In June of 1961, A. E. Hotchner visited a close friend in the psychiatric ward of St. Mary’s Hospital. It would be the last time they spoke – three weeks later, Ernest Hemingway returned home, where he took his own life. Their final conversation was also the final installment in a saga that Hemingway had unraveled for Hotchner over years of world travel.Ernest always kept a few of his special … special experiences off the page, storing them as insurance against a dry-up of ideas. But after a near miss with death, he entrusted his most meaningful tale to Hotchner, so that if he never got to write it himself, then at least someone would know. In characteristically pragmatic terms, Hemingway divulged the details of the affair that destroyed his first marriage: the truth of his romantic life in Paris and how he gambled and lost Hadley, the great love he’d spend the rest of his life seeking.
But the search was not without its notable moments, and he told of those, too: of impotence cured in a house of God; of back-to-back plane crashes in the African bush, one of which nearly killed him, while he emerged from the other brandishing a bottle of gin and a bunch of bananas; of cocktails and commiseration with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Josephine Baker; of adventure, human error, and life after lost love. This is Hemingway as few have known him – humble, thoughtful, and full of regret.
To protect the feelings of Ernest’s wife, Mary, who was also a close friend, Hotch kept these conversations to himself for decades. Now he tells the story as Hemingway told it to him. Hemingway in Love puts you in the room with the master and invites you to listen as he relives the drama of those young, definitive years that set the course for the rest of his life and dogged him to the end of his days.
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Great story about the life of Hemingway during his most turbulent years. I found it informative and well written.
Provides interesting insight into the life and work of Hemingway. Provides interesting contrast to the life of masculine ideals in light of Hemingway’s struggle to find love in his life. and it looks like Hemingway married for money and lost his ability to find and develop love in his life that was not driven by money, cupidity, fear and rage.
Hotchner’s book gave me new insight into Hemingway. He loved his first wife the most and regretted leaving her. He tried to be married to two people but couldn’t make it work. This book pulled together pieces of his life and gave some coherence to the sequence of his married life. My take-away is that he did not marry for money but for love and for the moment.
Sadly, a life not well lived!
Interesting look at this famous author and a good look at a different time.
I gave this a five-star because first of all it was Hemingway. . . nothing boring about him! And very believable because the author & Hemingway were close friends. . . not dull!
Anyone who is a Hemingway fan will enjoy reading this book. There are many books about Hemingway but this one is told by a close friend who tells the story using Hemingway’s words. Hemingway was seduced by the wealthy Americans he encountered in Paris after World War I and and allowed them to change the course of his life forever.
Interesting. Most of the book is based off the author’s visits with Hemingway. After seeing other books available about Hemingway by the same author, I get the feeling I would be reading the same chapters in the other books as well, and that the books are just money-makers for the author.
Biographies are hard to review. I know this was one mans account of his time with Hemingway. But I felt he lead him to the answers sometimes and others I didn’t feel like Hemingway was telling him the truth. A man with brain issues and recall issues does not make for a reliable informant for his past. I believe the authors intentions were good, and he was obviously fond of his friend. But the retelling of his past at that point in his life was unreliable at best, outright fiction at the worst, and there was no good way for the reader to discern where the truth might actually be.
interesting insight into the last years of Hemmingway’s life
Hemingway is one of my favorite authors so anything about him is wonderful and interesting to me.
I only read a sample download of this book,and it had me hooked!!I am a Hemingway fan,in the biggest way,so try to get my hands on all the works dealing with his life.I was sad when my little peek into this biographical book ended,and I will but the whole book as soon as I can.
Never boring. Author reveals the truth with easy to read words.
What a great tribute by A.E. “Hotch” Hotchner to Hemingway. You can tell the love that Hotchner had for his friend on every page of this book. Definitely recommend for any fan of Hemingway.
A portrait of one man highs and lows, and the loss of his true love. I truly admired this book, a complete understanding on Ernest Hemingway.