To Have and Have Not (A Scribner Classic)

by Ernest Hemingway

To Have and Have Not (A Scribner Classic)

published

September 1983 by Collier Books

edit

binding

Paperback, 262 pages

isbn

0020518803 (isbn13: 9780020518808)

description

First things first: readers coming to To Have and Have Not after seeing the Bogart/Bacall film should be forewarned that about the only thing t...more

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | compare prices ...

Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.

discuss this book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

groups with this book

friend reviews (0)

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

lists with this book

Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1933)

All ratings | 5 stars (260) | 4 stars (526) | 3 stars (543) | 2 stars (150) | 1 star (32) | avg 3.59

all | this edition

Rachel

Rachel rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

11/07/08

Read in November, 2008

This wasn't my favorite Hemingway ever, but I'm a sucker for Hemingway in general and it's been a while since I read one. In fact, this was a book I was supposed to read for school and somehow didn't.

The thing about Hemingway is that I start out hating him for being so chauvinistic and everything, but then somewhere along the way he blows me away with a portrayal of a moment in a relationship or some inner dialogue that just feels so real. And I'll find myself really mourning the protagonist I...more

Like this review? yes

1 comments

Andrew

Andrew rated it:

(review of isbn 0684818981)

09/03/08

bookshelves: fiction, literary

It's said that Ernest Hemingway considered To Have and Have Not his worst novel, demonstrating that Papa was more self-aware than commonly believed. It's also said that he wrote it only to fulfil a contract, or because he needed cash. That's plausible, but it's no excuse. This novel is vile; it begins badly, and deteriorates from there.

A summary: Harry Morgan, like his piratical namesake, is a good man pushed into crime by the times and by bad luck. His luck just gets worse. Times are tough ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Tim

Tim rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

08/22/08

This is one of the worst Hemingway books, which means that it is still worth reading and that it has some good passages. It follows several characters, but most especially a man named Harry Morgan, in Key West and Cuba during the Great Depression.

One of the book's main problems is that it is disjointed. And it is not even consistently disjointed: it follows Harry Morgan for many pages, causing you to think that he is what the book is about, and then about halfway through it suddenly starts ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Steven

Steven rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

06/02/08

bookshelves: 1001, hemmingway

Read in May, 2008

Many moons ago, when I was a young adult, I really did not like to read and I never read for pleasure. I was in the highest classes at school and I always did well on my various book reports, but I was always one of those kids that found reading to be a bit of a chore - a necessary evil if you will.

The summer before my 9th Grade year, a relative of mine bought me a huge collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories and a collection of Hemingway books: “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “...more Many moons ago, when I was a young adult, I really did not like to read and I never read for pleasure. I was in the highest classes at school and I always did well on my various book reports, but I was always one of those kids that found reading to be a bit of a chore - a necessary evil if you will.

The summer before my 9th Grade year, a relative of mine bought me a huge collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories and a collection of Hemingway books: “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “A Moveable Feast,” “The Sun Also Rises,” and “A Farewell to Arms.” To say that these books changed my life would be an understatement. Quite frankly, I really didn’t know that books could be so incredible. Here I am about 15 years later on a social networking site for people who love books.

I give all that as background for my absolute love of Hemingway. He does have flaws, including his inability to write really interesting female characters, of that there is no doubt, but for my money it just really doesn’t get any better than Hemingway and Fitzgerald. I could go on for pages and pages about why I love them both and why they are both incredible for very different reasons, but the bottom line for me is that Hemingway is definitely in my fav five.

I mention all of the above as background because I have purposely avoided “To Have and Have Not” because I already knew a few things about it. I knew that it is regarded as being very uneven and I knew that it was not at all Papa’s favorite. As far as those criticisms go, I will wholeheartedly agree. The novel is terribly uneven, it does often read as two separate stories cobbled together. It is not my favorite Hemingway.

Even with its problems, though, the book is still Hemingway. There are so many flashes of that uniquely Hemingway brilliance. It is set in Key West and is the best thing I have ever read referencing the conch lifestyle. (We don’t get much of that in my neck of the woods in Florida, but I did when I was at college a little further south in the sunshine state.) Harry Morgan is prototypical Hemingway male lead. The plot is interesting. People lose limbs and there are gunfights.

