I enjoyed the first half, but the story seemed a bit all over the place at times. I think somebody told me it was an amalgamation of two shorter stories, or something like that, so that could explain it!

The first part was great while the other two parts were not that good

I fell in love with this book! Not one of Hemingway's better known books, but I am not sure why because I thought it was beautiful in a rough, real way. As Harry Morgan's luck dwindles we get to know him, and his wife, Marie through several sets of eyes in the book. My favorite scene (not a spoiler) was when Marie was remembering the first time she had her hair dyed blonde in Havana. Each word drew me in and in until I couldn't imagine a more beautiful passage. Exquisite.

A man. . . One man alone ain't got. No man alone now. . . No matter how a man alone ain't got no bloody fucking chance.

This is the summation of what Harry Morgan, the titular "Have Not" of the title, has learned in his lifetime.

Essentially, two short stories and one novella concerning Harry Morgan: a hard drinking, hard loving, fishing boat captain forced by dire circumstances into running contraband (mostly alcohol and mercenaries) between Key West, FL and Cuba. He is a bruiser of a man: big, burly, quick-thinking, married to an ex-prostitute (for physical reasons alone), has two daughters (that he wishes had been born as sons). But his fateful decision to smuggle Chinese immigrants into Florida from Cuba starts him on a descent into hell from which there may be only way out.

Hemingway's economic prose and dialog is as muscular and even more mature than in his previous works. It contains scenes of driving action made more exciting by his style; but, conversely, scenes of immense brutality (which may have lost some of their shock value for 21st century readers) are made sadistic. And a character's identity tends to get lost in episodes comprised consisting solely of dialog. It seems Hemingway's sparse style has it's limitations.

But, perhaps the biggest problem with To Have and Have Not is that Hemingway wants us to believe Harry is a good man, even though he doesn't present any evidence of that being the case. What seems to be sympathy for his "rummy" first mates (whose deaths aren't really mourned) is actually selfishness; black people are "niggers" (though the bouncer in the bar at the end of the tale is referred to as a "Negro" twice before switching back to the aforementioned slur in reference to every other black); and Chinese are "chinks". Even his wife, upon Harry's death, describes him as:

"snotty and strong and quick, and like some kind of expensive animal. It would always get me just to watch him move. . . ."

The "haves" (rich and lazy) of the title are presented as snobby and insensitive to the plight of the "have-nots" (poor, hard-working)--which is overly-simplistic. And Harry's observation that a "have-not" can not hope to change the situation alone simply becomes propaganda for communist revolution.

In the end, this a classic by default--a work by a classic author. But it is still an interesting read.

I can't tell you why exactly, but I love Hemingway's blunt and honest writing style. He tells it how it is and that's that!

This story, though entertaining, doesn't compare to the love I have for A Farewell To Arms. I know I know, I should compare one book to another, but I can't help it!

This is the story of Harry Morgan, a husband to Marie, and father to three little girls. He is a fisherman at heart, but is also rum-running and man-running from Cuba to the Florida keys. He confronts bullets and strays from the coast guard, because it was the only way to keep his boat, independence, and food on the table...or in his case, the deck.

Avanturistički roman o Henriju Morganu, ribolovcu i čoveku koji se bavi raznim poslovima u nastojanju da se domogne novca, ne bi li jednostavno prehranio sebe i svoju porodicu.

