Papa Hemingway: A Personal Memoir

Rating:
Summary: Learn about Hemingway from a friend
Review: A friend rec'd this out of print book to me. He has rec'd many great ones, but this blew my mind. One of the best books I've ever read by one of Heminway's closest friends for the last 14 years of his life. The True, uplifting, and sad novel, left me with 2 regrets: 1.) That I did not read it sooner, while I was younger, and 2.) That my life will be nothing like a life touched by, or experienced like Hemingway's.

Rating:
Summary: Hemingway's Boswell (or Kinbote)
Review: Anything I say here will simply detract from this wonderful book, so I will keep it short. I've read a number of Hemingway biographies, but this is unquestionably the best. Hotchner only new Ernest for approximately the last 14 years of his life, so if you're looking for a comprehensive biography, try elsewhere (I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending any of the other Hemingway bios I've read). What Hotchner can give us is a portrait of Papa (Hemingway) from the perspective of a very close and dear friend (Hotchner hunted and travelled with Papa, helped edit and publish his books and essays, and even named A Moveable Feast). And Hotchner is no fool. He knows that Hemingway had a propensity towards exaggeration, and seems to have a pretty good B.S. detector.

If you want all the facts, and want to know everything Hemingway ever did, read one of the opuses written by a college professor who got all of his or her information third-hand. If you want to know what Hemingway the man was like, read this book.

After finishing, I think it is fair to say that Hemingway's most tragic character turned out to be himself. Read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Intimate Biography of Hemingway
Review: Anything I say here will simply detract from this wonderful book, so I will keep it short. I've read a number of Hemingway biographies, but this is unquestionably the best. Hotchner only new Ernest for approximately the last 14 years of his life, so if you're looking for a comprehensive biography, try elsewhere (I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending any of the other Hemingway bios I've read). What Hotchner can give us is a portrait of Papa (Hemingway) from the perspective of a very close and dear friend (Hotchner hunted and travelled with Papa, helped edit and publish his books and essays, and even named A Moveable Feast). And Hotchner is no fool. He knows that Hemingway had a propensity towards exaggeration, and seems to have a pretty good B.S. detector.

If you want all the facts, and want to know everything Hemingway ever did, read one of the opuses written by a college professor who got all of his or her information third-hand. If you want to know what Hemingway the man was like, read this book.

After finishing, I think it is fair to say that Hemingway's most tragic character turned out to be himself. Read this book.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderfully crafted depiction of 'papa'
Review: Hotchner really scores big with this book. The friendship between the two fueles the fire for this book of intense detail of the writer,lover, and friend within Hemingway. Their many adventures together bring vivid memories to Hotchner, and in turn he brings them to the reader. I feel that this biography, is by far the best literary biography done for the cause of Ernest Hemingway. This is a must read for the Hemingway fan.

Rating:
Summary: first rate heartfelt and personable account
Review: I am a Hemingway scholar, researcher, and enthusiast and found this to be very thoughtful and insightful. Hotchner writes well and the little anecdotes are fantastic. People who thought they knew a lot about EH wil learn quite a bit more about this great man. I was really sad to finish it and was left wanting more.

Rating:
Summary: the best book on Hemingway I read
Review: It by sheer chance I got this book while I was in San Jose,CA. I read the entire book in 2 days. It gave me so much information about the biographical details, mental make up and lonliness of a great author at the fag end of his life. I reread Hemingway's novels after this which gave me an entirely new insight into the writer's mind as well. The final days of Hemingway are touchingly elaborated by the author. I will certainly recommend this book to any one interested in studying Hemingway.

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Summary: Autobiography of a Fast Friendship
Review: Mr. Hotchner met Ernest Hemingway in Cuba while Mr. Hotcher was just a young man. His editor had sent him to Cuba to persuade Mr. Hemingway to write a magazine article. Acutely embarrassed by the idea of "bothering" one of the greatest American writers, he finally sent a note to Mr. Hemingway asking for a rejection letter he could show to his editor. Apparently charmed by Mr. Hotchner's diffidence (and probably wanting a drinking buddy and an audience), Mr. Hemingway called to invite him over. They quickly became fast friends, and the relationship lasted for 14 years until the 1961 suicide by Mr. Hemingway.

