Community Chat

[bluetail fly]

I love The Sun Also Rises and even better To Have and Have Not.  The man was a master of prose and of making his characters multi-dimensional.

[teganslaw]

I've tried several times, but I just can't get into Hemingway's writing. His books are classics and loved by many, just not me. 

[liliblu]

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@Ruby Laine wrote:

@Oznell, I love to read. My favorite authors have nothing in common and use completely different styles. Solzhenitsyn, Mignon Eberhart, Robert Van Gulik, and Sarah Orne Jewett are a few of my favorite fiction writers. 

I have tried to like Ernest Hemingway, but I just can't. I have no idea why. I haven't read any of his books all the way through.  I just skip to the last few pages to read the endings. I will say I like his writing style, but reading him seems so laborious and it wears me out!  However,  he deserved the Nobel Prize, and I enjoyed your post on him.

If you don't write, you should!  Your movie reviews make movies that I know I don't like sound like something I'd love to see.  I always enjoy your posts.

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His novels are depressing to me.  I've read The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea.  He was a good writer but the characters in his books were the most depressing figures.

[Oznell]

 @furbabylover ,  Colette led a fascinating life, didn't she?  With zest!

Edited to add:  and I wasn't even thinking of some of her wilder personal escapades.  More like what you mention, her simple joy in nature, gardens, the country, animals.  That just just pours out of her work...

[furbabylover]

@Oznell  Yes, Her life was one of radical individuality for her time. I visited her grave at Pere Lechais cemetery in Paris and was struck by how beautiful it was. Her grave was a large, carved piece of pink granite and black marble, very modern looking. I will always be thankful for her exquisite descriptions of the relationships she had with her animals.

[Ruby Laine]

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@Oznell wrote:

Thank you, @Ruby Laine  and @daisyk .

You have eclectic tastes for sure, @Ruby Laine !    I'm sympathetic to your critique of Hemingway--  apart from extravagantly admiring his technique and literary aims, it's mostly only the two books I mentioned that I really like.  It was hard to engage with the others, for whatever reason.

If you haven't tried it, you might like "A Moveable Feast".  As a memoir, it has a different feeling to the novels, and it's fascinating to know how Hemingway and his literary and artistic pals lived in Paris....

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@Oznell, I'll try it!  Thanks for the recommendation. 

[Desert Lily]

Hi @Oznell . I've read Hemingway's books, but they don't speak to me. As I read his narration, in my mind I hear ramblings of someone with an alcohol dependency. Like Hemingway, George Orwell was also influenced by the Spanish Civil War. Idk, maybe I just don't connect to the era, the tone, the subject matter, or something else. I appreciate the writing, but it's not a favorite.

[Oznell]

That's an interesting take, too, @Desert Lily , the alcoholism in the background.  Of course the depression was there too, increasing over the years.  The family history, both preceding him and after him, so tragic and over-riding in some cases....