The Most Interesting Man in the World: The Novel(s). I removed Islands in the Stream from my “currently reading” shelf because I wasn’t sure I would ever finish it. The first part, “Bimini,” is the best part of the novel, and could probably have stood alone as a short novel. It tells the story of Thomas Hudson, a somewhat famous painter, and the visit of his three sons. It’s fishing and drinking and eating and story telling, with a tragic ending . Pure Hemingway, with some wonderful passages to return to again and again. What doesn’t work so well as far as this story goes, is the character Roger Davis, a writer friend of Hudson’s. It seems like Hemingway is doing a bit of the Conradian “double” here. Hudson represents a more contemplative type, being a painter, while Roger is more of a two-fisted man of action. I could write a paper on this alone. Put the two of them together, you have the complete package – though Davis seems to have quit writing, or hasn’t written anything worthwhile in some time. One can’t help but feel that the ghost of the terrible novel, Across the River and into the Trees is being exorcised by Hemingway. To my mind, it is exorcised. The creaky sterility of that previous novel is gone, Hemingway is trying new stuff. Truly.

However, in the second part of the book, “Cuba,” he stumbles. But magnificently! This is some of the best bad Hemingway – ever. There’s something ridiculous about an artist (Hudson again) being driven by a chauffeur to a military station, where he is apparently viewed as The Man. (He’s not in the military mind you, and this is World War II.) Hudson has found out that his last son, Tom, has been killed in action. Grieving, he proceeds to get blitzed at a bar, and most of the story is bar talk with friends, and a whore. At one point, while talking with a Cuban prostitute, Hudson recounts his sexual escapades with three Chinese prostitutes! This is before Viagra. Oh, and there’s an earlier recounting of an affair with a princess that is quite romantic, and a bit kinky, as they do what they do while standing on a ship at night. This scene is a reworking of another “standing” moment from the earlier Farewell to Arms. I found this a little sad, probably because I felt Hemingway was basically cannibalizing himself. Whatever, it’s still pretty cool.

Anyway, by the time of the Chinese prostitutes’ adventure/story, an ocean of alcohol has been consumed, and it’s still morning. Out of the blue, Hudson’s first (ex)wife shows up (great noirish entry). She’s evidently some beautiful actress, now serving in the USO. There’s some fine snappy dialogue, for a while at least, but what punctures this encounter is that she doesn't even know her son is now dead (and he’s been dead for a couple of weeks). Hudson, being The Man – and The Most Interesting Man in the World at that, is aware, due to his connections – and importance (and yet he couldn't call on contact her?). Anyway, they drink some wine (!!!), and make love (which would seem virtually impossible at this point). And then suddenly the Call to Action comes, and The Man is off to war. The jaw simply drops at the wonderful, stagey badness of this. Still, all of that said, there is some wonderful writing to admire in this part.

Part three has Hudson pursuing Germans on the islands. Whatever, my interest really started to wane here, due to the fact that I was finding Hudson so unbelievable at this point. Overall, Islands is a mixed bag, but if you’re into Hemingway, a necessary read. I think as a whole it fails, but there’s a lot of good writing to enjoy. The parts are greater than the whole.

Uncharacteristically long and rambling book from Hemingway.

I hate doing my guy Hemingway dirty like this but this should have stayed in the notes section. A solid idea writing a novel about land, air, and sea but with all his CTE he just couldn’t pull it off. However, he does pull it together in the Bimini section which- at points- is beautiful and some of his finest prose ex the fight on the dock. The other two sections are ‘meh’ at best.

Sono rimasta sorpresa da questo libro...
Lo ammetto mi ci è voluto un po’ per entrare nel libro, per assorbirne lo stile è alcuni capitoli iniziali li ho riletti senza neanche accorgermene (l’ebookreader era tornato indietro da solo), ma poi mi ha colpito, soprattutto la seconda parte.

Se dovessi descrivere le tre parti del libro con tre emozioni sceglierei felicità, dolore, pace.
È inevitabile che quello che più ci colpisce è il dolore o meglio la disperazione silenziosa e così evidente da rendere la sofferenza tangibile.
Anche l’ultima parte è stata molto bella forse perché un po’ più movimentata (gli inseguimenti movimentano sempre una trama) ma anche perché nonostante il movimento, trasmetteva pace o quello che Thomas descriveva come “dovere”.

