How do you give a bad review to an American icon? I almost gave this a 2-Star rating, except that the last 1/3 of the book sort of lifted it out of that depth (a bit more sequential action, etc.). This book was such a disappointment. It's the first Hemingway I've read in over 20 years. I was looking forward to it as I had just finished reading a biography about him. Which, in a way, might explain the disappointment of this book. I'm not sure when Hemingway was actually working on this novel, but it was published 10 years after he died. He had suffered some severe head traumas towards the end of his life, which may also account for his suicidal tendencies, although it isn't clear whether doctors put those two things together, or even if they were related. The biographer didn't mention it.

In any case, this novel reads like a string of babbling from someone with too much time on his hands. The main character loses two sons, then that is followed by 25 pages about his relationship with his cat, Boise. Really?

Then the action jumps to another scene with no transition whatsoever, and you suddenly discover that his first son also has died, which is followed by a 25-page driveling bar scene.

Finally, there's some coherence and story flow when he's on a boat hunting submarines (How did he get that job?), which keeps the attention somewhat. The back of the book reads, "Beginning in the 1930s, Islands in the Stream follows the fortunes of Thomas Hudson, from his experiences as a painter on ... Bimini through his antisubmarine activities off the coast of Cuba during WWII. Hemingway is at his mature best in this beguiling tale." Nothing doing. Jerky and choppy. Not beguiling. Mature to the point of dullness. Maybe I need a book club discussion on this one to appreciate something I'm missing, but boy howdy, this is not a book I'd recommend.

Not fair to rate a book which was published unfinished and posthumous. The first chapter (Bimini) was fantastic, the second (Cuba) fascinating and sad, the third (At Sea) too obscure and tiring.

Far from his best novel, though completely forgivable given its posthumous publication. When he writes about loneliness, the constant challenge of writing well (painting, for the novel's hero), the love of his children; the honesty and humanity--which is that relatable thing and a large part of the beauty of EH's art--comes through. There is still goodness in this flawed work and I'm glad I read it.

I recently watched the PBS documentary on Hemingway by Burns and Novick and greatly enjoyed it. Highly recommend it.

Hemingway was one of my favorite writers of my teenage years, and I forgot why I loved him. From the first pages of these * Drifting Islands *, I remembered why he was one of the significant writers of the 20th century.
Holidays with his children around a fishing trip, a stay in Havana between his cats and his daiquiris at the Floridita, then a submarine hunt around Cuba; each episode of this book tells a significant event in the life of the painter Thomas Hudson, who also looks a lot like Hemingway.
It all seems to revolve around love, flight, and death. But love is, above all, paternal and filial. The relationship between the painter and his children is dissected in a seemingly simple style, with endless but captivating dialogues. Hemingway examines his characters and makes them human. He loves them all, and the reader feels so close to them that he knows them.
A great and beautiful novel.

Aunque me ha gustado, es una de las obras menores de Hemingway. Está subdividida en tres partes:

1. Bimini, en donde el protagonista nos muestra como es su vida como pintor en una pequeña isla y cómo cambia con la visita de sus tres hijos. Aunque esta parte está muy bien, dedica muchas páginas a describir con detalle la caza de un pez espada y se hace bastante pesada.
2. Cuba, aquí el protagonista tiene que afrontar una nueva etapa de su vida en la que la bebida y la soledad serán sus compañeras (es la parte que más pesada se me hizo).
3. En el mar, esta parte es la que más me ha gustado porque se parece más a una novela de aventuras. El protagonista ha cogido la riendas de su vida y se dedica a perseguir militares alemanes que han llegado clandestinamente a Cuba.

Only giving 4 stars as its not my favourite Hemingway book.
But it's still classic Hemingway writing.
It's amazing how he writes such clear simple sentences
and still leaves such vivid images in your mind.
You would never need a dictionary reading Hemingway.

He just captures so easily some of the beauty of life
just casually(or so it seems) as he tells his story.

He is not everyone's cup of tea but for me one of my favourite authors.

Este livro divide-se em três partes, das quais gostei da primeira, não gostei da segunda e gostei mesmo muito da terceira.

