Out Came the Sun: Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide in My Family

by Mariel Hemingway, Ben Greenman

A moving, compelling memoir about growing up and escaping the tragic legacy of mental illness, suicide, addiction, and depression in one of America's most famous families: the Hemingways.

She opens her eyes. The room is dark. She hears yelling, smashed plates, and wishes it was all a terrible dream. But it isn't. This is what it was like growing up as a Hemingway. In this deeply moving, searingly honest new memoir, actress and mental health icon Mariel Hemingway shares in candid detail the story of her troubled childhood in a famous family haunted by depression, alcoholism, illness, and suicide.

Born just a few months after her grandfather, Ernest Hemingway, shot himself, it was Mariel's mission as a girl to escape the desperate cycles of severe mental health issues that had plagued generations of her family. Surrounded by a family tortured by alcoholism (both parents), depression (her sister Margaux), suicide (her grandfather and four other members of her family), schizophrenia (her sister Muffet), and cancer (mother), it was all the young Mariel could do to keep her head.

In a compassionate voice she reveals her painful struggle to stay sane as the youngest child in her family, and how she coped with the chaos by becoming OCD and obsessive about her food, schedule, and organization. The twisted legacy of her family has never quite let go of Mariel, but now in this memoir she opens up about her claustrophobic marriage, her acting career, and turning to spiritual healers and charlatans for solace.

Ultimately, Mariel has written a story of triumph about learning to overcome her family's demons and developing love and deep compassion for them. At last, in this memoir she can finally tell the true story of the tragedies and troubles of the Hemingway family, and she delivers a book that beckons comparisons with Mary Karr and Jeanette Walls.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Mental Health, Audiobook, Biography Memoir, Mental Illness

Audiobook

First published April 7, 2015

About the author

Mariel Hemingway (born Mariel Hadley Hemingway November 22, 1961) is an American actress and author. She began acting at age 16 in a breakout role in Lipstick and is best known for her roles in Manhattan (for which she received an Oscar nomination), Star 80, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

She has starred in and co-produced videos about yoga and holistic living. She published a memoir in 2002.

Hemingway was born in Mill Valley, California, the third daughter of Byra Louise (née Whittlesey) Hemingway and Jack Hemingway, a writer. Her sisters are Joan Hemingway (born 1950) and Margaux Hemingway (born 1954). Margaux, who became an actress and model, died of a barbiturate overdose in 1996 at age 42.

Her paternal grandparents were Hadley Richardson and Nobel Prize-laureate novelist Ernest Hemingway (who committed suicide several months before she was born). She was named after the Cuban port of Mariel—her father and grandfather visited the village regularly to go fishing. Her middle name is from her paternal grandmother.

Hemingway's most famous acting role was in Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979), a romantic comedy in which she plays Tracy, a high school student and Allen's lover. Just 16 during filming (within the film she is said to be 17), she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Reviews

[J.L. Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the beginning of her memoir, Out Came the Sun: Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction and Suicide in My Family, Mariel Hemingway makes it clear that addiction and mental illness is not just a curse of the famous Hemingway family, but something playing out in families across the country. At the same time, it’s personal (as any poignant account of living through and suffering from mental illness is going to be). While it doesn’t offer much about Ernest Hemingway (for those of you who might be curious), Out Came the Sun provides an account of Mariel's struggle with mental illness as well as a glimpse of what it was like to grow up as a Hemingway. Mariel also offers some insight on being a not quite child star in Hollywood (some might remember her in Woody Allen’s Manhattan, a film in which she played Woody’s much younger girlfriend; he was 42 and she was 17). As a reader, I didn’t always connect to Mariel Hemingway’s challenges because, in situations which were no doubt quite traumatic, she sometimes seemed to be reporting the facts rather than letting the reader share the pain. Overall, though, this was an interesting read. 3.5 stars.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out Came the Sun: Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide in My Family
by Mariel Hemingway, Ben Greenman
I got this from the library. I got this audio version so it would sound like she was telling me her life history. She really doesn't hold back. She tells about her chaotic family life with parents that drank and fought. The oldest sister that was schizophrenic and bipolar. She had to have shock treatments and was never a functional adult. The middle sister was cruel to her and had a drug and drinking problem that ended up overdosing.
Mariel talks about the many roles she played and who she was with. But she also tells about who tried to get into her pants during those times. She talks about her boyfriends and marriages.
Throughout the book she describes herself as the normal one in the family but as you read the book you see she is far from normal. She is better than her sisters but not normal. What is normal? For her, she is.

She played roles that really were warping to a young mind. She had a crazy house to live in. Several family members had committed suicide, had mental issues, and I don't doubt she does too. PTSD, OCD, depression, and more.

Lots of interesting pieces but lots of uninteresting sections too. She goes into detail about her fads of health at various times. Health gurus, diets, crystals, and other things. She tells the reader all about them.

[Quo · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be quite honest, this is not a book I'd normally have read or bought or enjoyed but I had to ask myself how many opportunities one gets to meet a Hemingway at a small bookstore near one's home. And so, having decided against a lunch gathering involving Mariel Hemingway at the stately Union League Club, I took advantage of a less expensive option that evening, finding the experience quite uplifting.



Out Came The Sun: Overcoming The Legacy Of Mental Illness, Addiction & Suicide In My Family is in fact a hybrid expression of what it is like to suffer from what some label the "Hemingway curse", but more than that, it is a self-help book that offers the possibility of a more healthful life to the world at large.

I was struck by someone who had been involved with several Woody Allen films & lived in the afterglow of her famous grandfather, "Papa Hemingway", could seem to offer a rare kind of innocence and at the same time, a haunting vulnerability.

Or, as Mariel Hemingway put it:

The story of my life & this book is a story of how unhappiness can bloom like a black flower & also how people find ways to prune it back and to gain a sense of balance. one of stability & peace and at length, wisdom. My family represented those I loved the most & the people I was most like but they were also terrifying examples of how balance could be thrown off & an otherwise regulated existence could be overwhelmed by emotional blockage or mental derangement.

She spoke of feeling unprotected by her parents whose evening presence in her life often disintegrated as the intake of alcohol increased, of blaming them while attempting to understand & not condemn them. And in speaking to a small group at the bookstore, Mariel Hemingway confessed to marrying the first person who said that he would protect her against outside forces, a relationship that became unhappy & abusive.



Ms. Hemingway mentioned that her parents had to alter their states significantly to have any chance at self-expression, "being repressed by circumstance, by genetics, by a misguided marriage, so that they couldn't be themselves in a healthy way, taking extreme measures with the help of alcohol."

Here sister Margaux was also both a comfort at times & an extreme threat at others. Mariel sought acting as a way to get better at being herself but ultimately rebelled at what she saw as the false values of Hollywood, aiming to find a better way of balancing who she felt she was & who she aimed to become.



Mariel Hemingway was born shortly after her famous grandfather committed suicide & suggests to "being a Hemingway but not a Hemingway scholar". She goes on to say that being a Hemingway...

means that she has a ticket to understanding a world of darkness, of courage, of sadness, of excitement and at times, of complete lunacy. Ernest Hemingway abandoned those who needed him, my father among them, when he killed himself but he abandoned them nay times before that as well due to ever-increasing depression.

When he left my grandmother, Hadley, shortly after my father's birth, he weighed a life of normalcy & love against a life of creative devotion. It is said that he loved Hadley more than any woman he was ever with, and in leaving her he chose to be Ernest Hemingway, Great Writer, rather than Ernest Hemingway, man, husband, father. No one can say for sure, but I imagine that he felt concerned that he couldn't have both lives.

I have made the opposite sacrifices, choosing family over career or others over myself. Have those sacrifices made me happier than they made him? We accommodate others & we assert ourselves. We forgive ourselves for our fears & we forge ahead bravely. Over the course of our lives, trapped in our lives, liberated by our lives, we become strong at the broken places.

That last quote from Ernest Hemingway is of course a familiar one; it is seems a most appropriate one in the case of Mariel Hemingway & her book, Our Came The Sun. There is also another quote, one from Kierkegaard: "Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forward." Some may dismiss this book categorically but I suspect that it will be of benefit to more than a few readers.



*There is an appendix at the back of this memoir that consists of "Resources for Mental Health, Substance Abuse & Better Living."

**Within my review are photos of Mariel Hemingway, including one with Woody Allen & another with her late sister Margauux.