The attraction of this book for most readers will be the "behind-the-scenes" look at what it was like to pal around with Mr. Hemingway, and the events that led up to his death.

Mr. Hotchner has a good memory for stories and dialogue, and reports on what Mr. Hemingway said and did in his presence in some detail. He does this in the way you might adapt a taped conversation into a screenplay, so the dramatic movement is quite good. On the other hand, he is totally uncritical of what Mr. Hemingway said or did. Other biographies of Mr. Hemingway have indicated that much of what he said about himself was hopelessly exaggerated, apparently as a prop for a fragile ego.

Despite the fact that both men were writers, and Mr. Hotchner sometimes helped Mr. Hemingway edit his work, the book has very little to say about Mr. Hemingway's writing, but a lot to say about what he did when he was not writing. That is like writing a biography of Picasso and focusing almost solely on his relationship with women. Ernest Hemingway's drinking and carousing are not the reasons why we are interested in him. Although to some it is glamorous to read about endless trips to the race track, drinking endless cocktails and wine, and partying in Spain, others will find it gross. I graded the book down accordingly for these two flaws.

The book is quite sad in capturing the frustration that Mr. Hemingway felt as his ability to write left him. Because he was a celebrity, he seemed to get less than the care he really needed while suffering from some sort of depressed paranoid state (he thought that the Federal government was tailing him).

After you have finished reading about these experiences, I suggest you look on the positive side. Is there some great person you would like to meet? How can you legitimately introduce yourself? That could be the start of an amazing friendship of your own.

Be sure not to overlook finding friends where you least expect to meet them.

Rating:
Summary: it stays with you
Review: read it more than 20 years ago and the book has stayed with me. if you like ernest hemingway's work you'll enjoy this well-written book about him. well done, mr. hotchner. 'nuff said.

Rating:
Summary: Well Told, But Perhaps Shaky On Facts
Review: Some have questioned the accuracy of Hotchner's representation of Hemingway. Malcolm Cowley put it best when interviewed by Denis Brian: "You know what he did? I could spot it because I knew the sources. When he said 'Hemingway said,' actually he was quoting from Hemingway's letters to him. Because Hemingway's will said: 'You must not quote from my letters. They're protected by copyright.' So Hotchner just put the letters in place of the conversations."

For more on the factual inaccuracies present in "Papa Hemingway," one should consult Denis Brian's "The True Gen: An Intimate Portrait of Ernest Hemingway by Those Who Knew Him" (1988).

I do not doubt that Hemingway and Hotchner were friends. At a Hemingway conference several years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Hotchner speak. His love and respect for EH seemed very genuine. However, I do question the accuracy of some of Hotchner's recollections in this book.

Rating:
Summary: A PORTRAIT OF A MAN
Review: This is the best book that I have read about Hemingway as a man. It doesn't pretend to be (and is not ) a biography. It is an intimate and deligthful portrait of Hemingway the fisherman, the hunter, the womanizer, the drinker, the gambler and all the things that really meant something to him. Were can you get such a descriptive account of the pain and insecurity associated with a writer's creativity? Without this book one cannot size the tragedy of a writer that, in his last years, was conscious of his inability to create great literature, but was condemned to live up to his myth and his character. To those that criticize this book, on grounds of lack of objectivity, one must oppose that this is a book about Papa like the one that he, when Paris was a moveable feast, would have wanted to write about Hemingway.........After all, if Papa lived, he would have explained to all of us that time is precious and that he took Hotchner under his wings, wined and dined and shared intimate thoughs and moments with him, only in order to provide the young lad with good story writing material. And Hotchner has delivered!