"La fine di qualcosa" è uno dei racconti più belli di sempre. Hemingway raggiunge una misura espressiva perfetta.

**4.5 stars**


"Ah. madame, it is years since I added the wow to the end of a story."
(Ernest Hemingway, Death in The Afternoon)


I remember reading the phrase: "A world of experience", when I was planning to buy this book. And now, I guess I totally agree with it. And as this was my first Hemingway read at a time when I didn't even bother to know his 'iceberg theory' and all, I thought (simply) that I had bought a retold version of the book, lucid as his writing is. What is the problem of those pseudo-intellectual critics with his writing, I don't know. I don't care to know.


Talking in big words as a contrary to the author himself, His stories can be better thought as surveys of the utter disaster which had brought humanity to ruin and laid the foundations for a period of unmitigated spiritual decay which became the symptoms of the ills of our times.


On a personal note, the best bit of Hemingway is that whenever I struggle to finish one of his tragic stories, I visualize him standing in front of me, pointing his shot gun and saying: "Look up you son of a weakling. Don't you dare leave my story when you are only halfway through. For I don't think you can turn away from it all, least of all in your real life. For that's the f**king reality!"

(God knows, I would have been personally quite intimidated by him had I known him in person).


You don't expect miracles in Hemingway's stories. And that's the reason why his stories are miraculous. There are heart-warming stories like 'A Day's Wait', whereas there are heart-wrenching stories like 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro'. Practically I bought the book for the latter, and it's probably one of the best short-yet-not-too-short stories I have, or will ever come across. In general the characters of the stories are the individuals who have resigned themselves from the general community because of emotional and spiritual disillusionments. And better of the stories, like 'Cat in the Rain', 'Out of Season' usually follow a drifting purposeless course. And the attention is mostly, in general concentrated on the Man in a state of alienation.


I didn't rate it five, only because I didn't get all of his stories entirely. Particularly 'Up in Michigan'. I didn't get the hang of it. Probably that's entirely my fault. Once I get them all, it will be 5. I rarely came across a collection with hardly any flaws.


"There is much more behind Hemingway's form than people know."—James Joyce

Excellent as ever.

Visited his home in Key West, and decided to read some of his work. I found it very tough to get through and sometimes hard to follow the story line. I know he is a lauded author, but just not my preference.

Los cuentos regulares son buenos y los cuentos buenos son obras maestras. Un grande.

Czuć że to książka złożona z kilku zbiorów opowiadań. Im dalej tym w zasadzie są gorsze opowiadania. Są w tym zbiorze opowiadania średnie, są opowiadania w porządku, są takie które dłużą się i są zwyczajnie nudne, są i takie które są wybitne. Tych ostatnich jest kilka, ale jedno zwłaszcza mi zapadło w pamięć - „Niepokonany”, opowiadanie o trzeciorzędnym torreadorze który jeszcze raz próbuje wyjść na arenę, jeszcze raz spróbować przebić się do serc publiczności, uprzednio wyprosić profesjonalnego pikadora o asystę i wybłagując organizatora walk o przyjęcie. Wszystko w cieniu brata, uważanego za rodzącą się gwiazdę areny zabity przez byka którego wypchana głowa spogląda ze ściany.

Libro con todos los relatos de uno de los grandes maestros. Ha sido un gusto, y un aprendizaje enorme, leer todos y cada uno de ellos. Mis preferidos, y no en orden de preferencia, son los cuatro siguientes: La breve vida feliz de Francis Macomber; Colinas como elefantes blancos; Los asesinos; Padres e hijos.

Favs: •Hills Like White Elephants (2nd time)
•Che ti dice la patria?
•The Sea Change

What I've read so far (possible spoilers):

THE SHORT, HAPPY LIFE OF FRANCIS MACOMBER
A man has the good sense to run away from a charging lion, and because of that, his wife sleeps with another man who bears a physical resemblance to Hemingway.
CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
A waiter and dishwasher are fooling around, pretending to be a bull and matador, and the waiter ends up with a knife in his femoral artery. I wonder if Hemingway were alive he would be writing stirring stories about the courage of those guys on Jackass.
THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO
This is a terrific story (aside from the dig at Fitzgerald.) I love the wide open ending.
OLD MAN AT THE BRIDGE
Old man--check. Bridge--check.
UP IN MICHIGAN
ON THE QUAI AT SMYRNA
INDIAN CAMP
THE DOCTOR AND THE DOCTOR'S WIFE
THE END OF SOMETHING
THE THREE-DAY BLOW
It's been three days since I read this one and it still blows.
THE BATTLER
A VERY SHORT STORY
The title doesn't lie.
SOLDIER'S HOME
I read this in High School, but had forgotten how good it is. When you've seen enough death the business of living seems so unimportant.
THE REVOLUTIONIST
MR. AND MRS. ELLIOT
CAT IN THE RAIN
OUT OF SEASON
CROSS-COUNTRY SNOW
MY OLD MAN
BIG TWO-HEARTED RIVER: PARTS I AND II
A guy catches two fish. Big ones.
THE UNDEFEATED
A man is torturing a bull to death, but the crowd boos him because he's kind of botching it.
IN ANOTHER COUNTRY
I think Hemingway is at his best (here and in SOLDIER'S HOME) when he describes what happens to people after they've faced violence. They no longer belong to the world the rest of us do.
HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS
Can someone tell me what this story is about? What operation?
THE KILLERS
CHE TI DICE LA PATRIA?
FIFTY GRAND
A SIMPLE ENQUIRY
TEN INDIANS
A CANARY FOR ONE
AN ALPINE IDYLL
A PURSUIT RACE
TODAY IS FRIDAY
What the hell? Weirdness. After a hard day of crucifying Christ three Roman soldiers hang out at a wine bar run by a Hebrew man named George.
A BANAL STORY
NOW I LAY ME
AFTER THE STORM
A CLEAN, WELL-LIGHTED PLACE
Another story I read in HS and had forgotten how good it was.
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
Another wonderfully tender story about how terribly lonely the world can be.
GOD REST YE MERRY, GENTLEMEN
I always thought the comma goes before "Merry." The things you learn.
THE SEA CHANGE
A WAY YOU'LL NEVER BE
THE MOTHER OF A QUEEN
ONE READER WRITES
HOMAGE TO SWITZERLAND
A DAY'S WAIT
A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DEAD
Contrary to what those Weekend at Bernie's movies try to tell you, death is no fun. No fun at all.
THE WINE OF WYOMING
THE GAMBLER, THE NUN, AND THE RADIO
I don't remember reading this before, but it is my favorite story in this collection. Luck, prayer, the opium of the masses, and the futility of it all.
FATHERS AND SONS

Porzucone – dawno nie czytałem czegoś tak złego i zgorzkniałego. Nwm nie rozumiem fenomenu. Każde opowiadanie jest po prostu o zabijaniu zwierząt, nadużywaniu alkoholu, kobiety są złe, a chłopy nie rozmawiają ze sobą. Wtf

If I have to read about one more bloody matador, I will gore someone myself.

An excellent introduction to this famous author. And his style. Each story is an interesting anecdote about a set of events about individuals in curious situations.

The stories by themselves appear to have no start or end but expose ways of thinking about each instance.

A lieutenant who wants to kill one of his soldiers who has ( in his mind ) been fatally wounded but the military doctor attending to him prevents him.

A Mexican who has been shot “accidentally 8 times” and does not know who may have done it. When he is a gambler who has just won a large amount recently.

Maybe it’s just the way writing was expected to be so - but almost every story had significant references to alcohol and drinking. I almost felt drunk with each story with frequent anecdotes about its effects and it’s need by the characters.