This book is not worth the praise it gets..Hemingway's style is too simple and plain..he talks forever about an old man in a boat for about 10 pages straight and nothing exciting happens...am I alone here?
2007-02-27 13:45:33 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
I've never really cared for Hemingway's writing. I've read several of his short stories, Old Man and the Sea and tried to read the Sun Also Rises but didn't make it far into before I lost intrest.
I think his style is simplistic and his macho posturing is a turn off as well. The only thing I have ever enjoyed by his was Hills Like White Elephants which if it hadn't been explained to me I probably wouldn't have much liked or understood.
2007-02-27 13:57:03 · answer #1 · answered by ajtheactress 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, you are not alone. Some are critical of his plots, characters and writing style. I guess he's not everybody's cup of tea. There were even several contests kind of mocking his writing. Here is a book about one of them:
"The Best of Bad Hemingway: Choice Entries From Henry's Bar and American Grill Imitation Hemingway Competition" by George Plimpton.
There also used to be a writing contest/website called Bad Hemingway.
But here's a question for you...do you think Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea like that for a reason? How does the writing style relate to the plot?
2007-02-28 00:39:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You're not alone. That's not one Hemingway's greatest works. The story is interesting, but the struggle between the man and the fish become boring after a while. Granted, it's a metaphor-man versus nature, man versus the environment, man fighting the idea of his own mortality. Still, it's not nearly as poignant as "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" or my own favorite, "The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber."
2007-02-27 22:02:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Nope. My Grand Pap hated it so much that he rowed a boat clear to Cuba to punch that Hemingway fella right in the nose for writing such a piece of dreck. Then Hemingway blew his brains out afterwards.
2007-02-27 21:49:36 · answer #4 · answered by johnny_zonker 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is true. At first glance the book seems slow, boring and simple. There is a deeper meaning to be story. Open your mind child. What was Hemingway trying to say?
2007-02-27 21:52:35 · answer #5 · answered by tigerlily23 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I love to read, but I was never a big Hemingway fan. Just not my style.
2007-02-28 07:37:58 · answer #6 · answered by Ruth E 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you're looking for a book that you could hate even MORE, then try to read Moby Dick.
But...DO NOT buy - just get it from the library!
2007-02-27 22:20:41 · answer #7 · answered by Nina 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
my friend, you are not alone.
should we start a hate group? anti-hemmingway club?
oh, and all you condescending people, just because i am criticizing the oh-so-fabulous hemmingway does not mean I don't "get" him, or that I haven't found the deeper meaning. snobs.
2007-02-27 21:53:35 · answer #8 · answered by mara 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Probably because you are young. And other young people will probably hate it as well. I won't try to talk you out of it; you'll get it eventually. I did.
2007-02-27 21:50:53 · answer #9 · answered by Roy Staiger 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You are not the only one that hates it! I would second your opinion.
2007-02-27 21:53:15 · answer #10 · answered by Lolly 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