For anyone who would venture upon this novel as their first trip into Hemingway, I'd presume a rating of far less celestial body. The reality is, this posthumously published, three-part story is not Hemingway's best. In fact, the novel has some pretty uncharacteristic flaws. It is full of the very traditional Hemingway: startling one-liners, little plot with heavy emotion and warmth, intense scene recognition and spatial consideration, machismo oozing out the ears. You name it.

But, for the Hemingway aficionado, this book is a keen look not into the end of a great's bibliography, but into the great himself. It is a Roman a clef, like all of his other novels, essentially. Hemingway only ever wrote about himself, which I don't think was an effort of egoism as much as it was an effort to write honestly; and how does one write completely honestly?, by writing about what one knows the best (presumably): himself.

And no one loves Hemingway's plots. I mean, how could you? 500 pages to blow up one bridge? Liver psoriasis bullfight? Old man fishing? Quitting the army with a nurse? Plots are nothing to Hemingway. What we love is the coursing energy of honesty flowing directly and forcibly through the text. We breathe truth and cringe at its brutality. Joy at its beauty.

Then you get Islands in the Stream: a lie.

The first section, Bimini, is the best, far and away (ignore the 100 page fish fight). Here we have classic and dependable Hemingway, now typified through a painter, Thomas Hudson, while his sons visit from their jilted mothers, Hem's wake. The story is nostalgic, poignant, and laced with morosity, which, if you know anything about Hemingway the man, was also the end of his life. He lamented Hadley, his failed fathership, and a writing career that was less and less appreciated. Thomas Hudson in Bimini was this: truthfully and honestly.

Then, between the end of Bimini and the beginning of Cuba, all three of his sons die, which is not true to life. Rather, it sort of sets the reader to feel more sorry for Hudson (nee Hemingway), who is now a sad alcoholic creature. He really wants us to pity him! Never before have I felt the need to pity Hemingway's amorphisms, not even while dying, or not getting Brett, or having your lady die during childbirth. Was sad, but never pitied. Hudson is pitiful.

Then, out of nowhere, Hadley Hemingway comes along. Now, we all know that Hadley remarried after Hem and happily lived out the rest of her days. We also know that she was a homely, not flashy sorta gal (read A Paris Wife for a good depiction). In this novel, she makes an appearance in Havana and is a ... wait for it ... movie starlet!?, who can't resist Hudson and makes love to him while blaming HERSELF for the dissolution of their marriage (a plot problem because earlier Hudson claimed he left her). I mean, the audacity of Hemingway to make Hadley into a sluttish starlet to vindicate his own evils.

So of course, in good conscience, he kills Hudson.

Very flawed and very dishonest. It gets four from me because I loved how much it showed me about Hemingway's personal instability at the end of his life. And I don't fault him anything; after all, he never tried to publish this book: that was for the vultures post-mortem. Vultures I'm thankful for.

As a Hemingway fan I feel almost guilty in saying this: the book felt really slow and fairly dull.

All 3 parts are sad but each in a very different way. Bimini was initially very positive even if a bit dull and all of a sudden got depressing at the very end. Cuba was where I struggled most and I enjoyed it the least of the 3. At Sea was the most interesting and the one heavily related to war.

This book is probably enjoyable if you like detailed descriptions of nature and lots of reflection on life, much of it happening in dialogues with way too many unimportant characters that are there only to let the protagonist talk.

Ouch. I had not read this since 1977, and I was reminded of what my English Literature professor said to me after I mentioned to him that I liked Hemingway. He said, "Hmm, try re-reading him in twenty years, and see what your opinion is then." Touche'. I find this book to be almost a parody of Hemingway's writing, but in any event, it's not his best writing by a long stretch. The alternate title could be "Manly Men, Behaving Badly, but in a Manly Way". I ran out of patience after I'd ploughed through about a quarter of it.

This is the first Hemingway book that I’ve read (thanks to my dad for the suggestion) and although it took me a minute to get used to his extremely detailed writing style, it wasn’t long before I was engrossed in the story. Hemingway paints a beautiful picture of the main character, Thomas Hudson’s, life living and traveling through the Key Islands and Cuba, while adding in bits of humor, gripping excitement, and heartfelt drama along the way. I feel this is a great start for anyone interested in what Hemingway and his legacy is all about!

Rich white expatriate male mopes on exotic island. Sorry, Hemmo, life's too short for this shit. Got as far as the end of Book 1. Shoot me.

It is a sad, vulnerable book. Mordantly written. Au fait, as Hemingway liked it, to the end.

I believe this an overlooked book and an integral work if you want to understand Hemingway.

Island in the stream was released after his death and was never finished, meaning Hemingway didn't edit the book because at this point in his life, he simply couldn't anymore. The first part "Bimini" is very beautifully written and it's a perfect example how good Hemingway's writing was when it was good. It is tender, full of love and harmonic - and also funny. At this point of his life Hemingway didn't care anymore that it was obvious to the reader that his main characters are mere reflections of the writer himself and that really shows a lot in this book. The protagonist feels guilty about his declining work ethics and especially his drinking. But it also shows that manic fantasy world Hemingway was living in at that point of his career. His character is a commander, has relationships with many women and princesses even, is a commander for the army and hunts down german U-boots. It's so over the top that it would be funny if it wasn't clear that Hemingway was living in delusion at that time and really believed all that crap. Throw in the occasional racism and you've got a pretty terrible part two, "Cuba" and three "At Sea" which reminded me of "For whom The Bell tolls" -another terrible book by Hemingway. The Woman he calls "The Devil" is another of Hemingway borderline insane Women he invented, then of course jabs at his Ex-Wife Martha Gellhorn. When Hemingway writes badly, it's really bad. Yet I liked the book because it paints a really clear picture (no pun intended) of the writers life and it shows how deranged he was towards the end.

