Published in 1937, this book contains three stand alone, but interconnected stories, all revolving around the same character - Harry Morgan. The first two stories are very short, and were originally published in magazines, the third is novella length.

The stories are very nautical - those with an interest in boats will take more from the detailed boat descriptions than others. The writing style varies from story to story, as does the narration which doesn't remain consistent throughout - sometimes Harry, sometimes others. There are aspects of stream of consciousness thrown in too.

Set in Key West and Cuba, Harry Morgan is a hard drinking tough guy who makes a living running fishing charters, and running grog and other contraband to Cuba. As a tough guy he dishes out some pain, but is not a bulletproof hero - he is damaged in some way in each story, and reading this book the reader gets the feeling Harry is on a one way road. Harry has to constantly take risks to break even, and keep his family in food. At odds with Customs, only hard evidence keeps him from a prison sentence. Married to an ex-prostitute, with two daughters he doesn't seem to care much about, his fondness for his wife is a surprise.

For me the first two stories were high octane - quick reads containing speeding boats, guns, contraband and the smuggling of illegal immigrants. For this type of action read they were 4 stars.

The third story was strange, and I expected more when I got to the end. For some unknown reason, Hemingway continually introduced characters to the story who had no real involvement. At one point he spends 3 or 4 pages identifying each person in each boat in the marina, with a brief explanation about why they were there. Most of them did not even see the coastguard towing a boat into port, which was the actual subject of the story... Similarly there was a side story about an author with a cheating wife - there were numerous chapters about their activities and interactions around the town, which didn't add any value to the story. This story had potential, but floundered with the unnecessary. 2.5 stars.

Overall, 3 stars.

Unsurprisingly Hemingway is quoted as not rating this work very highly.

This book is rather difficult to review.

Granted, it was written in 1937 and speech patterns and certain words were acceptable at that time. But the way this story reads offended me right from the start. I had a hard time with it and I was going to just put it away and not finish. But, the completist that I am, made me finish it.

So a word of a caution, the language of this book is rather off putting.

"با اين زندگي داشتن و نداشتن فرقي نميكند"

If you've never read Hemingway, this isn't the book for you. If you don't like experimentation, this isn't the book for you. If you're turned off by violence, this isn't the book for you. If you're an opponent of socialism, this isn't the book for you. If you want happy endings, this isn't the book for you.

If, however, you have dabbled in Hemingway and you want a challenge, this is the book for you. If you dig experimental literature, then this is the book for you. If you can stomach violence or you recognize its primacy in the human experience, this book is for you. If you are a socialist, this book is for you. If you hate happy endings, this book is for you.

There're probably other things I can add, but mostly I want to say that this book is for me.

3,5/5

I can see Papa walking the cat walk leading to his his studio. By 1937 he was growing tired of Pauline. Their marriage was on the rocks and Hemingway resented her money. He did question the rich and their attitudes somewhat, but his feelings about the rich was really about Pauline. He enjoyed his money. He thought To Have and Have Not was shit and really didn't care how Hollywood treated this small book. And Hollywood did treat the book differently. The Becall and Bogart movie was nothing like the novel Hemingway wrote. And that's why many people don't like the book.

To Have and Have Not has wonderful dialogue in it. The story is mediocre, my least favorite Hemingway novel. And don't look for a happy ending - you won't find it. The ending was expected because of the novel's spectacular opening scene. Harry Morgan is one of the Have Nots trying to support his wife and three daughters during the depression. He does what he has to do, even if it means losing his goodness and becoming a bad man. His character is well developed and the reader can see his morals slip away each season.

Perhaps intending to shock his intended readership composed of north-eastern liberals, Ernest Hemingway uses according to counter of my Kobo the word "Nigger" in 135 times in "To Have and Have Not" . The world "Chink" appears 27 times. Hemingway is not always putting these two words of his disreputable characters, they are in most cases employed by his narrator.
Most critics have found so many other things to object to in "To Have and Have Not" that they have felt safe in ignoring the repeated use of the two racist terms. While I too recognize that the novel's crimes against literature are also quite numerous, I see enough good things from a literary perspective, I I feel compelled to comment on its racist vocabulary.
The first thing that the younger GR member must understand is that there is nothing new about the controversy surrounding the words "nigger" and "chink". Growing up in the 1950s, my parents told to never use them any under circumstances and that if I did I would bring shame upon my entire family. Hemingway would certainly have been told the same thing as a child growing up in a middle-class home in Oak Park, Illinois. Illinois is of course the home state of Abraham Lincoln who issued the emancipation proclamation of Ulysses S. Grant, the general who lead the Union Army to victory over the confederate army. It is beyond me what might have compelled Hemingway to use two such offensive terms. He and his publisher deserve to be censured for it.
A second major problem with the novel is its bizarre structure. The first section was initially published as a short story in Cosmopolitan in 1934 with the title "One Trip Across". The second section was another story, "The Tradesman's Return" , that first appeared in Esquire in 1936. The first two sections describe the downward spiral of the operator of a fishing boat in the Florida Keys who, unable to make ends meet doing charters for deep-sea sport fisherman, resorts to the smuggling of liquor and humans in order to support his family. In the third section written just before the novel's publication in 1937, the poor fisherman dies tragically in the course of one of his criminal endeavours. Hemingway then introduces a group of North-Eastern intellectuals who happen to be in the Keys drinking and fornicating as the poor charter operator dies. The sad fate of the beleaguered smuggler-businessman is then contrasted with that of the dissolute intellectuals who despite their faults thrive and prosper.
To someone who has studied the life of Hemingway, the degenerate intellectuals are easy to identify according to James Mellows, the author of a Hemingway biography that I recently read.. According to Mellows, the worst in the bunch is no less a figure than John Dos Passos. Mellows feels that Hemingway owed it to his companions in debauchery to have been kinder toward them than he was. I see no reason to have expected decency from Hemingway. In "To Have and Have Not" Hemingway had the germ of good idea that almost worked. In any event, this novel is only for the reader determined to go very deep into the Hemingway catalogue.

