Islands in the Stream in The Importance of Reading Ernest

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Islands in the Stream

Ernest Hemingway

Start date: May 19, 2014

Finish date: June 30, 2014

Discussion: Islands in the Stream

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Islands in the Stream

Islands in the Stream
By Gary · 31 posts · 36 views

last updated Mar 11, 2017 07:06PM

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Nov 21, 2009 Steve rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

The Most Interesting Man in the World: The Novel(s). I removed Islands in the Stream from my 鈥渃urrently reading鈥� shelf because I wasn鈥檛 sure I would ever finish it. The first part, 鈥淏imini,鈥� is the best part of the novel, and could probably have stood alone as a short novel. It tells the story of Thomas Hudson, a somewhat famous painter, and the visit of his three sons. It鈥檚 fishing and drinking and eating and story telling, with a tragic ending . Pure Hemingway, with some wonderful passages to The Most Interesting Man in the World: The Novel(s). I removed Islands in the Stream from my 鈥渃urrently reading鈥� shelf because I wasn鈥檛 sure I would ever finish it. The first part, 鈥淏imini,鈥� is the best part of the novel, and could probably have stood alone as a short novel. It tells the story of Thomas Hudson, a somewhat famous painter, and the visit of his three sons. It鈥檚 fishing and drinking and eating and story telling, with a tragic ending . Pure Hemingway, with some wonderful passages to return to again and again. What doesn鈥檛 work so well as far as this story goes, is the character Roger Davis, a writer friend of Hudson鈥檚. It seems like Hemingway is doing a bit of the Conradian 鈥渄ouble鈥� here. Hudson represents a more contemplative type, being a painter, while Roger is more of a two-fisted man of action. I could write a paper on this alone. Put the two of them together, you have the complete package 鈥� though Davis seems to have quit writing, or hasn鈥檛 written anything worthwhile in some time. One can鈥檛 help but feel that the ghost of the terrible novel, Across the River and into the Trees is being exorcised by Hemingway. To my mind, it is exorcised. The creaky sterility of that previous novel is gone, Hemingway is trying new stuff. Truly.

However, in the second part of the book, 鈥淐uba,鈥� he stumbles. But magnificently! This is some of the best bad Hemingway 鈥� ever. There鈥檚 something ridiculous about an artist (Hudson again) being driven by a chauffeur to a military station, where he is apparently viewed as The Man. (He鈥檚 not in the military mind you, and this is World War II.) Hudson has found out that his last son, Tom, has been killed in action. Grieving, he proceeds to get blitzed at a bar, and most of the story is bar talk with friends, and a whore. At one point, while talking with a Cuban prostitute, Hudson recounts his sexual escapades with three Chinese prostitutes! This is before Viagra. Oh, and there鈥檚 an earlier recounting of an affair with a princess that is quite romantic, and a bit kinky, as they do what they do while standing on a ship at night. This scene is a reworking of another 鈥渟tanding鈥� moment from the earlier Farewell to Arms. I found this a little sad, probably because I felt Hemingway was basically cannibalizing himself. Whatever, it鈥檚 still pretty cool.

Anyway, by the time of the Chinese prostitutes鈥� adventure/story, an ocean of alcohol has been consumed, and it鈥檚 still morning. Out of the blue, Hudson鈥檚 first (ex)wife shows up (great noirish entry). She鈥檚 evidently some beautiful actress, now serving in the USO. There鈥檚 some fine snappy dialogue, for a while at least, but what punctures this encounter is that she doesn't even know her son is now dead (and he鈥檚 been dead for a couple of weeks). Hudson, being The Man 鈥� and The Most Interesting Man in the World at that, is aware, due to his connections 鈥� and importance (and yet he couldn't call on contact her?). Anyway, they drink some wine (!!!), and make love (which would seem virtually impossible at this point). And then suddenly the Call to Action comes, and The Man is off to war. The jaw simply drops at the wonderful, stagey badness of this. Still, all of that said, there is some wonderful writing to admire in this part.

Part three has Hudson pursuing Germans on the islands. Whatever, my interest really started to wane here, due to the fact that I was finding Hudson so unbelievable at this point. Overall, Islands is a mixed bag, but if you鈥檙e into Hemingway, a necessary read. I think as a whole it fails, but there鈥檚 a lot of good writing to enjoy. The parts are greater than the whole.
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Nov 28, 2010 Daniel Villines rated it liked it

After this second reading, some 11 years following the first, my opinion of Islands in the Stream remains unchanged. I still have the feeling that the final step in Hemingway鈥檚 writing process, the cutting, honing, and polishing that is so evident in the books that were published during his lifetime, has been omitted from this novel. However, a Hemingway novel is still a Hemingway novel, and the immersion into his attitudes towards life brings forth certain elements of life that are constant and ...more

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May 26, 2014 Jim rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, suicidal_authors, world-war-2, seafaring_tales

I have often thought that there should be a reluctance on the part of the estate of a deceased writer to publish any of an author's works posthumously. Seriously, if the book was finished and the writer hadn't bothered to take it to the publisher, what would you assume his motives to be? An aversion to money, perhaps? This book is one of several that was published after Hemingway's suicide, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he hadn't published it simply because he felt that it wasn't good en ...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Lynn Demarest rated it liked it

It's more like three novellas than a single novel, and the "iceberg theory" of novel writing is perhaps a little overdone. The writing about the cats is among the best. ...more

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