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Hunting with Hemingway: Based on the Stories of Leicester Hemingway
The niece of Ernest Hemingway presents the transcribed accounts of the Hemingway brothers' daring and sometimes reckless safari adventures, as well as her reactions and coming-to-terms with the suicide of her father Leicester.
- GenresNonfictionBiography
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 14, 2021
Thought this was excellent. Great stories. Hilary's father, Leicester, reluctantly tells stories to an inquisitive professor on a tape and her mother leaves Hilary with the tape of the tale. Hilary spends much of the book trying why Mom gave her the tape. Should be clear to the reader why Mom did this - Hilary was the one to discover her father's body after he took the "Hemingway family exit".
As noted, I thought the stories were great but may not appeal to everyone - hunting/fishing (and their tales) are not what they were when the Hemingway boys were out hunting/fishing. In their day, it was sport and adventure whereas now it is kind of looked down on. I've only come face to face with it once - when we went to my grandmothers house (on a farm) in Saskatchewan to see what my mother wanted to keep. We came home with a piano and a .22 rifle. Somehow my uncle seemed to think there was big game in suburban Chicago. My father separated the gun, from the bullets and from the magazine upon our arrival. On my Dad's death my mother and I took the gun over to the police station for destruction. They thought we should try to sell it since it seemed to be a bit of an antique. Mom wanted nothing to do with it and didn't want anyone else to have anything to do with it. I do recall that there several mounted deer heads at my grandmother's house, along with snow shoes - it was pretty repulsive seeing them close up like that.
But the stories don't bother me. It was in a different world. It was hard to believe that Les continually allowed his brother to put him in really dangerous situations, multiple times. But perhaps that is the competition between brothers, or at least that set of brothers.
Hilary's problem was that when her father committed suicide, she came upon his body on the tiles while her mother was talking to the police in the next room. For many years she had difficulty comprehending how someone who loved life as much as Les did could end it.
As noted, I thought the stories were great but may not appeal to everyone - hunting/fishing (and their tales) are not what they were when the Hemingway boys were out hunting/fishing. In their day, it was sport and adventure whereas now it is kind of looked down on. I've only come face to face with it once - when we went to my grandmothers house (on a farm) in Saskatchewan to see what my mother wanted to keep. We came home with a piano and a .22 rifle. Somehow my uncle seemed to think there was big game in suburban Chicago. My father separated the gun, from the bullets and from the magazine upon our arrival. On my Dad's death my mother and I took the gun over to the police station for destruction. They thought we should try to sell it since it seemed to be a bit of an antique. Mom wanted nothing to do with it and didn't want anyone else to have anything to do with it. I do recall that there several mounted deer heads at my grandmother's house, along with snow shoes - it was pretty repulsive seeing them close up like that.
But the stories don't bother me. It was in a different world. It was hard to believe that Les continually allowed his brother to put him in really dangerous situations, multiple times. But perhaps that is the competition between brothers, or at least that set of brothers.
Hilary's problem was that when her father committed suicide, she came upon his body on the tiles while her mother was talking to the police in the next room. For many years she had difficulty comprehending how someone who loved life as much as Les did could end it.
September 18, 2016
This is a pretty good read, but it's hard to stomach stories about the murder of innocent animals. I wrote a full review here: http://david-kindle-reviews.blogspot....
March 20, 2017
A great set of stories and as all truly wonderful stories they are full of unexpected lessons and they open up worlds of wonder and joy.
October 29, 2018
Not much of a story. Not much of a book. Some rather spare tales.
January 22, 2021
Great book about Hemingway in Africa
October 13, 2024
Hard to critique a daughter’s memory of her Father , but here I am . I appreciated her daughters excitement in hearing her deceased grandfathers voice , the daughters journey working through her grief , but I think I prefer the actual novels to the tall tales of the Hemingway tapes
June 15, 2019
I liked this one.Not for the squeemish who don't like hunting stories. This book is not just about Hemingway and his brother hunting, nut also about the discovery that Hemigways niece makes about her won father and the realreason why he commited suicide. I espescailly liked the end.
July 13, 2010
I'm not a hemingway fan, and i'm only partially enjoying reading this book. i might stop, i haven't decided. what's keeping me sucked in is that the pages and chapters are fairly short and fast paced--each one reliving an adventurous, dangerous tale. something about the style just puts me off though. it's written by ernest hemingway's niece--or rather, ernest hemingway's brother, les's daughter and son-in law. they're writers too and they have distinct styles, but something about it still screams hemingway.
i guess, if you like hemingway read on. if you don't--or are neutral about him--find something else.
i guess, if you like hemingway read on. if you don't--or are neutral about him--find something else.
January 19, 2008
We actually listened to this book on tape while taking a road trip to New Mexico. We enjoyed the book/tape thoroughly and it was a great insight into the adventures of the Hemingway brothers not previously revealed but often hinted to in other accounts of their lives.
April 8, 2009
I enjoyed this.
September 10, 2009
Very Interesting Book about the like of a great author. Very enjoyable read
June 12, 2015
I loved this book. About the BS storytelling of her father who went hunting with Ernest Hemingway, his brother. Great hunting stories about improbable situations while hunting. Highly recommended.
January 15, 2015
Anything to learn more about one of my favorite authors is a great read!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews