I was able to incorporate into my own work. I'd long ago loaned out my copy of the hard-cover book when the paperback version came out this summer, so I happily purchased a copy and reread the book. It seems as fresh today as it did nearly 15 years ago. There are still lots of specific tips and techniques writers can acquire. One of my favorites is Hemingway's recommendation that a writer not continue writing until he or she runs dry, but rather stop at a point when the next sentence or paragraph or chapter is known. That way, the writer can pick up later where he or she left off, without the trauma of facing a blank page or a blank screen, wondering what's next. I've tried it over the years, and it works. Beyond those specifics, however, I find it interesting to read how Hemingway viewed his life as a writer. Regardless of how you feel about Hemingway as a person or even as a writer, you might recognize that the man spent a lot of time thinking about what it meant to be a writer and how a writer should develop his or her craft. That alone is worth the price of admission.
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Summary: He won the Nobel Prize in Literature for a reason
Review: Of course, I've read everything he wrote, but I wasn't prepared to get the key information on writing enclosed in this little book. Most people think Hemingway was a rough and tumble guy who wrote in his spare time when he had the urge. Most other times, the legend goes, he was too busy drinking, fishing, or womanizing. This book clearly shows that ain't so. He spent most of his time, the way real writers do: Writing and thinking about writing. Often he would check into a hotel, let everyone know he was there, and then stay somewhere else so as not to be disturbed from his main mission. The gems of informations depicted here come in the form of advice to the Mice (H's term for young student writers) from Y.C. (your correspondent). Did you know, for instance, "Most live writers do not exist. Their fame is created by critics who always need a genius of the season, someone they understand completely and feel safe in praising, but when these fabricated geniuses are dead they will not exist." Or how about this gem: "If an sonofbitch could write he wouldn't have to teach in college." Particulary interesting is Papa's advice to writers about reading. He was of the opinion that most writers write too much and don't read enough. His advice is to master Tolstoi, Flaubert, Mann, Joyce, Fielding, Mark Twain, Stendhal, Dostoevskis, Crane, Kipling, Turgenev, Hudson, James, (on and on so fast you can't write them down, three times that many) before you start writing. Very good advice, I would say. His point being you must first read the literature before you can write literature. This book does omit one piece of advice that H never gave but which he practiced by example. He memorized the King James Bible (cf Moveable Feast) and could recite it by heart. He did this to get down into the very structure of his brain the cadences that express beauty and truth effectively. The secret of his terse style is therefore the secret of clear and simple expression as in that wonderful version of the Bible.
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Summary: Hemingway In A Way We Never Saw Him
Review: This book should be required reading for anyone who aspires to write, along with those already in the writing profession. It is a rare glimpse into the private thoughts, personality, and intellect of one of our greatest writers. Mr. Hemingway's intriguing quotes, selected letters, and practical advice will be a tremendous resource. The reader will see how Hemingway's experiences during WWI shaped him, along with his lifelong devotion to the craft of writing. The letters to his contemporaries are enlightening. We owe Mr. Phillips a debt of gratitude for this educational book. "Write about what you know... I always wanted to be a writer... All my life I've looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time... All you have to do is write one true sentence." Those are just the tip of the iceberg... :-) I hope that you will enjoy this book. Thank you for the opportunity to review it.
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Summary: Publisher's tricks
Review: This is a review of the product (paperback version), not of the writing, nor of the editor's selections, which are well reviewed by other customers. I bought the book online so I did not get a chance to leaf through it before buying it. Had I been able to do so, I would probably not have bought it. The publisher has used every possible trick to stretch the limited quantity of material over as many pages as possible.
The main culprits are the huge margins. I measured the area of the page, and then the area used for printing the actual content (excluding the chapter and book names at the top and excluding the page number at the bottom) and found only 41% was being used. As a rough comparison, Stephen King's 'On Writing' (paperback version) uses almost 63% of the page.
Then there is the separator between quotations - over two centimeters for each. On pages containing three of them, almost 40% of the content area is taken up by these separators.
The first page of each chapter (there are thirteen chapters in a book of 140 pages) also wastes more space than necessary - 45% to 48% percent of the page is used for the chapter heading.
I could not enjoy this book because I was constantly distracted by the realization that I had bought a very small book dressed up to look much bigger.
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Summary: The Sun Also Rises
Review: When I first started to read the book it was so boring i kept on almost asleep. But after reading the book. I thought the book was one of the most interesting books that I have ever read. i would probably read it again if i had to. The most interesting part in the book was when they were bull-fighting i that it was good.
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Summary: The latest in picking at Papa's bones
Review: When will it end? How many books that try to uxpunge the last morsel of protein out of Hemingway's outre must we endure before we let the man rest? This book is the result of Larry Phillips' efforts to go through every last word Hemingway wrote addressing writing and the art of fiction, organized into little chapters like "Advice to Writers," "Working Habits," and "Obscenity." And not surprisingly, much of the advice is sound. But since it is a mishmash of mere sentences that are taken out of context (lifted from pages fiction, letters to friends, and the occasional nonfiction), they do not represent the opinions of Hemingway as he might speak to writers who are anticipating his advice. And Hemingway, as we all know, was prone to exaggeration if not outright lies (he used to BS most of his friends in his letters). And I was very surprised to see Hemingway's advice to a young Arnold Samuelson missing from the book! Samuelson was the only person who ever attempted to learn writing from Hemingway, and Samuelson's daughter published his book on those experiences after his death. There was some amazing passages about writing in that tome, but as it is advice from Hemingway via a second party, Mr. Phillips apparently didn't feel it was appropriate to put in a book where every last word can be directly attributed to Hemingway. Sorry. This book is lame.
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