A primeira passa-se numa ilha das Caraíbas, na qual o pintor Thomas Hudson (o protagonista da história) vive e trabalha, pintando quadros cujos temas principais são cenas marítimas, e decorre durante umas férias onde este é visitado pelos seus três filhos, o mais velho, um adolescente fruto do seu primeiro casamento e da única mulher que amou na vida, e os dois mais novos do seu segundo casamento, um de nove anos e outro de doze anos, se a minha memória não me falha.
O melhor desta parte são as descrições da ilha, do relacionamento entre o pai e os seus três filhos, do trabalho feito pelo pintor, e das memórias da vida deste em Paris quando vivia com a sua primeira mulher e com o seu filho primogénito, ainda pequeno, altura em que eram pobres, mas felizes, porque sabiam aproveitar tudo o que de bom lhes acontecia.
Os diálogos estão muito bem construídos, pois revelam autenticidade, simplicidade e naturalidade. E eu gosto muito de bons diálogos nos livros e sou da opinião que, atualmente, os livros têm poucos diálogos e os que existem são demasiado elaborados e artificiais.

Mas há um senão: as personagens adultas passam demasiado tempo a beber em casa, na rua, nos barcos, em bares e há referências a uma quantidade infindável de bebidas alcoolólicas, à sua preparação e ao prazer que elas proporcionam, que, às vezes, pensava que estava a ler um guia sobre bebidas e sobre a forma de as preparar e servir.

A segunda parte passa-se em Havana, depois do pintor deixar de ser pintor e passar a trabalhar, durante a segunda guerra mundial, em missões marítimas para os americanos.
A ação decorre basicamente na casa do ex-pintor e no bar "Floridita", onde, de facto, o autor Ernest Hemingway passava muito tempo, como pude constatar na única vez que estive em Havana, e durante a qual este passa uma noite e um dia a embebedar-se e a conversar com empregados de bar e com as mais variadas personagens, quase todas elas em estados etílicos de graduação distinta.
Confesso que não tive a capacidade de entender e apreciar as conversas e os pensamentos filosóficos do escritor, tendo-me perdido no meio da leitura.

Salva-se o reencontro de Thomas Hudson com a sua primeira mulher e grande amor da sua vida, após terem tido conhecimento da morte do seu filho, o qual foi comovente sem nunca ceder ao sentimentalismo fácil.

A terceira, e para mim a melhor parte do livro, descreve a viagem de barco que Thomas Hudson faz entre as diversas ilhas e ilhéus das Caraíbas e os seus canais, com uma tripulação de homens interessantes, mas cuja personalidade é pouco explorada pelo escritor, em perseguição de um barco com soldados alemães. Uma viagem com muitos riscos e peripécias, num cenário simultaneamente idílico e perigoso, entre calmarias e tempestades, também durante a segunda guerra mundial, onde Ernest Hemingway demonstra que foi um homem aventureiro, experiente marinheiro e também guerreiro, fruto da sua vida em que desfrutou do mar, participou em guerras, o que faz transparecer que o que lemos está realmente a acontecer.

his characters are such pitiable assholes

В книге три части, 4-3-5 очков за каждую, жаль самая интересная была самой короткой. Под настроение зайдет.

He thought that he would lie down and think about nothing. Sometimes he could do this.

Behold the Monster. It is fair to regard this triptych as such from a number of angles. The work is likely very raw. I haven't explored the biographical provenance, but I suspect it grew as a monolith, an ongoing surge between tempests. Had the author persisted, there would have been editing. A polishing away of dross leaving acute angles and inchoate philosophy.
The product is undoubtedly dasein. There's also much of the abyss here, a deliberate staving off of Das Mann-- the herd here is an intraguild predator. The responses to such are phenomenological and occasionally violent, even lethal. This is parley by other means. This novel is a rapture of sorts, but one revealed in a chemical noumena, a dark matter informed by trauma and the uncanny. Alongside the scarred neuroses is a physical detachment, an appreciation of the biosphere but not bound by nation-states or primary language.

The first 200 pages were beyond beautiful. The next section, however, was detached tissue, a litany of drunken coitus under a miasma of grief. The concluding section was a miracle.

Not his best work. I don't know if it was written toward the end of his life but it was unsynchronized and hard to follow.

The first third of this book is some of Hemingway's best writing ever. The middle part is very good; it actually builds from good to terrific. The final part is ... it's not that it's just fine, it's that it feels less urgent and vital than the rest, even though it's the part with the most action. I did like the main character, Thomas Hudson, musing that life means little when you put it next to a a person's work. It's so antithetical to the way I've been taught to think about writing, but it's got a dark glamour to it. Maybe not as good as The Sun Also Rises or A Farewell to Arms (or A Moveable Feast) but still terrific.