Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Men Without Women” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Men Without Women

Ernest Hemingway

3.64 · Rating details · 10,097 ratings · 713 reviews

Men Without Women was a milestone in Hemingway's career. Fiesta had already established him as a novelist of exceptional power, but with these short stories, his second collection, he showed that it is possible, within the space of a few pages, to recreate a scene with absolute truth, bringing to life details observed only by the eye of a uniquely gifted artist.

Hemingway's ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 132 pages

Published November 3rd 2004 by Arrow Books (first published October 1927)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

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

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Men Without Women, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.64 ·

Rating details

· 10,097 ratings · 713 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Men Without Women

Oct 01, 2011 Jana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

There is this story from Hemingway called 'Hills like white elephants' and my English teacher gave it to me when I was 16. It is still one of the best pieces of literature I have ever read. I give it to my students as well, not to all of them, but to adults and those who can intellectually digest it. Every time I do it, I learn something new although I know this story by heart but Hemingway confuses readers with setting and symbolism and when you have something very confusing in front of you, yo There is this story from Hemingway called 'Hills like white elephants' and my English teacher gave it to me when I was 16. It is still one of the best pieces of literature I have ever read. I give it to my students as well, not to all of them, but to adults and those who can intellectually digest it. Every time I do it, I learn something new although I know this story by heart but Hemingway confuses readers with setting and symbolism and when you have something very confusing in front of you, you are prone to go deep with analysis. I forbid my students to use Google because I want them to be sick of thinking, which they always end up being. Literally they come to me and sigh in anguish: they don't understand it, they mostly hate Jig and her partner, they are fed up with the title and they can't tell me why atmosphere is so tense and under the boiling pressure, although all that these two do is wait for their train to get them to Madrid, drink and talk about nature, open spaces and heat.

And then after 70 minutes of discussion I ask them certain trigger questions and I always see that never ending effect of eyes widening and constant eyelashes fluttering when they finally understand and then they always say: oh my God, really?!

I love this story, sometimes I top-toe around it because you never know how people will react and I don’t want to push them overboard but I like it when I see groups of people in front of me, just contemplating and actually arguing about literature, forgetting that I’m in the classroom, eating candies or just writing down another theory in my Ernest Hemingway folder.

There are three other stories that make people equally nervious but I always get best thinking effects after we finish our sessions. Raymond Carver's short story 'So much water so close to home', Tim Burton's 'The melancholy death of Oyster boy' and Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid'' which isn't at all a nice fairy tail. Social casualties that follow these analysis are always strickening. ...more

flag 84 likes · Like · see review

Jun 26, 2010 Shovelmonkey1 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: real men and hard drinkers

Shelves: clear-unparalleled-genius, read-in-2011

Hemingway was born into a period when men were still fully expected to indulge in manly sports such as fishing and fighting and watching animals getting massacred in entertaining ways (all of which were presumably improved if there was a handy cerveza or scotch to hand). A time when men approached the acts of love and the acts of war with the same head on determination because life is brief and you never know when your number might be up (or your tackle might get blown off by either a Communist ...more

flag 34 likes · Like · see review

Aug 31, 2017 Dave Schaafsma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-20th-century

“So it’s a town full of bright boys.” –The Killers

Joseph Wood Krutch called the stories in Men Without Women "Sordid little catastrophes" involving "very vulgar people,” an assessment I find that observation ungenerous and vulgar in its own way, to miss the subtley and elegance of the prose, to miss the humanity and vulnerability underneath the bravado and bullfighting and boxing. I know Hemingway is out of fashion at the moment as supposed misogynist and drunk, but I think its somewhat too narr “So it’s a town full of bright boys.” –The Killers

Joseph Wood Krutch called the stories in Men Without Women "Sordid little catastrophes" involving "very vulgar people,” an assessment I find that observation ungenerous and vulgar in its own way, to miss the subtley and elegance of the prose, to miss the humanity and vulnerability underneath the bravado and bullfighting and boxing. I know Hemingway is out of fashion at the moment as supposed misogynist and drunk, but I think its somewhat too narrow to dismiss him altogether. However,

“Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”—is a line from one of the few women who speak in the book, appropriately telling off a blowhard (male) soon-to-be-ex.

The best of these stories are among the finest in the English language: “Hills Like White Elephants,” “The Killers,” “In Another Country,” “Fifty Grand,” “Now I Lay Me,” though I want to make a pitch, too, for the story of the aging bullfighter in “The Undefeated,” which has amazing passages of description, as painful as it is now for most people to see the cruelty of the slow killing of the bull. But the twin portraits of the older bullfighter and bull are powerful, in spite of that. Both are undefeated, in the way of The Old Man in the Sea.

“Fifty Grand” resembles a story, “A Matter of Colour,” Hem published in his high school literary magazine, Tabula, when he attended Oak Park High School (which I, name dropper, mention because it is near my house, and where they have a small shrine to the local hero outside the school). The story is one of a fight fix gone badly, and is really wonderful.

What we see in these stories, some of them very short, just anecdotes, are men whose actions help Hem establish a kind of code of honor, gentlemen who exhibit the courage of “grace under pressure,” men who don’t talk too much, who aren’t too sentimental, or pretentious. Lean, rich stories. It was a pleasure to reread them.
...more

flag 33 likes · Like · see review

Aug 19, 2012 Cecily rated it it was ok

Shelves: short-stories-and-novellas, usa-and-canada, overrated

I'm not especially keen on short stories: if they're good, I can't read too many in quick succession because it's disorienting, and if they're not good... I don't really want to read them.

