Rating: 
Summary: I would have liked more Hemingway trivia....
Review: I bought the book based on a review in "People" magazine. I'm a Hemingway fan and loved the concept on a Walter Mitty character using Papa as a role model to fight the bad guys. I liked the story, like the characters, but was a bit disappointed that the author didn't spend more time with Hemingway. I would have also liked to have more scenes where Martin took on the Heminway persona...I thought those scenes sizzled! I did, however, love the ending. It was something Nick Adams would have done. Way to go, Martin! I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a light summer read. It was a good ride.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely, Light, Laughable
Review: A delightful, light-hearted tale of a rather unusual Post Office Counters, Ltd., employee's search for meaning in life. He seeks it in the abandoment of his personality for Papa Hemingway's, to be accomplished by the true-fan's acquisition of any and every artifact which could conceivably be linked to the master. His search is complicated and eventually eased by an American Hemingway scholar who despises rather than admires her subject; he is also intimately bound up with a modern Post Office Manager (what we used to call a Postmaster), and his schemes for personal success, wealth, and influence. Martin, the protagonist, appears to be the most insubstantial character in the book to begin with; he ends up, however, having the greatest impact on life ~ and the lives of others. Palin has created a wonderful story with sympatheitc characters ~ proving that he can write of (almost) normal people in ordinary situations, rather than the utterly abnormal of Python and extraordinary of his travel books, without losing any of his humour.
Rating: 
Summary: You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover
Review: Ah, one hopes there is a special place in Hell for the blurb writers and their kin who mislead us into purchasing their products. Prominently displayed on the cover of my paperback copy of Michael Palin's Hemingway's Chair are the words "His Hilarious Bestselling Novel"--and knowing Palin's work from Monty Python, I bought the book expecting a laugh riot. Instead, I got a charming and quirky character study of lonely people in everyday situations, and not a dead parrot to be seen. It would be totally unfair of me to judge Palin's writing by my inappropriately targeted expectations--after all, he didn't write the blurb, and to expect that all he can ever do is more Pythoneque humor would be to do him a great disservice and ignore the fundamental need for change that all humans have--but nonetheless I read the entire book waiting for the big laugh payoff that never came. Of course I was disappointed--in fact this book is by far more tragic than comic. There are moments of dry wit, but this tale of an underemployed postal worker aspiring to the all-too-flawed greatness of Ernest Hemingway grants its antihero a Pyrrhic victory at best, and is much more a contemplation of the smallness of our lives rather than a heartwarming and uplifting tale of greatness achieved. As such it is worth a read, once you've caught up with all the other reading you'd like to do.
Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable, easy read.
Review: An enjoyable, easy read. Palin touches on issues about government privatisation, and economic rationalism, and corporate greed, set in rural England in the 90s. A pleasant account of a little guy against some corporate thugs. There isn't too much humour, but neither is the book a heavy political tract. The major personality theme of Hemmingway seems to get lost sometimes, and is an occasional distraction from the main story, but Palin makes a good attempt to bring the two together.
Rating:
Summary: Glimpses of the real Hemingway amid the frivolity.
Review: Buried in this lightweight but entertaining novel about the tribulations of life in contemporary rural England are some devastatingly accurate evocations of Ernest Hemingway, the definitive writer of the "American Century."
Rating:
Summary: Not your usual Monty Python
Review: Don't let Michael Palin's Monty Python fame lead you astray. Hemingway's Chair need not have been written by a comedian. No slapstick this. It's a perceptive portrayal of a run of the mill kind of guy with more than a run of the mill passion. Gives new meaning to "going postal," although I wish he had chosen another gesture. If you liked Penelope Fitzgerald's Bookshop, you'll probably like this, at least until the end.