Radnja romana prostorno je smeštena između Ki Uesta i Kube, vremenski negde izmedju 1940-45 godine. Priča prati jednog sasvim običnog čoveka, koji uhvaćen između "imati" i "nemati" pokušava da nađe sredinu i spasi što se može spasti. Pored priče glavnog junaka, Hemingvej daje i dve sporedne priče, jednu o Ričardu Gordonsu, piscu koji traži inspiraciju, ali gubi svoju ženu. Vrlo je verovatno da se pod velom ovog lika, krije sam Ernest.
Druga, još sporednija priča prati generalno društvo u Ki Uestu, i neprestano se prepliće sa prve dve radnje. Ovakav koncept romana, dosta liči na filmski scenario koji se nekako sam od sebe ekranizuje u glavi čitaoca.
Hemingvej kroz glavnog junaka na tasove moralne vage u čoveku stavlja sigurnost i udobnost, naspram rizika i potencijalnog dobitka. Sve što Hari Morgan ima jeste njegova porodica, svoj život i jedan čamac, sve to mora rizikovati za ono što nema, a to je novac.

Simbolički jedno od dosta jakih dela koje sam u poslednje vreme pročitao, konceptualno jako interesantno, ali često ne toliko uzbudljivo, sa dosta monotone radnje, pogotovo u sporednim pričama.

”ماذا أفعل أنا إذا عشتُ عشرين سنة أخرى؟

لا يستطيع أحد أن يقول لي، أو أن يجيب عن سؤالي، والآن ليس أمامي من شيء سوى أن أبدأ العمل، وأن أتقبل كل يوم يمر بي مهما كان نوعه، هذا ما يتحتم عليّ فعله..

ولكن يا إلهي، ماذا أستطيع أن أفعل في الليالي الطويلة المُرعبة وحدي؟ كيف يمكنني أن أقضي الليالي لا يغمض لي جفن؟“

Розбите серденько. Добили останні сторінки

Hemingway is still my favorite writer. I've enjoyed all of his books, and I've learned from his style - minimal use of adverbs - maximum use of one-syllable words - clarity of expression - all of that and more. So why did I rate this book down, as 4 stars instead of 5? I had a hard time cheering for Harry, a criminal and a killer. I understand that Hemingway wrote in the "modernist" mode. That is to say, there are no happy endings in Hemingway's books. That is true in this book, for sure. Still, I would like the protagonist be a person I can root for, even if he doesn't win in the end.

This is an interesting novel, although it's a little uneven. It opens extremely strongly, with the story of Harry Morgan's entry into the connected criminal underworlds of Cuba and Key West. The novel is divided into three parts, and the first two parts show Hemingway at the height of his powers. The scenes are tense, in much the same way that the combat scenes in For Whom the Bell Tolls are tense. I am always impressed by how well Hemingway was able to write suspense.

The third part of the novel is the longest, and also the most experimental. It features an ever-shifting perspective and focus, and a much broader cast of characters. It also features a number of passages of stream of consciousness. This third part is a big departure from the first two, but it works, more or less, even if the transition is a little jarring.

The principal difficulty in reading this novel, in my opinion, is that Hemingway does so much to make the reader invested in Harry Morgan as a character, only for Harry Morgan to quite suddenly feature much less in the second half of the novel. It's still the story of Harry Morgan, but the perspective is shifted mostly to the people around him, some with only a very loose connection to the protagonist. Robert Gordon is perhaps the best example of this. He is an interesting enough character, and his troubled relationship with his wife is a curious enough thing, but he feels a little out of place here.

All in all, I do think To Have and Have Not is a good read. It just suffers from a few somewhat frustrating imperfections. Particularly given how short it is, I wish it had been more focused. It lacks the disciplined narrow narrative of something like For Whom the Bell Tolls, despite the fact that For Whom the Bell Tolls is a much longer novel.

To Lose and Lose Again
Review of the Green Light eBook edition (December 12, 2013) of the Scribner's hardcover original (1937).

n  "A man," Harry Morgan said, looking at them both. "One man alone ain't got. No man alone now." He stopped. "No matter how a man alone ain't got no bloody--chance."n

[rating lowered due to print faults in this edition]
To Have and Have Not is one of the many Hemingway books which I read in my pre-GR and pre-reviewing days. I've previously read a Scribner's paperback and listened to the Simon & Schuster audiobook (2006) narrated by Will Patton. My last rating was a 3-star. The various faults and inconsistencies in this cheap (99 cent) eBook calls for a 2-star.

