Ernest Hemingway being a father at his best and his worst. It is the bittersweet memories of his youngest son. The story looks back from a year ago before Hemingway's death when he accused his son of causing his mother's death to the earlier better times when he taught him fishing, rescued him from sharks, was proud of him in a pigeon shooting championship, took him German submarine hunting, and told him about women. The story completes the circle with Hemingway's illness, how Gregory wrote him a letter explaining that it wasn't him who caused her mother's death but Hemingway's own treatment of her, then after his death, meeting his father's secretary and marrying her.


This book also takes a glimpse at Hemingway's love life, how he fell for intelligent but much younger women all through his life.

the viewpoint. It was seething with anger but also teeming with tenderness and pride. The dark sides of both the father and the son, as well their love for each other, was bared open.

the way he sometimes judged his father, as in this sentence. "At fifty Papa had become a snob and a phony."

read other accounts of Hemingway's life. I had already read "A Movable Feast", Hemingway's own version of a certain time in his life. I wanted to find out if there were other sincere memoirs of him.

Sad because mental illness is so badly received and not well understood at all, even to this day.

Gregory Hemingway, MD is the youngest and the third son to Ernest Hemingway. He practiced medicine in New York City.

It is very easy to read. I read it in one sitting. It also gives a peephole into the personality of this giant of a writer.

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There are family photos inside the book that give further credence to the reality of this man's life. If you are queasy about hunting, fishing, or killing of animals, this book may make you uneasy, but it was the way Hemingway lived.

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Created Feb 23, 2002 at 10:50am • Submit your own review...