Rating: 
Summary: A story that might be any of us
Review: Hemingway's Chair is the story of a man who is a true fan of Ernest Hemingway and how this passion percolates through his life. Martin is an assistant postmaster in a small English town. He doesn't own a car, he uses a bike. He lives with his mother. In short a man who would seem to be quite constrained in his outlook. But this passion for Hemingway is quite at odds with the man we would pass in the street or buy stamps from at the post office. It is this passion that feeds the story that Palin tells with great skill. The writing of Michael Palin is quite at odds with the man of Monty Python skits. For me, Palin struck a chord that might be there in all of us. A desire to be in the same room with a great figure. Palin's charecter to me, doesn't want to be Hemingway, rather he would be quite happy just being in the same room with him. Seeing him, listening to him, basking in the relected glory of the man. Is this a religious zeal? I don't think so. Rather it is almost a love of the man and all he stands for. Palin's cahrecters are all believeable. We all know the bustling new boss who wants to drag a perfectly serviceable work situation into the fast lane of the GPO. To him, this is his opportunity to excel and move up the ladder of success. No matter that there are people already in place who have long service in one office, know all the customers, thier children and their varied stories. To the boss, this is of no value; streamline, moderinize and economize are his watchwords. I don't like him. He ignores the history of the people around him and the place in which he is in the process of destroying. The rest of the charecters are just as true to life, including the American woman who intrudes on Martin's life and eventually awakens in him a Hemingwayesque way of dealing with the turmoil that has so changed his life. I found this to be a book that made me think, not just about Palin's charecter, but my own outlook on life. It is not a book for someone who is looking for a printed version of the goofy charecters from Palin's sketches. Rather it is a thought provoking book that will make you sit and think afterwards and even during your reading of it. This is not a quick read but it is engrossing. It is a book, I hope that people will revisit periodically for a recharge in their batteries, the better to deal with reality.
Rating:
Summary: A story that might be any of us
Review: Hemingway's Chair is the story of a man who is a true fan of Ernest Hemingway and how this passion percolates through his life. Martin is an assistant postmaster in a small English town. He doesn't own a car, he uses a bike. He lives with his mother. In short a man who would seem to be quite constrained in his outlook. But this passion for Hemingway is quite at odds with the man we would pass in the street or buy stamps from at the post office. It is this passion that feeds the story that Palin tells with great skill. The writing of Michael Palin is quite at odds with the man of Monty Python skits. For me, Palin struck a chord that might be there in all of us. A desire to be in the same room with a great figure. Palin's charecter to me, doesn't want to be Hemingway, rather he would be quite happy just being in the same room with him. Seeing him, listening to him, basking in the relected glory of the man. Is this a religious zeal? I don't think so. Rather it is almost a love of the man and all he stands for. Palin's cahrecters are all believeable. We all know the bustling new boss who wants to drag a perfectly serviceable work situation into the fast lane of the GPO. To him, this is his opportunity to excel and move up the ladder of success. No matter that there are people already in place who have long service in one office, know all the customers, thier children and their varied stories. To the boss, this is of no value; streamline, moderinize and economize are his watchwords. I don't like him. He ignores the history of the people around him and the place in which he is in the process of destroying. The rest of the charecters are just as true to life, including the American woman who intrudes on Martin's life and eventually awakens in him a Hemingwayesque way of dealing with the turmoil that has so changed his life. I found this to be a book that made me think, not just about Palin's charecter, but my own outlook on life. It is not a book for someone who is looking for a printed version of the goofy charecters from Palin's sketches. Rather it is a thought provoking book that will make you sit and think afterwards and even during your reading of it. This is not a quick read but it is engrossing. It is a book, I hope that people will revisit periodically for a recharge in their batteries, the better to deal with reality.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, well-written
Review: I first read "Hemingway's Chair" in a British hardcover edition from the library and only the other day bought a paperback copy for my own collection. Flipping through it I was surprised to find that Palin had changed the ending. I like the new ending better, although curious individuals might enjoy seeking out the original edition and comparing the two.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, a must read for any book lover.
Review: I have always liked Michael Palin (on TV and in movies), this is the first book I have read by him and enjoyed every page. The story is great, thought out and well written.
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