I know its fashionable to hate Hemingway but people hate him because it's easy to do so. He wasn't a great man by any means but he was also a victim, he was mentally ill and physically sick.

But after all he was a great and disciplined writer and when he wasn't any more, he killed himself. How many writers would give up their lifes if they couldn't serve the paper any longer.

I've long been a fan of Old Man and the Sea - it was my all time favorite beach read a while back. So, when I learned that these stories constituted the foundation and origin of that story, I was eager to read it on vacation this year. Our vacation was interrupted, and reading wasn't an option, so I'm just now finishing it - far from the shore.

Islands in the Stream are three connected stories published together posthumously by Hemingway's wife and publisher. They had editing duties - giving 400 or so pages the ax - but informed sources say they were well acquainted with EH's editorial preferences, and they added nothing to the text.

The protagonist is a wealthy painter with a history of being an international celebrity who hobnobs with the greatest minds and creators of his time... this isn't a relatable circumstance, but probably what readers wanted most with their escapism reading. The wealth and privilege aren't very becoming when it comes to how his life of leisure, stable of servants, and variety of luxury living situations are concerned. This isn't to say he lives a life free of pain. Pain is something he has no shortage of, and as the story progresses - it becomes nearly all he has.

It was endearing and fascinating to read how "the other half" lives, and how that life relates to (and is in contrast with) my own experience. Especially when we have art in common. Thomas Hudson prides himself on a strong work ethic - probably to not lose his male audience who already has to swallow the story of a man who lives in luxury doing as he wishes, with occasional visits from (virtually abandoned) children and starlet ex-wives. Very little of his character's mindset is relatable to an artist. Rather - TH sounds a lot more like a writer posing as an artist (several factors make Stephen King's Duma Key look to be influenced by IitS).

The sections were of distinctly different tones and flavors. The protagonist at times only feels like the same character because he shares the same name, and sparse sentences of reference to an earlier phase of life. He certainly strives to erase his pain by both ignoring it, and drinking his brain into a state malleable enough to forget. The sources of his pain are felt and empathized with by this reader, at least, so that tenuous connection still holds.

It isn't 100% clear how Old Man and the Sea originated with this period of working - but if it was intended as follow-up to a struggle in the first act (Bimini), the result will always be a different staging when reading OMatS, and a powerful one.

Hemingway is forever analyzed for his portrayal of gendered issues - and those looking closely tend to give him more slack as the years go by. I don't personally get the sexist claims and demonized perspective others paint him with - I see genuine reflection, given honestly, by someone who loves women - but is not himself a woman or a man who would make an effort to put himself in a woman's shoes, not being one. There may be an empathy gap there - but his empathy gap is broad and showing at all times for other men, of other race, proclivity, social and financial means. He's true to himself (whatever we think of that self), and he proudly broadcasts that women are frequently at the center of all his happiest memories, relationships, and enriching life moments.

A man feeling a need to erase painful loses is at the heart of the stories. So much so, that a couple of those critical and pointed loses are never again referred to after book one. The absence hurt me. The lost lives were more pronounced for it. By not dealing with some things, he made those things much, much bigger - but the notion that a man must cry, but that seeing that crying is a chief disgust, has shackled him to a damaged and hobbled existence with dwindling meaning. And we (I) never stop relating and connecting with that life. At times uncomfortable, to say the least, I never stopped liking the story and wanting more of it.

The book reads like an album assembled by the family, and remaining band members, after the death of a band's lead vocalist. I can't see it as complete or as a pure product of its creator - however hard I try. That is what keeps it from achieving a 5th star, for me. But it is his work, and what's there of it is absolutely worth the time to share with him.

I haven't read Hemingway in many years and decided to use him for this winter's reads. This book is truly a great work. Efficient, direct and hard but stirring to the soul. He is best read by those who have lived a bit, for those readers who have not yet lived much, might find it a little hard to find a bit foreign.

Islands in the Stream, published after Hemingway's suicide, is a strange, sad and poignant tale of a man who lives in the Gulf Stream. I will not risk spoiling anyhting. Suffice to say that the story is broken into three parts:

* a summer spent on Bimini island when the boys visit their father for a season of fishing and diving.

* an episode in Havana, during the second world war, when the protagonist Thomas Hudson is temporarily between missions.

* a key-hopping hunt through the islands over Cuba, tracking down the desperate survivors of a German submarine.

This was my second time reading Hemingway. My first experience was his debut, The Sun Also Rises. Though that took time for me to warm to, I ended up enjoying it greatly. This posthumous novel is quite vastly different. The writing is much more fluid, much less minimal and dry as his first novel was. There were some fantastic segments, such as young Tommy's six-hour showdown with a sword-fish. I enjoyed the first section in Bimini once I got used to the characters. The middle section Havana I thought was the weakest. Just a lot of dialogue, hardly charming or enjoyable. The final section, with Hudson and crew hunting down the Germans was, in my opinion, surperb.

Overall I guess this was kind of a mixed bag. The great final section saved it from getting two stars from me.

A terribly sad book

Deel 1 is erg mooi. Bij deel 2 en 3 merk je duidelijk dat het verhaal niet af was toen Hemingway overleed.