[Janet Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's too bad this book has had a few bad reviews because I thought it was lovely. After hearing Mariel speak about her journey with her family tragedies, I found her to be humbling and very real. I discovered the same humble and real Mariel in this book. She writes with respect and grace and is honest about her struggles with her family name, her parent's alcoholism, her sister's mental illness, all while trying to figure out who she is and how she fits into her world.

[Carol Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really disappointed by Dr. Jennifer Ashton's book on surviving suicide. Then I picked up this book. I couldn't believe how honest and reflective it was. Mariel Hemingway is so down to earth and so matter of fact about everything that you don't even notice at first how hard she's working to explain her challenges to herself and to the reader. You don't even remember that she's a beautiful, glamorous actress from a famous family. I could identify with almost everything she talked about in describing her dysfunctional family. It's almost uncanny sometimes how the problems she talks about with her parents seem to come right out of my own life.

At the same time, there's plenty of fascinating insider stories about Hollywood in the eighties and nineties. One of the disarming things about Mariel Hemingway is that she never, ever seems to be out to get even. There are some pretty unflattering anecdotes in here about guys like Robert Towne and Robert DeNiro, both Hollywood legends. But then again there are some really warm and friendly stories about guys like John Candy, John Cougar Mellencamp, and even Gene Hackman. The thing that comes across is that Mariel is totally focused on how she can be a better person, and she takes full responsibility for her actions. So when other people are messed up she doesn't use it as an excuse, she just records it and moves on.

This is a really inspiring book -- and in the back there are some great resources listed for people who need to learn more about getting help with drugs, alcohol, depression, and abuse.

[Caryne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed in the poor writing that was so surface level and monotone for a story that has such potential. The granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, Mariel, describes her life growing up in a family riddled with mental illness, suicide, addiction, physical illness, marriage issues, etc. There is so much drama and space for a deeper look in to these issues, but the story telling is completely one note, more like a news reporting than a memoir.

[Bill Kupersmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mariel Hemingway’s memoir attracted me because her grandfather Ernest Hemingway was one of my idols. I was an undergraduate when he committed suicide. It was surely the greatest disillusionment of my entire life, @ least till then. Hemingway’s books had created the very model and ideal of courage for me. But it had failed him. Till recently I’d never again worshiped at the shrine, but last year The Sun Also Rises was a choice for a GR Classics Group read, and the old magic still works. When the movie Lipstick appeared in 1976 starring EH’s granddaughter the model Margaux Hemingway with 13 year old Mariel playing her sister, I saw it out of curiosity & thought Margaux couldn’t act but Mariel could (even tho’ we learn from this book she’d had no training whatever). Her family resemblance was obvious too, not attractive but striking & very wholesome. About the same time a full-page photo of her father Jack in his trout fishing outfit appeared in some magazine like Esquire & he too looked completely Hemingwayesque. I’d not known that Jack had a serious drink problem, as would Margaux, nor could I have foreseen that, like her grandfather, Margaux would ultimately commit suicide. I also watched Mariel in her slightly weird role as Woody Allen’s teenaged girlfriend Tracy in Manhattan, but then I lost touch with her. Now I feel very guilty for not seeing Personal Best (1982) & Star 80 (1983) - her account of preparing for them & the personal relationships they involved (confirming my suspicion that Bob Fosse was a total sleaze) were for me the most engaging portions of this book. But they weren’t the sorts of movies I watched back then. Now I so look forward to seeing them.

Autobiography is a fascinatingly complex genre in that the author, the narrator, & the principal character claim the same identity. The audible made it even better because the author was also the reader, so it was like having an invisible Mariel Hemingway sitting in my passenger seat telling me her story, in a very expressive & appealing voice. So whatever its shortcomings as a memoir, Out Came the Sun was definitely a five star listening experience. It left me admiring Mariel Hemingway enormously, including for sticking so long with such a difficult marriage. It was easy for me to sympathize with her issues (issues? well, she was living in LA) with food & self-image, tho’ mine are quite different. Her spiritual journey, with some gurus & advisors along the way who struck me as pretty flakey, involved much wasted effort but seems to have reached safe harbor. Mariel’s spiritual formation had no grounding growing up in such a chaotic family with such self-centered parents (alcohol does that), & spiritual growth was very much a DIY effort for Mariel. Fortunately she has found what works for her in Yoga, nutrition, exercise, nature & a good relationship. Tho’ I very much admire her decision to put family & children ahead of her professional career, her strong devotion to the craft of acting & high standards of professionalism also come out like the sun & shines through this memoir. Listening to it really was like rediscovering a friend you wished you’d got back in touch with a lot sooner, but thankfully you did.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice memoir read by the author herself Mariel Hemingway.