Everything will be awfully jolly in the morning...

The story is told from different characters’ perspective, but the main focus is on Harry Morgan, owner of a fishing boat who out of desperation does unlawful jobs for questionable individuals.

This was the best Hemingway novel I read. It had a more direct plot than his other novel. Most of the time Hemingway’s novel seems to jump to seem from seen to seen at random. But here there was a point to all that happens, yet still keeps the random of life that Hemingway loves to write about. The characters were some of the most relatable and fun to read about that is hard to find.

I'm all over the map on how to rate this one. It's better than 3 stars, but probably not worth 4 (but I'll round up). I was surprised to find that this was Hemingway's first "novel" in eight years. Is it a novel? On one hand, you could probably view this as a collection of short stories and a novella, with the connective thread being that Middled Aged Man of the Sea: Harry Morgan. But there are connective threads here (the Depression being the main one) where the reader can discern a beginning to end storyline arc. So yeah, it's a novel, but it's one that's also an experiment in form (in a clunky sort of way).

What To Have and Have Not does have going for it, is Harry Morgan. He's a great character. Hemingway tough, even brutal, but throughout the book you will see little flashes that show Morgan as a man of Conradian duty and honor. These qualities are most visible when he's in the presence of his (ex-prostitute) wife and children, and on occasion with a few other men in the town that he respects as stand up guys. The novel opens with Harry rejecting an attempt to enlist him in illegally getting some men out of Cuba (I think -- or is it the other way around?). It means big bucks, but it's also dangerous work. Harry is trying to keep things legal in hard times (with Revolution in the air), so running human cargo is definitely out. Besides, Harry has been engaged in a weeks long fishing charter with a supposedly rich customer who wants to catch the big one. The rich guy hasn't paid up yet, but Harry isn't too worried. To underscore the seemingly safe wisdom of Harry's choice, is a really violent (and well done) gun battle in the book's first pages.

But the rich guy walks the check and Harry is left with a heavy debt. Another opportunity to run human cargo comes up, which allows Harry to recover his loss, but at a heavy price -- murder. It's probably true that Harry just beat his victim (a well dressed Chinese businessman with too much money to spend) to the lethal punch, but you're never really sure. I liked the fact that Hemingway kept things murky here, but Harry's amoral (and desperate) character really comes into sharp focus. He's not really a good guy, but just a guy capable of doing hard things. You are left with the distinct sense that Harry, if events had of unfolded badly, would of killed everyone on his boat, which would of included his drunken "friend," Eddy, and twelve Chinese trying to get to the U.S.

The second, and shortest, section of the book has Harry shot up on his boat, a liquor run gone bad. At this point, it's apparent that Harry has gone over to smuggling as a way to make ends meet. This section is interesting, because you get a glimpse of what Hemingway must of thought of the New Deal, as he has Harry spotted by an official with the government who happens to be on another boat. The official is an an ass, and makes a point of turning Harry in, causing Harry to lose this boat (and thus his livelihood). And Harry, due to his wound, also loses his arm.

What follows, in section three, is a bizarre mix of story and literary feud. Harry gets involved with a bunch of revolutionary bank robbers, and you can see where this is all going to end. It's at this point that Hemingway introduces a number of other characters, with the primary one being Richard Gordon. Gordon is a stand in for John Dos Passos. Hemingway is at his most nasty here. This should have sunk the book, but strangely it doesn't. The Gordons, and others arrival at Key West, shows them to be clueless and decadent. Contrasting this, in the preceding pages, is Harry's last night with Marie. A night filled with lovemaking and prime Hemingway speak.

"Do you want to?"
"Yes. Now."
"I was asleep. Do you remember when we'd do it asleep."
"Listen, do you mind the arm? Don't it make you feel funny?"
"You're silly. I like it. Any that's you I like. Put it across there. Put
it along there. Go on, I like it, true."

Hemingway is probably the only writer I know that can both move me and make me laugh when I read passages like this. It's seems so stylized, but is it? Whatever the case, it's this section that redeemed Harry for me.

Not so true are Gordon and his wife. Hemingway spends considerable time (in a short novel) applying the wrecking ball to their lives, while offstage Harry, a true man of action, is fighting and dying. I found this effective. The reader is constantly aware of Harry's slow return (as if on his shield) from his mortal shootout, without it being mentioned much. Hemingway ratchets things up by omission, with all the empty bar talk, cheating, and fights, etc. In the book's last pages, he has Harry's fishing boat, with Harry on board raving and bleeding out, contrasted against the rich yachts and empty lives of those on board them. Overall, it's not a great book, but it's certainly an interesting one. Those looking for signs of Hemingway's decline, probably need to look elsewhere. If anything, this odd novel (with it's fascinating historical context) has me appreciating more the accomplishment of For Whom the Bell Tolls, which would be Hemingway's next novel.

Hemingway actually wrote a hard boiled novel. It is not like other hard boiled novels. It is depressing as hell. But it was still badass and thrilling. A great nautical thriller. A hard boiled novel unlike any other. A hard boiled novel that will make you cry. Harry Morgan embarks on daring missions to save his family from financial ruin. Only Hemingway could have written this novel. Only some writers can write novels that make you feel a certain way. It is not easy. It is like the way some women can make you feel. Some women have it. Some writers have it too. Hemingway had it.

I hope this one is an unfortunate moment in Hemingway's writing career, since I have not read anything else by him so far. Absolutely average story, quite poor language, nothing to shine. Perhaps the most indifferent book of this year so far.