Islands in the Stream : A Novel
by Ernest Hemingway
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ernest HemingwayEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-07-22
ISBN: 0743253426
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Book Reviews of Islands in the Stream : A Novel
Book Review: Superb Hemingway Prose - But Weak on Story and Structure
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a good read but not a great novel.
I read "The Old Man and the Sea" by Hemingway, but did so years ago. More recently, I read an essay by Raymond Chandler, the famous detective writer and screenplay writer of the 1930s through to the 1950s, and he made the comment in his essay that "Farewell to Arms" set the standard for prose in twentieth century fiction. With that encouragement I bought the book; I read it, then ran out and bought most of Hemingway's other novels and a collection of his short stories. "Islands in the Stream" is a three part story published posthumously in 1970 and it is not among his best works. "Farewell to Arms" would be his best novel. Most people pick that as his best and I would agree. Some of his other works such as the novel "Sun Also Rises" is similar to the present book. What we lack here is a good balance of prose, story, characters, and drama. It is one of his longer works - most are short or about 300 pages - and this present book approaches 450 pages.
The Bloomsbury Guide has picked 375 top fiction authors, and among those 375 has picked 40 "masterpieces" and they include Hemingway's "Farewell to Arms." His contemporary, F. Scott Fitzgerald did not have any of his novels among the top 40, and there is only a select group of American writers in the Bloomsbury guide - which includes all writers. Other masterpieces include Flaubert's "Madame Bovary," Lawrence's "Sons and Lovers," Tolstoys's "War and Piece" and Joyce's "Ulysses" - as a sample. "Farewell to Arms" is shorter, more concise, and has more punch or drama than the present novel.
The story is broken into these three parts:
"Bimini,"
"Cuba,"
and "At Sea.".
That prose is very similar to his masterpiece: "Farewell to Arms." The prose here is simply outstanding - as in other Hemingway novels - and the opening passages of the book are unforgettable. Here is one paragraph:
"He had a big pile of driftwood stacked against the south wall of the house. It was whitened by the sun and sand-scoured by the wind and he would become fond of different pieces so that he would hate to burn them. But there was always more driftwood along the beach after the big storms and he found it was fun to burn even the pieces he was fond of. He knew the sea would sculpt more, and on a cold night he would sit in the big chair in front of the fire, reading by the lamp that stood on the heavy plank table and look up while he was reading to hear the northwester blowing outside and the crashing of the surf and watch the great, bleached pieces of driftwood burning."
Part of the fun reading the book is the plot and I would avoid knowing any more than that until you read the book. So, and again, the prose is exceptional and on par with Fitzgerald, Henry James, Bellow, and similar writers. But those looking for a great novel will be disappointed. It is written diary style similar to "The Sun Also Rises" but longer, in three parts, and it lacks the drama. It has some frat boy antics including a fight and many bar scenes. If you are new to Hemingway, have a look at "Farewell to Arms."
4 Stars.
Summary of Islands in the Stream : A Novel
First published in 1970, nine years after Ernest Hemingway's death, Islands in the Stream is the story of an artist and adventurer -- a man much like Hemingway himself. Rich with the uncanny sense of life and action characteristic of his writing -- from his earliest stories (In Our Time) to his last novella (The Old Man and the Sea) -- this compelling novel contains both the warmth of recollection that inspired A Moveable Feast and a rare glimpse of Hemingway's rich and relaxed sense of humor, which enlivens scene after scene.Beginning in the 1930s, Islands in the Stream follows the fortunes of Thomas Hudson from his experiences as a painter on the Gulf Stream island of Bimini, where his loneliness is broken by the vacation visit of his three young sons, to his antisubmarine activities off the coast of Cuba during World War II. The greater part of the story takes place in a Havana bar, where a wildly diverse cast of characters -- including an aging prostitute who stands out as one of Hemingway's most vivid creations -- engages in incomparably rich dialogue. A brilliant portrait of the inner life of a complex and endlessly intriguing man, Islands in the Stream is Hemingway at his mature best.
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