All in all, Hemingway on a bad day is better than just about anyone on their best day and I am glad I read it and I look forward to seeing the movie sometime soon. (I’ve never seen the movie, but I am familiar with the Bertie Higgins version of the song “Key Largo,” and I’ve heard they are somewhat similar, but I could be wrong, we’ll see.)
...less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Kirk

Kirk rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

12/09/07

bookshelves: sentimental-faves

The flaws are well enumerated in other commentaries: is IS disjointed (in part because EH was rushed and couldn't be bothered to better integrate his original two Harry Morgan stories into a unified narrative); the women are caricatures (except for Marie Morgan); there are unfortunate laspes into racism (especially with Mr. Sing and Harry's boatmates, all invariably referred to with the N word); and the testosterone is off the charts (can the word cojones even be used anymore except for ironical...more The flaws are well enumerated in other commentaries: is IS disjointed (in part because EH was rushed and couldn't be bothered to better integrate his original two Harry Morgan stories into a unified narrative); the women are caricatures (except for Marie Morgan); there are unfortunate laspes into racism (especially with Mr. Sing and Harry's boatmates, all invariably referred to with the N word); and the testosterone is off the charts (can the word cojones even be used anymore except for ironically?)

Yet the fact that THHN has the rep of being Hemingway's worst novel (even more so than Across the River and into the Tress, which I'm not big on), combined with the fact that it's the ONE EH novel set on American shores, makes it one I've wanted to study. Here are some reasons:

1. Location location location
The Key West setting is fabulous. There are passages of landscape description here every bit as powerfully imagistic as IN OUR TIME or THE SUN ALSO RISES.

2. History
Once you discover the background and realize what EH COULD have put into this book (including a projected fourth part, which was only partially completed), you begin to see how the book could've been great. Cuban Revolution. Doughboys on the dole only months away from getting wiped out in the 1935 hurricane. Key West tourism, which EH loathed but which was necessary to saving the island during its bankruptcy. None of it really makes sense within the book---but if you do a little background, these historical virtues become clearer.

3. Pulp Fiction
THHN is Hemingway's noir novel. He was often creidted with inspiring the hardboiled fiction of the late 20s-early 30s (especially "The Killers"). A decade later, he realizes how many suspense writers are aping him, and he and his cojones decide to take back the taut, camera-eye voice. If Harry Morgan is unsympathetic---well, so is the guy in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. If none of them women except Marie are anything but femme fatales---well, neither are any of them women in BLACK MASK. And if there's a surpring amount of shootups and punchouts---hey, take that, Dashiell and Raymond.

4. Politics
THHN is EH's proletarian novel---his response to the leftist cats in the 30s who said he was a burgeois apologist. This is perhaps the element that rings most false, especially whenever Harry Morgan starts orating on how shafted the working man is. EH was an individualist through and through, so there's a fascinating discrepancy in Harry's character. He wants to be a tough Hemingway stoic, but he also wants to fight back against the system that's starving him. If EH's conversion to socialism seems halfhearted, it adds a lot of interesting complexity to the characterization that can help you get past all the machismo.

Just some ideas for resisting readers who might want some ways around their dissatisfactions with THHN....less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Ali

Ali rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

06/03/07

bookshelves: world-literature

داستانی نه به قد و بالای داستان های بلند دیگر همینگوی، قصه ی مردی که در کار قاچاق مشروب و برده و زن از کوبا به آمریکاست.

در 1340 با ترجمه ی پرویز داریوش با نام "داشتن و نداشتن" توسط انتشارات فرانکلین (کتاب های جیبی) منتشر شده است. در سال 1363 هم ترجمه ی دیگری از فریودن رضوانیه ا...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Jen

Jen rated it:

08/01/07

bookshelves: recently_read

Read in July, 2007

I can't remember the last time I read anything by Hemingway. I'm guessing it was in high school. To Have and Have Not was another of my husband's recommendations, and it was a perfect start for my new "hobby" of reading just for fun. The plot flows easily with most of the book written in dialogue. Hemingway seems to be making a point in Chapter 24: Amidst all the characters and events in the story, there are only two sets of people who are truly happy -- the honest ones making an hones...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Brandi

Brandi rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

09/19/08

Read in September, 2008

this book isn't all that bad. it was a weird transition from the last book i read - 'all quiet on the western front' - and i think that initially affected my opinion of the book. but the classic hemingway elements are there: masculinity and heroism, questionable depictions of women, and (of course) booze, and the more i thought about it, the more i respected the characters. there are some nice introspective, stream-of-consciousness narratives.

heard a rumor that benecio del toro is making t...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Joe

Joe rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

11/04/08

Read in August, 2008

my favorite hemingway so far (FWTBT a close second). noir classic about a poor, down-on-his-luck smuggler running good from cuba to florida. tragic, rough.