The book is already problematic for various reasons. It is cobbled together from two short stories One Trip Across (First published in Cosmopolitan in 1934) and The Tradesman's Return (First published in Esquire in 1936) with an extended third episode making the final 2/3rds of the book. Its casual racism is authentic for the time, but is cringeworthy to read in the present day. All of the stories take place in depression era Key West, Florida and turbulent political times in 1930s Cuba, after the Gerardo Machado dictatorship has fallen, but with revolutionaries battling the various post-Machado governments.

The stories chart the fall of Key West boat captain Harry Morgan (a "Have Not") from fishing tourism chartering to smuggling and involvement with criminal elements. After being stiffed for his fees by an absconding American, Morgan turns to ferrying Chinese immigrants between Cuba and Florida, with murderous results. Then on a liquor smuggling operation he and his mate are shot up by Cuban authorities. Harry loses an arm in the process. In the finale, Morgan becomes the unwitting getaway boat driver for a Cuban bank-robbing gang, with fatal results.

Morgan's hard scrabble life is contrasted with intermittent scenes of "The Haves" during the final chapters. These are various views of rich American tourists drinking in bars or lounging on their yachts. There is a roman à clef element where the drunken novelist Richard Gordon is apparently meant to be a portrayal of one-time Hemingway friend John Dos Passos with whom there had been a falling out.

The main problem with this eBook edition is that it has obviously been done via a text scan of an authentic edition, but without a thorough copy-editing to fix the scan errors. So at various times you see words like "Pm" for "I'm" or "Jake" for "lake", which are just ridiculous. You have to mark it down for sloppiness.

I can't completely dislike the book though, as it has Hemingway's one and only reference to my heritage country of Estonia, for which he uses the then current spelling "Esthonia" or "Esthonians" and the famous quote:

n  No well-run yacht basin in Southern waters is complete without at least two sunburned, salt bleached-headed Esthonians.n

Trivia and Links
To Have and Have Not has had three film adaptations.


Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in the 1944 film adaptation.
The first was To Have and Have Not (1944) directed by Howard Hawks and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. You can watch the trailer for it here. This adaptation turns it into a World War II related movie with the French Resistance opposing Vichy France on the island of Martinique.

The second was The Breaking Point (1950) directed by Michael Curtiz and starring John Garfield. You can watch the trailer for it here.


Movie poster for the 1958 film adaptation.

The third was The Gun Runners (1958) directed by Don Siegel and starring Audie Murphy. You can watch the trailer for it here.

This is dark - but beautifully written. Hemingways style of short and to the point sentences with a few interesting details to fine tune, works fabulously to add grit at times and heart at others to Harry Morgan's character.

Set in the depression in Key West and Cuba and the waters between, it's full if contrasts: the revolutionaries of Cuba vs white Key West- American edge; the rich on their yachts thinking about suicide or treating their staff with noses stubbed vs the basic wholesome hardworking men like Albert paid pennies on the doll during the depression vs Harry with a determination and nerve and ideas also trying to get by and take care of his family; its about their choices and what they paid with
or without a risk.


I like that Hemingway has a strong women character here: another contrasts of haves and have nots whose lives flip flop about like flounder. He even shows the have and have not of Mr. Gordon the ex and blue eyes the new husband to be.

The book is about Poverty and different forms and how it can make you run around and do things that don't feel right to get by especially when you care deeply for your spouse and family and want to do right by them. Harry's last word's give testament to this.

What is best about this book is that it brings you into the characters and you feel their desperation. The depression and the political situation in Cuba then were desperate. You know what it feels to have lived then.

Period piece with lots of depth. It's far from being Hemingway's worst book. His writing is crisp and well thought out - tho until I finished the book, I didn't really get any of this.

And there are sentences within that blew me away in their construction. They attest to the talent of the author.