Written quite simply and an easy one to hold my attention. Her family struggles are not unique however her families mental health and the often referred to "Hemingway curse" is often a major cross to bear for her, the family is riddled with mental health problems, and the black cloud of suicides that have plagued the family throughout the generations. It is hard to comprehend how anyone coming out of this family could ever be "normal" I love the references she often makes regarding her Grandfather, although only a baby when he passed away (he shot himself) her memories of him are very prominent and he becomes a great figure in her mind, the fact she grew up knowing he was such an important literary figure was often a blessing as much as a curse. She delves into the early days of her rise to stardom at a young age overshadowing the earlier rise of her glamorous rebellious sister Margaux, barely equipped to understand some of the adult themes that was required to undertake her roles. This story takes us from the simple but oppressive world of country Idaho to the exciting and unknown world of grown ups in New York and movie land L.A, although she is involved in the seedy world of acting and is often surrounded by opportunistic older male figures she often has a childlike quality to her and is often perplexed how others perceive her as a sexual being. I enjoyed some of her anecdotes concerning some of the directors she worked with, some are downright funny and bizarre. It was fun reading (hearing) the earlier days of Hollywood predominately the early 80's brought back a lot of memories of that time. I enjoyed the final passages where she finds some sense of peace and looks back embracing the fragility of life around her past concerning her troubled family legacy but also accepting her own voice and sharing it with her audience in a sincere way

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mariel Hemingway comes from a particularly dysfunctional family, one plagued by mental illness, suicide, addiction and tragedy. Both growing up and as an adult she has had much to contend with, and in this compelling memoir she doesn’t shy away from being honest in her account of her own difficulties as well as those of her parents and siblings. She talks about how she has managed to build a life for herself and somehow avoid the worst of the troubles that so affected the rest of her family. This is no misery memoir, she doesn’t wallow in self-pity, but simply relates the facts, and there’s a simplicity to her writing that I found refreshing. I very much enjoyed this book, and learnt a lot about Mariel herself and the people she has met along the way.

[Emily Kestrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this memoir to be sincere and quite inspiring; as she points out towards the end, you don't have to be a Hemingway (or an actress) to identify with her struggles. (Although I could probably relate more to black-sheep Margaux than people-pleasing Mariel--what a tragedy that Margaux's memoir can never be written.) I was hoping for a bit more about her yoga and spirituality, but I guess she already wrote that book.

[no elle]

surprisingly introspective in some ways but why does everyone who ever worked with woody have to ride his dick so hard lmao. mariel's obviously a lil different because he preyed on her when she was a child but i truly don't understand this Actor's Compulsion to celebrate and defend this ugly loser creep who should be pushed in front of the nearest semi! woody allen die bitch

[Kristyh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly overwrought account of Mariel Hemingway's life, she either underplayed the manifestation of her neuroses or overstated the extent of her mental anguish. For example she hints at OCD several times, but her description of her OCD symptoms are not really clinical OCD, just your normal, slightly over anxious perfectionist type behaviour, which is fine, if slightly insulting to those who actually suffer from OCD which plays havoc with their lives. Mariel may well actually have OCD, but if she does, she hasn't told us the whole story here, and I feel that is the problem with the whole book.

[Jessica Woofter · Rating 3 out of 5]

My problem with memoir is that it is impossible to write one without sounding self-absorbed, since it's A BOOK ABOUT YOURSELF. This memoir suffered a little of that, but on the whole I found Mariel to be sincere and humble. As an Ernest Hemingway fan I hoped that there would be more of him in the book, but he died before Mariel was born. The little she did say about him I rolled my eyes at, something about him loving so deeply that he had to push people away...ummm...I think it was more that he was just a pretty self-centered guy who was used to having his way...but whatever.
I usually have beef with memoirists who write about their childhood and horrible parents as if they know everything about their parents and their struggles, but I thought Mariel managed to convey her own experience and difficult childhood while still allowing her parents to be their own characters and recognizing that they were fighting their own battles.
Like the author, my favorite Hemingway book is A Moveable Feast, and it made be sad that Bumby ended up with such a sad life :(
I listened to this book, which was read by the author, and I have to say that her reading was really distracting. She stumbled over or slurred so many words, and had awkward, inappropriate pauses in the middle of sentences. I was baffled...she's an actress, reading her own book...She was more like one of my high school students reading something someone else wrote...I felt the same way I do when watching the Oscars...why in the world can't these actors, who recite lines for a living, read a cue card more convincingly????

