Sign in with Facebook
Ree's Reviews > The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories
The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories
by
by
Ree's review
bookshelves: read-2013, 200-and-less, fiction, short-story-collections, disappointing
Apr 17, 2013
bookshelves: read-2013, 200-and-less, fiction, short-story-collections, disappointing
Reading Hemingway, for me, feels like panning for gold. At the beginning I am really enthusiastic. People have told me about the gold, I believe in the gold, and I want to find it. After the first couple stony pages, my excitement starts to waver. Where is this aforesaid treasure? My attention wanders off. My interest is fading. I'm almost inclined to call it off. There's nothing there for me. But I keep panning, because of this disbelief that I may not be able to discover what so many have before me. And then - suddenly - I see a glimmer at the pebbly bottom of the river. The tiniest crumb of gold, I've found it. It's really there! Then it's back to stones and pebbles. Stones and pebbles. Stones and pebbles. What's that? Something shiny? You don't think - gold again?! Indeed! Several crumbs! A nugget! My first assessment was too hasty. There's gold in Hemingway. You just gotta be patient. How wonderful that my endeavours have paid off! I'm converted, the gold rush is justified! But why are the nuggets getting so rare again? Are they simply slipping my attention? Are they really there? And why is panning getting so frigging boring again?
Maybe the gold was just an illusion. Maybe I just don't see it. Maybe it's not the right time. I don't know.
Maybe the gold was just an illusion. Maybe I just don't see it. Maybe it's not the right time. I don't know.
Sign into ŷ to see if any of your friends have read
The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
April 17, 2013
–
Started Reading
April 17, 2013
– Shelved
April 23, 2013
– Shelved as:
read-2013
April 23, 2013
– Shelved as:
200-and-less
April 23, 2013
– Shelved as:
fiction
April 23, 2013
–
Finished Reading
April 26, 2013
– Shelved as:
short-story-collections
December 21, 2016
– Shelved as:
disappointing
Comments Showing 1-16 of 16 (16 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Sangeetha
(new)
-
rated it 1 star
May 26, 2013 07:42AM
This is exactly how I feel about Hemingway. He would never be considered a great writer if the literary critique wasn't filled with old white alcoholic literary failures.
reply
|
flag
I have exactly the same feeling. it's nice to no that it's only me :)
You are better than Hemingway!
It's really good to know that I'm not the only one. So, thanks, guys! :)
Yeah, panning for gold.
Hilarious review! I’ve never read Hemingway and i always feel like I ‘have to�. For some reason 🤷♀�
I took "American Lit" in school. I was told all those old famous authors were wonderful. I also was warned I would find little "action/adventure" in their stories. And I may find them boring.Well, all good authors work hard to get their readers totally imersed into the story. So much so, they forget they are reading a book. You want your readers to see a movie playing in their heads. You want them to think they are their. Seeing, touching, feeling, everything the most imporant person in the story is feelling and thinking. You do not get into the other characters' minds. Only the main character's mind.
Learn from Hemingway, please. Be crisp. To reach a 'don't know', one must not take long. His Kilimanjaro story is good. Mr and Mrs is good , and hilarious. Most of it is useless now, as we can't ask Papa why he wrote them.
Wow, I'm impressed--84 "likes" for an un-review of a Hemingway collection of short fiction. Next, on to Faulkner??
He's got a cool name, his stories have cool premises and titles, but essentially he is as you say. I also have trouble with him fighting for the communists in Spain. I might still pick this book up, and maybe with my low expectations i will be pleasantly surprised.
I did enjoy the old man and the sea, but that was with commentary from a very adapted teacher at the time. Great review
Ok, i just started reading Hemingway, so idk how helpful I can be as Devil's advocate, but i believe much of his appeal is his broad influence on other writers. Lost generation and stuff. In order for a writer to be truly great, they need to speak truths that resonate through generations. He might not rise to that level, but I'm going to keep reading before I decide. If you're dealing with people telling you that you have to read him, ask them why? They might just be talking out their bums.
Ree - I agree with your review.Beautifully expressed. I think at least part of my discontent is the subject matter selected that leaves a boring and stale aftertaste.I have read Hemingway’s advice on writing and find it much more interesting than his actual written material.Probably heresy, but an honest heresy. Why pretend the emperors clothes are wonderful?
This is 100% how I feel, in fact I just quoted your review in my review because it was better than anything I could have said
I am almost exclusively a reader of history and am old (68) in some reviewers mind to be old so have different expectations in literature of a bygone age absent of television, made from literature movies and social media. Reading was a past time that could be time consuming with no diversion or competition for a reader patient enough to enjoy the development of characters, society and world order of the book.
