day 9 of the 30 day book challenge

Day 09. A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

While the old classics hold a special place in my heart, I must confess that my favorite time in literature is a mix of several movement–the years between the two world wars where we find the Lost Generation, a moniker given by Gertrude Stein.

Stein had loads more faith in Ernest Hemingway than I did in the beginning. I had read a good bit about his life & "character," & I had sampled his nonfiction writing. I was a fan of neither.

This isn't a good way to read. As a writer of nonfiction & hopeful memoir-writer, I should be the first to say that a person's character should not affect our reading of a text. But it does for me. It changes a lot–because I believe it changes a lot of the decisions writers make. I thought it was time to forgive Hemingway & look at his work objectively.

I remember where we were, Joe & I, when we started "A Farewell to Arms," my first Hemingway novel. It was Christmas break, & we were in Evansville with his family. We took our daily break to the Border's café, Joe's collection of Hemingway works in his backpack. He read the first 20 pages while I sipped my latte, & then it was my turn.

The story struck me from page one. Let's look at the Powell's synposis:

By turns romantic and harshly realistic, Hemingway's story of a tragic romance set against the brutality and confusion of World War I cemented his fame as a stylist and as a writer of extraordinary literary power. A volunteer ambulance driver and a beautiful English nurse fall in love when he is wounded on the Italian front.

I read the first 20 pages & became a Hemingway lover–err... a lover of Hemingway. He had enough of the other. His punchy, journalistic style serves the setting of his prose well, & his ability to break your heart–his creation of loving, realistic characters–is astounding.

So, while I still think he could be a crap person... he's delightful. Even his affectionate memoir, "A Moveable Feast" which I read in an afternoon, was charged with a mix of emotions & history I hadn't expected from him (or seen him as capable of).