[Pamfrommd · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm in a bad rut. Reading memoirs and bios and autobios that are the equivalent of eating McDonald's instead of real food. I see these books at the library where I am weak. I say, oh just this one lightweight book won't be so terrible. No, often it is terrible. This was a good example. Mariel is a competent writer, or maybe had a competent editor, and her family story certainly has a lot of legitimate drama to create an interesting memoir. But sadly I grew to dislike her deeply, a person I never had feelings for at all. She was just an actress in a movie I loved (Manhattan) and the granddaughter of a writer I admired. But she's not a particularly admirable person and has a habit I dislike. She blames her family for any unhappiness in her life instead of taking any personal responsibility for bad decisions. I guess she's honest about her feelings and I guess that's good. (But The Donald seems to be honest about his feelings and I know that's bad.) I decided after closing this book that I must now read a book with some nutrients so I picked up one of the George Orwell books I've not yet read: Down and Out in Paris and London. Orwell is always a palate cleanser. And then I think I'll read The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Packed with nutrition I suspect.

[Phoenix Perpetuale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having listened to the Out Came The Sun by Mariel Hemingway, an Audible realise narrated by the author herself. It is a candid and touching autobiography that has left me emotionally touched by the honest, confession like personal and family story; in this boom, Mariel is speaking about her experience growing with the Hemingway surname, how it has affected her, her family, siblings. She openly talks about multiple predicaments before she was born, about her childhood, early career and what happened after that.

[Carol Dunn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read her memoir, "Finding my balance". I thought it was very good. "Out came the sun" tells the same stories. Is this some sort of fad with show business types who need money? Neil Young just did this as well. Not cool.

[Rhonda Lomazow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mariel Hemingway has written a raw honest bok about her life her family the legacy of suicide&mental illness&her own search difficult at times to find her happiness.bher path in life.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a compelling story from one of Ernest Hemingway’s grandchildren.
I remember knowing who Mariel Hemingway was when I was growing up in the 80s, but all I really remember is that she was an actress, and I may have slightly known of her sister Margaux. ??
I had no idea of her heritage back then.
Mariel faced incredible challenges growing up in a chaotic home flowing with alcohol, bitterness, mental illness and fighting. Her survival instincts and coping mechanisms kept her afloat for years.
I am happy that after decades of searching, she finally found peace and joy in her life, and overcame the legacy of darkness in her family.

In the epilogue she provides an extensive list of support groups and hotlines available for every mental health need you can think of. Just hearing her reading that part from the audiobook added such a dimension of compassion that I truly appreciated.

[Andy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very honest memoir by Mariel Hemingway that details the dysfunction in her immediate family, the history of mental illness, depression and suicide in the famous Hemingway family and her own struggles in life. Yet, it is not a depressing tome. This is partly because the memoir is interspersed with anecdotes, some light hearted told in an almost gossipy manner from her life. A favorite example was Woody Allen's visit to mountainous Ketchum to visit Mariel and her family after the teen aged Mariel starred in Allen's movie, Manhattan. She humorously describes the exhausted Allen following Mariel and her dad on a hike that bushwacked through the brush instead of following to the trail, to his blanching when he learned that the dinner he just finished was a pheasant that Jack has just killed to his mortification that there were no clubs to take Mariel to after dinner. True to the spirit of the memoir the story turns dark when her parents have no objection to Allen's proposal that he take the underage Mariel for a trip to Paris, it is up to Mariel to say no. Hemingway also describes Bob Fosse chasing her around a hotel room during a break in the filming of Star 80, her attending the screening of Superman IV with Prince Charles in London, and her various tv and movie roles.
These detours give respite from her descriptions of her family's dysfunction; her parents' drinking, her sister Muffet's breakdowns and inpatient treatments, her sister Margot's demons which often manifested into jealously of Mariel until Margot committed suicide. Again, Mariel is candid, not sparing herself such as when she describes going to a high school reunion a passionate hooking up with a high school crush, inviting the crush to visit her in Hollywood only to ignore his phone calls when he takes her up on the offer and goes to Hollywood.
The memoir also does not turn to despair because of the interludes of Mariel's healthy lifestyle which culminates to her current happy life. Throughout her life, Mariel loved the outdoors and tells of her hiking, horseback riding, biking, and skiing which give welcome breaks from the tales of dysfunction , depression and suicide. She also describes her increasing commitment to healthy diet and lifestyle which she attributes to her current positive, though certainly not Pollyanish outlook on life