All'inizio lo stile mi ha un po’ disorientato. Troppi discorsi diretti che non mi facevano capire chi stesse parlando. Ma dopo un po’ ci ho fatto l’abitudine e avrei potuto riconoscere il protagonista fra mille.

Un libro che non mi aspettavo.

I've been a Hemingway fan all my life, and even though I read this novel as a teen, it didn't really work for me. All the good stuff reads like imitations of stuff he did when he was younger, before the booze and the multiple wives and the multiple concussions.

And some of the wishful thinking is almost comical! Thomas Hudson drinks a Heineken for breakfast and then says, "it would be easy to be a rummy, wouldn't it." And then INSTANTLY his loyal flunky (who is a real rummy, natch) chimes in with, "not you, Tom. You like to work too well."

Puh-LEEEEZE!!!!

I read the book in 1973. Recommended.
The movie did not do justice to the book. I picked this book up on a whim while looking for reading material at the army base book store. I spent part of my summer reading the book. I was without television and my radio could only pick up the Nuremberg classical station.

Hemingway writes so well and effortlessly, with every book of his I’ve read it is hard to explain to plot. The way Hemingway writes flows so beautifully and he writes with such experience and machismo. I didn’t love this book, I felt the story was made for a repressed man who fished and saw all his friends die in the war and refused to ever talk about it. I think it’s just a generation gap thing but just not anywhere near his best work, still a fan of his though. If you fish at all you may enjoy this a bit more or are an island boat individual.

Other reviewers on here are right to highlight the way the pace sags in parts 2 and 3. In places the prose and thrill is as good as anything else of his I've read. The long account of David vs the fish in book 1 is extraordinary: 'There is a time boys have to do things if they are ever going to be men. That's where Dave is now.'
Lots of typos in my (Penguin!) edition! Disappointing.

Hemingway never disappoints. This book has 3 distinct sections and each one provides insight into the life of Tom who lives on what sounds like an amazing Island! We learn who Tom is, how much he loves his children and what a beautifully simple life he lives. In the second part of the book, we learn about Tom through his grief. During this part of the book he’s in Cuba. The final part of the book feels like the downward spiral of his life partly because of the war and partly because Tom hasn’t much to live for. Hemingway always provides incredible descriptions of such simple things! I loved this book!

Falling in love at an advanced age you would think would be a little bit different. But I am like a school girl. I'm not writing Me and Ernie 4 Eva on my notebooks but I might as well be the way I am mooning around about Papa Hemingway these days. Without a doubt I'm head over heels and “Islands in the Stream” only confirms it.
Even though this book was never highly praised by his critics and is one of his later works it is, to me, one of the finest literary works to pass before these tired eyes. His use of literary devices makes any wanna be author sit up and cry.
Speaking of crying, there was more than once when I had to shut this stunning piece when I was reading it on a public bus because of the tears rolling down my face.
It is a clearly wrought piece of brilliance that takes the reader deeply into each scene and weaves you delicately into the mind of Tom Hudson (Papa?) and leaves you breathless for the journey and thirsty for a drink of coconut water, gin and bitters.
Thank you Papa for showing me that great writing does exist and that I am capable of falling in love again.

Ik was er al helemaal klaar voor om dit boek 1 ster te geven, tot het vanaf pagina 318 (!) ineens goed werd. Maar nou ook weer niet goed genoeg om een opbouw van 317 pagina's te kunnen verantwoorden.
Het enige goede aan de rest van het boek was pagina 244 en (spoilers) het feit dat iedereen doodgaat, want dat was tenminste nog onverwacht.

Hard liquor, machine guns, unflinching death, and women [as mistrusted and often loathed strangers--almost unearthly in their spiritual inaccessibility to Hem] are familiarly at the core of Hemingway's identity by this point in his career, and almost all he knows as literary touch points from which to develop literary themes. These themes are spread a bit thin here at times, but still with some magnificent passages. Hemingway invented, encouraged, and nurtured such a mythic and exaggerated persona around himself to the extent that he couldn't really manage it--it devoured him personally. His he-man avatar was --like the phony Wizard of Oz behind the frail screen--an empty shell. But what a great writer. He just couldn't stop trying to actually live the very contours of the fictional world he created.