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Coy

Coy rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

04/24/08

Read in April, 2008

I absolutely loved this book. I think Islands in the Stream would be as good as this but he never had a chance to tie it together.

The images of early 20th century Key West are very descriptive. The book takes an unexpected turn about 2/3 through but for the best. Hemingway is not typically overtly philosophical but with the way he switches to the different people's thoughts is as close as possible.

Some of the transitions are rocky at first but this book is a fantastic look inside the di...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Laura

Laura rated it:

(review of isbn 0684818981)

11/01/08

Read in January, 2000

Most people don't like this book. I thought it wasn't that bad. Yeah, Hemingway had probably jumped the shark, but it was still readable.

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Larry

Larry rated it:

(review of isbn 0684818981)

11/14/08

Having spent time in Key West, I could relate to the setting. Papa spoke to me this time, too.

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Ivy

Ivy rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

08/01/07

bookshelves: 1001-books, audio_books

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: Hemingway Fans Only

I listened to this on CD traveling from St. Louis to Indianapolis and back. While driving across the American Heartland I was able to escape the cornfields and go on daring dangerous adventures off the shores of Key West. It was a sad story. It was a bit of a disjointed story too. Being a fan of Hemingway I knew what he was trying to say but he missed it somewhere along the way and the story fell apart. Probably because Papa could not write female characters. Nevertheless, the novel provide...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Andy

Andy rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

04/09/08

bookshelves: audiorecordings

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: action fans

This is a review of the audio book edition of Ernest Hemingway’s classic “To Have And Have Not”, read by actor Will Patton, who starred in “The Rapture”. Patton’s reading style is laconic and laid-back, so laid-back that when I played the discs in my car I almost fell asleep at the wheel!

As far as the writing, well, this is Papa’s pulpiest work, filled with gun battles, swarthy villains and more Cuban rum swilled than on a scratchy old calypso record. Skip the audio discs, read...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Jon

Jon rated it:

(review of isbn 0684859238)

11/03/07

This is the Hemingway boat book that everyone should read... yet everyone always reads The Old Man and the Sea. It helps that I read this on a boat trip to Isle Royale, but regardless, I connected with this story much more than with TOMatS.

There is much more emotional power found in the motivations and actions of the characters, and the plot itself is quite interesting, based around a fishing charter captain/rum runner and his (as it is Hemingway) life-altering mishaps ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Matthew

Matthew rated it:

(review of isbn 0684818981)

08/29/07

Read in January, 2000

Easily my favorite Hemingway book. Not a single line of wasted space. The passages dealing with the protagonist and his wife are some of the most beautifully written pages I've ever read. With so few words, Hemingway is able to portray a raw passion between this man and woman. And this, I feel, is Hemingway's true gift as an author. The man didn't mince words. And yet, every word is chosen so carefully that the short sentence it is a part of contains so much information.

Absolutely a pe...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Catherine

Catherine marked it as to-read (review of isbn 0684153289)

11/17/08

bookshelves: to-read

add a comment

Will

Will added it (review of isbn 0684859238)

11/17/08

add a comment

Erika

Erika added it (review of isbn 0684859238)

11/16/08

add a comment

Doug Moore

Doug marked it as to-read (review of isbn 0684859238)

11/16/08

bookshelves: to-read

add a comment

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 96 97 next »

book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 3.59 (1532 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 4.40 (5 ratings)
number of reviews: 87

recommend it | blog it

popular shelves

to-read (200)
currently-reading (43)
fiction (40)
classics (21)
literature (12)
1001 (9)
1001-books (6)
novels (4)
classic (3)
1001-books-to-read-before-you-die (3)
More...

other editions

combine editions | view all 26 »

quote

""Death is like an old whore in a bar--I'll buy her a drink but I won't go upstairs with her" Earnest Hemmingway" more quotes »