[CaliNativeBalboa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mariel Hemingway always seemed like the golden girl to me, having first spotted her in Francesco Scavullo's gushing "Beauty". Hemingway and her sisters, Joan and Margeaux were featured, but Mariel appealed most to me. Joan seemed to goofy, Margeaux conceited, Mariel down to earth and self effacing.
I felt like I grew up with her and admired her physical transformation for Personal Best, though it was not her best acting work, as well as her stable personal life, restaurant business and health consciousness.
Out Came the Sun reveals that her life was anything but charmed, darkly tainted by the "Hemingway curse"

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mariel Hemingway crafted a pointed story of her life and family legacy. She's Ernest Hemingway's granddaughter. She addresses mental health and suicide in a direct and informed way. It was beautiful to hear her acknowledge the value of 12-step programs. She didn't ignore or put down any ways a person might get to a place of spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental well-being. I like her.

[Szeee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ernest Hemingway egyik lányunokája írta ezt a könyvet a családjukról, annak (nem) működéséről, a szülők és gyerekek egymáshoz és az alkoholhoz való viszonyáról, pszichés betegségeikről. Összességében megállapítható, hogy Hemingwaynek sem egyszerűbb lenni, mint bárki másnak. És amikor ezt a könyvet olvastam, otthon a könyvespolcról rám esett épp a Vándorünnep...:-o Úgyhogy senki ne mondja, hogy a dolgok véletlenül történnek, nem hiszek ebben.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book kept my attention. I think that every family, to some degree, has dysfunction. All too often families hide these flaws with their seemingly glossy outward appearances. Being constantly scrutinized by the media, celebrities and their families are all too easily exposed for their every blemish. The Hemingway family has not been immune to this, as most people know they have dealt with more than one suicide. However, other than rumor, no one really knows much about the very real mental illnesses and addictions that may have led to these suicides.

Mariel is very open about her family and the disproportional amount of mental illnesses it has suffered. She openly and honestly reflects on how she has survived in a family that, many times, lacked some of the nurturing and caring many consider to be a family's basic function. She reminds us all that all too often things are not always what they seem and mental illness, addiction, and suicide are more prevalent perhaps then we want to believe. Hopefully, this book will add to a growing attitude of awareness and normality of these problems so that positive solutions rather than suicide can be a regular way of dealing with them in our society.

[Barbara Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book.
Not only learning more about such a well-known family, but the legacy passed on, and the dark cloud of suicide that followed them. I can also so relate when on page 244 she writes: I felt like I hadn't chosen any aspect of my life, like everything since childhood had been sent to me and I had neglected to send it back.
And on page 265 : ... this kind of storytelling is central to human existence, whether or not people know it. Everyone needs to take control of his or her own life by making sense of it.
Mariel told her story well, in a very down to earth relatable way.

[Jan C · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to quit this book and before it was even due back at the library. I just couldn't get into it.

I was really put off be how much fighting she heard at an early age from her parents. My SIL could not believe that we had never heard our parents argue. It wasn't something we grew up with. I'm sure they must have had some disagreements over the years. They just made sure that their children never heard it.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing ranges from horrific to meh. Of course, some Hemingway gossip is always interesting. Not descriptive enough, what was Muffet's behavior actually like? Seems to be justifying her choices much of the time. I would have found some excellent non-examples of sentence structure if I was still teaching.

[Jessica Wilderotter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical celebrity autobiography. Nothing to see here.

[Bookish · Rating 2 out of 5]

OMG, the cover! Did the photographer deliberately have her do a vulgar act with her fingers? Maybe the photographer was Woody Allen, LOL

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked her documentary more. This was good, but something was just a little off for me.

[Karen Benson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just because her name is Hemingway doesn't mean it's a great book. It's just bad. Poorly written, goes all over the place, jumps around in time and doesn't really get to any point.