As you probably gathered from my previous posts, I've been "reading" this one for a while. And by reading I mean I've been carrying it around in my purse with the intent to read it. But I finally forced myself to finish it yesterday and immediately felt an immense sense of satisfaction. Small confession: because my blog posts on dating books have been the most popular, (Marry Him has 47 page hits; my review of Prozak Highway has 9), a friend gave me another one to review called How to Shop for a Husband which I have been secretly reading. However, it is definitely not my intention to make this into a blog about dating books, and it has also recently come to my attention that some of my dates actually do read this...
So, back to Hemingway. In the time I've been reading this book, I've discussed it with a number of people who have all had the same reaction: "Huh, I haven't heard of that one" and there's a simple explanation. The book was released in 1999. If you're a Hemingway fan, you're probably aware that he died in 1961. The original manuscript, which was unfinished at the time of his death, was donated by his wife at the time to the John F. Kennedy library and later edited, reworked, and finished by Hemingway's son, Patrick. I can't be 100% sure of this, but there was a point in the book towards the end where the style seemed to shift, the circles turned into awkward ovals, and I'm guessing that's where Patrick took over.
Brief synopsis: Ernest and his wife Mary are living in a remote village in Africa where Ernest is in charge following the departure of Pop, another white hunter who serves as the leader. There are a variety of other characters including gun bearers, game scouts, and some cooks/servants mentioned, but otherwise the story is completely focused hunting with tiny bits of Ernest and Mary sprinkled in. But mainly hunting.
In the first half of the book, nothing happened. Oh, there was plenty of talk. First there was Ernest's paranoia that he would be robbed by neighboring villages or murdered in his sleep by his own servants (there was some sort of religious controversy happening in Africa at the time). Then there were the prisoners that escaped who were on their way to the camp but who never materialized. There were some destructive animals, crazy villagers, and the persistent fear that Mary would be mauled by her lion while trying to kill it before Christmas. None of it happened.
In the second half of the book, as predicted, Mary kills the lion. No further mention is made of The Informer being hanged, though I thought I had that one figured out too, especially after he's caught stealing a bottle of lion fat. Other notable events in the second half of the book: the celebration of the killing of Mary's lion which lasts about 50 pages, Ernest kills a leopard, Mary goes to Nairobi to go shopping, and while she's gone Ernest takes up with a native girl who likes to stroke his gun holster (euphemism anyone?) and sit next to him in the car.
If someone gave this to me as a first draft, I would say it has a lot of potential. There are a few beautifully written segments throughout and despite the horrific nature of the situation, the scene in which Hemingway describes having to kill his horse as a young boy is especially impressive. However, as a published piece of literature, particularly coming from an author who was known to revise and revise and revise until he was sure the words were perfect, the book came up short for me. I struggled to engage with the story, feel a sense of closeness to the characters, or really even come away from the book with a message or new understanding.
I can't help but wonder if Hemingway would be pleased with this version of the story, or whether, if maybe the manuscript should have remained safely tucked away in the John F. Kennedy Library for us to admire as a lovely first draft.
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