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To Have and Have Not (Scribner Classics)
To Have and Have Not is the dramatic story of Harry Morgan, an honest man who is forced into running contraband between Cuba and Key West as a means of keeping his crumbling family financially afloat. His adventures lead him into the world of the wealthy and dissipated yachtsmen who throng the region, and involve him in a strange and unlikely love affair.
Harshly rea
...moreHardcover, 176 pages
Published
July 6th 1999
by Scribner
(first published January 1st 1937)
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Meh.
It starts very strongly -- good character development, definite Hemingway commentary tone -- lots of Hemingway Southern Hemisphere fun in Cuba.
But midway -- he just sort of wanders off and starts pointing his Hemingway at anything that moves. He introduces secondary and tertiary characters with incredible detail, but with no discernible purpose.
It's not one of his better books, and ends leaving you wondering how much better it would have been if the writi...more
It starts very strongly -- good character development, definite Hemingway commentary tone -- lots of Hemingway Southern Hemisphere fun in Cuba.
But midway -- he just sort of wanders off and starts pointing his Hemingway at anything that moves. He introduces secondary and tertiary characters with incredible detail, but with no discernible purpose.
It's not one of his better books, and ends leaving you wondering how much better it would have been if the writi...more
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This is dark - but beautifully written. Hemingways style of short and to the point sentences with a few interesting details to fine tune, works fabulously to add grit at times and heart at others to Harry Morgan's character.
Set in the depression in Key West and Cuba and the waters between, it's full if contrasts: the revolutionaries of Cuba vs white Key West- American edge; the rich on their yachts thinking about suicide or treating their staff with noses stubbed vs the basic wholes...more
Set in the depression in Key West and Cuba and the waters between, it's full if contrasts: the revolutionaries of Cuba vs white Key West- American edge; the rich on their yachts thinking about suicide or treating their staff with noses stubbed vs the basic wholes...more
Like many other reviewers on Goodreads, I bought this book in Key West after visiting Hemingway's house. Despite the bright, semitropical setting, it is a story of despiration. Written in the Great Depression, it shows the plight of a man struggling to feed and house his wife and daughters, and the depths he is willing to go to do so. Protagonist Harry Morgan is kind of a cowboy-type who would rather keep to himself, fishing and drinking on his little boat, but cannot make a go of it. He gets in...more
I thought this was an excellent novel by Hemingway as good as some of his best including "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Old Man and the Sea". It was a gritty story of Harry Morgan, a deep sea fishing guide, trafficker in rum and illegal immigrants, who struggles to make ends meet during the tough times of the Depression. Hemingway's descriptions of deep-sea fishing in the first part of the novel were great and this is about the only part of the story that ended up in the movi...more
Oh I really wanted to love this book! I'm very aware that Hemingway is a literary genius and writes fabulous novels, but this book had me scratching my head. Basically I could summarize it in one sentence "A man drives his boat between Florida and Cuba and runs into violent and illegal happenings." And that. Is. It. I was really looking forward to reading Hemingway, as I never have before, and he is my Dad's favourite author but I just didn't get it the point of this novel. I'm not sur...more
Motors out of the starting gate strong, with a craggy, taciturn Yank skipper and his rummy mate running cash-pocketed tourists on Marlin jigs out of a decrepit, oil-soaked marina on the leeward side of Cuba. Fishing lingo, Caribbean seascapes, diesel stink, smoky taverns with callused patrons and dames in the shadows all combine to portend of a mission out of the same that has the potential to go sideways—and it does, just not in the manner that seemed to be warranted and not one that I believe ...more
I've revisited this one after a few years and I have no idea what was going through my head first time around, but I have revised my rating to twice it was before. I remember being disappointed upon initial reading and being shocked that EH wrote this in his prime. All my confusion and dissatisfaction have been dissolved with this reading.
What inspired me to pick this up again is pretty lame: TCM was showing Howard Hawks' screen adaptation today. I know, my fellow readers must be shak...more
What inspired me to pick this up again is pretty lame: TCM was showing Howard Hawks' screen adaptation today. I know, my fellow readers must be shak...more
Definitely not one his better ones. My cultural reference point to this was the Howard Hawks Bougart/Bacall movie - memorable largely for the "put your lips together and blow" line and the fact that Faulker co-wrote the screenplay. Anyway the movie has a completely different story give or take a rummie who get slapped around alot. This is about Harry Morgan (yes - I think Jeff Lindsay did steal/homage the name), a boat owner in the Florida Keys suffering hard times, who has to get invo...more
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Considered Hemmingway’s worst- To Have and Have Not is almost shocking to read with modern eyes. Either he was a racist pig- likely; or he was documenting the sad state of racial affairs in the 1930’s when this was written- unlikely- but true, however inadvertedly. Even if I give him the benefit of the doubt, he probably was showing his ass as well.
