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Ernest Hemingway, "To Have and Have Not"

Started June 14 � Finished June 14, 2002; 262 pages. Posted 17 June 2002

I think it�s odd, but the first two things I read by Hemingway were the ones you always hear about � �For Whom the Bell Tolls� and �A Farewell to Arms� � and I didn�t care for them at all. Now I�m on my fourth Hemingway novel, both of which I�ve only heard referenced casually, and I liked both of them a lot more.

�To Have and Have Not� almost reminds me of Steinbeck�s �The Grapes of Wrath,� though this was written five years earlier and doesn�t have half of the emotional impact. In it, people are poor and they�re forced into situations they normally wouldn�t consider. But the Joad family of Grapes of Wrath continues to try, despite the unfairness that surrounds them. Hemingway�s characters give into nefarious activities to make a quick buck, usually with disastrous results.

It�s probably Hemingway�s macho posturing which makes him craft his characters the way he does, though he occasionally makes a slight statement about the pressures of society that put them there. Where Steinbeck�s characters learn to help each other, the people of Hemingway fight amongst themselves. Maybe he�s more realistic about human behavior.

Or maybe I�m just a cynical bastard.

Anyhoo, I don�t have a lot to say about this. It went by quickly, it kept me interested, but it�s by no means a great work of art. And I still giggle how Hemingway, the supposed tough guy, was too chickenshit to have his characters swear, even though they�re all supposed to be rough and tumble guys. Remember, this was published one year after James Joyce�s �Ulysses,� so there were already authors willing to put the word �fuck� down on paper. Not Ernest though, who writes dialogue like, You B----! I should F-----g slit your w�--- throat!�

What a P----.


Rating: Worth Used Prices.

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