The first section of this decidedly short novel is told from Harry Morgan’s POV. I found the first section to be the most engaging, altho...more
The first section of this decidedly short novel is told from Harry Morgan’s POV. I found the first section to be the most engaging, altho...more
I was inspired to read my first Hemingway novel by my upcoming trip to Key West, FL. Since the Hemingway House is on the "must-see" list for Key West tourists, I thought I should familiarize myself with the work of this renowned author. "To Have and Have Not" particularly caught my eye when I saw that it is the story of Harry Morgan, a man who is forced by economic circumstances and family obligations into smuggling contraband between Key West and Cuba. I wasn't disappointed!...more
Hemingway's punchy style comes at you from the first page and it's refreshing. It feels like you've just walked in on a story that's already started and everything's a little confusing but starts to make sense pretty quickly. The characters take shape from only a couple of boney words and the pace is quick.
But then before even the half-way point it drops a gear. All these boring characters wander in with drunken non-sequitor conversations and bar fights and marriages of people I don't ...more
But then before even the half-way point it drops a gear. All these boring characters wander in with drunken non-sequitor conversations and bar fights and marriages of people I don't ...more
I'm all over the map on how to rate this one. It's better than 3 stars, but probably not worth 4 (but I'll round up). I was surprised to find that this was Hemingway's first "novel" in eight years. Is it a novel? On one hand, you could probably view this as a collection of short stories and a novella, with the connective thread being that Middled Aged Man of the Sea: Harry Morgan. But there are connective threads here (the Depression being the main one) where the reader can disce...more
I always put the movie at the top of my favorites list, so I decided I should get around to reading the book. It's so different, I might almost say the movie is based on the title of the book, but even that isn't true.
There's some adventure here and glimpses of a life Hemingway seems to envy, a man making his living on the Caribbean. Then we get odd glimpses of life across the range of income and class among tourists and residents of Key West. Those are interesting but uncomfortab...more
There's some adventure here and glimpses of a life Hemingway seems to envy, a man making his living on the Caribbean. Then we get odd glimpses of life across the range of income and class among tourists and residents of Key West. Those are interesting but uncomfortab...more
I bought this book because I was on my way to visit his house in Key West and I wanted to get Hemingway's view of Key West around when he lived there; not to mention that as far as hits and misses goes, his hits have slaughtered the inexistant misses.
THAHN is a short novel that tells multiple disorganized perspectives of a strange and quasi-interrelated story. Our main protagonist, Harry Morgan, sometimes speaks from the first person, and other times is spoken of by a narrater. Int...more
THAHN is a short novel that tells multiple disorganized perspectives of a strange and quasi-interrelated story. Our main protagonist, Harry Morgan, sometimes speaks from the first person, and other times is spoken of by a narrater. Int...more
Paul
added it
My great surprise with the reading of this book is the gulf between the book as Hemingway wrote it and the film of the same name as FS Fitzgerald Wm. Faulkner and his co-writer jiggered it for the screen.
To detail the differences would be a spoiler, but I can say that in the book there is no Lauren Bacall character and Harry Morgan in the book has none of the class, charm, or intelligence of the Bogart character. That was purely stuff for the movie, although it is pretty grand stu...more
To detail the differences would be a spoiler, but I can say that in the book there is no Lauren Bacall character and Harry Morgan in the book has none of the class, charm, or intelligence of the Bogart character. That was purely stuff for the movie, although it is pretty grand stu...more
Harry Morgan is an interesting character, ucompromising and unsentimental; he does what he needs to do. His story is packed with action and I love Hemmingway's style, but it seems to me the book would've worked better if Harry had remained the focus of the book. Sadly, his story comprises only the first 2/3 of the book, and hardly plays a role after that.
Instead, Hemminway focusses on minor characters, and even introduces a few new ones that have absolutely nothing to do with the story. I ...more
Instead, Hemminway focusses on minor characters, and even introduces a few new ones that have absolutely nothing to do with the story. I ...more
I read that Hemingway called this book "garbage" and said that he wrote it for a paycheck. Of course it isn't garbage, though; only the author himself could knock the book so easily. The structure is a little crazy, and the third act is a little weak--I believe this is due to the book being written originally as short stories and a novella, combined to form a novel--but the book is still exciting and the dialogue still draws the reader in, as it does in every Hemingway book (that I'v...more
This book is widely considered one of Hemingways worst, and there's even a tale floating around that he told director Howard Hawks that he thought it was a pile of shit. It's not, though. It's neither his worst nor a pile of shit. Nor is it his best. But there is much to admire in To Have and Have Not, and those things are amplified by Will Patton's award worthy vocal performance in the audio version.
Patton's quiet, simmering rhythm, and his hushed tones -- even in the most violent ...more
Patton's quiet, simmering rhythm, and his hushed tones -- even in the most violent ...more
“Aren't they fine boys,” said the tall man. “War is a purifying and ennobling force. The question is whether people only like ourselves here are fitted to be soldiers. Or whether the different services have formed us.”
“I don't know,” said Richard Gordon.
“I would like to bet you that not three men in this room were drafted,” the tall man said. “These are the elite. The very top cream of the scum. What Wellington won at Waterloo with. Well, Mr. Hoover ran us out of Anacostia Flats and ...more
“I don't know,” said Richard Gordon.
“I would like to bet you that not three men in this room were drafted,” the tall man said. “These are the elite. The very top cream of the scum. What Wellington won at Waterloo with. Well, Mr. Hoover ran us out of Anacostia Flats and ...more
The story of Harry Morgan's life is interesting enough, but what makes this book fascinating for me are the stories of all the other people that are somehow connected with Harry's life - both the have's and the have-not's. In the last few pages of the books, Hemingway looks at all these lives together when he describes the night in the Marina when the boat with Harry's body is towed in.
Harry takes on a very dangerous task for the sake of his family, and dies after almost accomplishin...more
Harry takes on a very dangerous task for the sake of his family, and dies after almost accomplishin...more
I should not have read the blurb before reading this book. My copy mentions the movie version -- which I haven't seen -- and that Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were in it. So I couldn't stop imagining Bogart as the Harry Morgan character, though truly the way Hemingway describes him Morgan looks really more like Cary Grant or Burt Lancaster.
It was interesting, though, hearing Bogart's voice in my head as I read Morgan's lines. Inside, Morgan IS Bogart, or vice versa.
T...more
It was interesting, though, hearing Bogart's voice in my head as I read Morgan's lines. Inside, Morgan IS Bogart, or vice versa.
T...more
This is a story about a sailor, Harry Morgan, and his struggle to provide for his family in the post-Depression era. After feeling he has exhausted all other options, he begins transporting contraband between Florida and Cuba and quickly runs into all sorts of problems associated with that work. The story also follows characters with "old money' in Key West who briefly cross paths with Harry. These characters have nothing to do and seem to create problems while Harry has real worries abo...more
"To Have and Have Not" follows the exploits of Harry Morgan, fisherman and part-time rum and people smuggler between Florida and Cuba. It is a fun Hemingway read- there is murder, hard-drinking, gunfights, and suspense as Harry struggles to earn money to support his family. There are moments of excellent writing here, in the relationship of Harry and his wife and in the tautly described violence.
That said, this book is a complete mess. It is basically three stories involving Harr...more
That said, this book is a complete mess. It is basically three stories involving Harr...more
Florida Keys. 1937. Harry Morgan, husband to a former prostitute, disappointed father, erstwhile deep sea fishing guide. Broke. Desperate. Surrounded by wasted, depressed, angry, hopeless characters. Welcome to Hemingway.
How can a protagonist who refers to blacks as "niggers", who writes his own moral code with little regard for law or ethics, who regrets his daughters, and who has a dismal outlook on life even on his best days get under your skin? How can a writer, whose ...more
How can a protagonist who refers to blacks as "niggers", who writes his own moral code with little regard for law or ethics, who regrets his daughters, and who has a dismal outlook on life even on his best days get under your skin? How can a writer, whose ...more
I have not read any Hemingway since I was a teenager, and so I approached this book with real anticipation of finally reacquanting myself with such a major author. Upon completion I find myself driven into heresy. On the basis of this book Hemmingway was a complete arse. The language is simple and in beautiful but the the characters seemed like crude caricatures who only make sense when if you were a drunken teenager. For example after talking briefly to his daughters who dont want to go swimmin...more
The first time we meet Harry Morgan, he is sitting in a Havana bar watching a gun battle raging out in the street. After seeing a Cuban get his head blown off with a Luger, Morgan reacts with typical Hemingway understatement: "I took a quick one out of the first bottle I saw open and I couldn't tell you yet what it was. The whole thing made me feel pretty bad." Still feeling bad, Harry heads out in his boat on a charter fishing expedition for which he is later stiffed by the client. Wi...more
Bleak.
This is the first Hemingway book I've read all the way through since Old Man and the Sea when I was 16. I think the main reason for this prolonged abstinence is that Hem is such a name, such a big-time, respected, deified writer that I never thought I was ready for him. I had this impression that to read Hem was to accomplish the ultimate, and to put it into video game terms, I didn't have the EXP. I would say that I was wrong and that it was crap writing (technically, I thi...more
This is the first Hemingway book I've read all the way through since Old Man and the Sea when I was 16. I think the main reason for this prolonged abstinence is that Hem is such a name, such a big-time, respected, deified writer that I never thought I was ready for him. I had this impression that to read Hem was to accomplish the ultimate, and to put it into video game terms, I didn't have the EXP. I would say that I was wrong and that it was crap writing (technically, I thi...more
The action, suspense, and intrigue made this an entertaining read. It felt very location specific...meaning that the environment created a stronger ambiance than I've noticed in other novels. I'm talking about the Florida Keys, Cuba, the Sea in between. If you enjoy boating and fishing, this story will definitely reel you in.
Hemingway's characters are always mysterious to me because he doesn't present much back story to help you solidify identity. These are working class people who live ru...more
Hemingway's characters are always mysterious to me because he doesn't present much back story to help you solidify identity. These are working class people who live ru...more
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Awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style."
Received the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Literature for The Old Man and the Sea.
More about Ernest Hemingway...
Received the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Literature for The Old Man and the Sea.
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