It may be blasphemous to many, but this collection was in the latter camp, hence it took me a long time to read a very short book. I just couldn't engage with the characters, plots (I hate bullfighting and boxing, which set me against a couple of them) or writing style, the latter being mostly such short senten ...more

flag 50 likes · Like · see review

Mar 25, 2008 Brad rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-story, hemingway

An Alpine Idyll -- The most striking image from any story in Hemingway's Men Without Women is that of the peasant man chopping and gathering wood in the lantern light, with the lantern dangling from the open mouth of his dead and frozen wife.

It is such a fitting image, considering the title of Hemingway's book, but I have never been bothered by the image, nor the action, as so many seem to be.

The peasant and his wife lived a hard life. We know that. And he was an ex-soldier who'd likely witnesse ...more

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Feb 28, 2013 Fatin rated it it was ok

Shelves: owned, reviewed, dnf, short-stories, overrated

I'm not really sure I see Hemingway's brilliance just yet. An idea or a quote will flit through when you least expect it and then the spark just goes out.
I love how he strips his stories of everything but the bare fundamentals, and sets it so that you never know what the story actually is. It quietly lurks behind the lines and pages, waiting for those who want to find it, and then bloody runs away when you think you've caught it. You just cannot win. It took me three reads to understand Hills Li ...more

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Jul 15, 2015 Duane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, reviewed-books, 2015-book-challenge, rated-books, american-classics

Published in 1927, this is Hemingway's 2nd group of short stories. This collection contains 14 stories and these were quite good. Of course there is a story about bullfighting and one about boxing, as you would expect. But they've got that Hemingway flair or style that is unique and very recognizable. Another story that was very poignant about a girl on the train, on the way to get an abortion, and her discussion with her lover, although they don't directly say that's what they are doing. All in ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Sep 22, 2014 Ziba rated it liked it · review of another edition

Extract from Ten Indians:

“My heart’s broken,” he thought. “If I feel this way my heart must be broken.”
After a while he heard his father blow out the lamp and go into his own room. He heard a wind come up in the trees outside and felt it come in cool through the screen. He lay for a long time with his face in the pillow, and after a while he forgot to think about Prudence and finally he went to sleep. When he awoke in the night he heard the wind in the hemlock trees outside the cottage and the ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2015 Byurakn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I think Hemingway's short stories are underestimated. Most of them are as good as his novels and some of them are even better. ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Oct 06, 2013 Lisa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: b-n-50, bbc-100

I'm not good at short stories. It is a literary form that has eluded me, just as the story gets good; it ENDS!
Hemingway writes short stories that feel like snap shots; you see the young couple in the cafe, the boy trying to contain his broken heart, the injured soldiers. But the contact is brief, you look at them and draw conclusions about their lives based on body language, facial expression, their manner of speech and their interactions with the world. But a snapshot does not tell you what hap ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Oct 24, 2020 JJ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Rating: 3.6. Too bad I can't give a half star rating. That's why I am rounding this down to 3 stars.
Some were not good, some were ok, some better than ok. I am a bit disappointed - yes I am not a Hemingway fan, but still, To Whom the Bell Tolls was so good.
My 4th Hemingway book. ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Mar 03, 2012 Martha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

What rock have I been under? I had no idea there were short stories within Men Without Women, this small book of 137 pages. I had just finished For Whom the Bell Tolls and found this book. I thought, “Oh, Ernest Hemingway, I’ll like this novella. I will read it quickly to add to my 2013 Reading Challenge.” Uh, not! These short stories by Ernest Hemingway were the toughest short stories I have ever read; I haven’t worked my brain as much as I have with these. They seem so simple at first, easy di What rock have I been under? I had no idea there were short stories within Men Without Women, this small book of 137 pages. I had just finished For Whom the Bell Tolls and found this book. I thought, “Oh, Ernest Hemingway, I’ll like this novella. I will read it quickly to add to my 2013 Reading Challenge.” Uh, not! These short stories by Ernest Hemingway were the toughest short stories I have ever read; I haven’t worked my brain as much as I have with these. They seem so simple at first, easy dialogue, you follow it quickly, but BAM – you finish each one and you have many questions. I read each story two or three times and looked them up on the internet for explanations, and afterwards, wow, did I feel naive. I am naïve about Ernest Hemingway himself. I had heard bits and pieces about his drinking, drugs, homosexuality/bisexuality, obsessive sexuality, but I had only read For Whom the Bell Tolls, which didn’t show me much in those areas (or I missed stuff). Maybe the reference to the gun resting by his thigh over and over meant something – not sure.

Each story within this small book had a message and each message was pretty darn dark and sad, but poignant.

“Hills Like White Elephants”, is a dialogue between two people, that is the whole story. You read what he says, what she says, and know there is a hidden meaning behind the conversation, but don’t know exactly what it was. I read it, and re-read it and couldn’t figure it out. I ran to the internet and looked it up. I had the “Aha moment”! It all made sense after it was spelled out for me; very interesting short story dialogue. I liked this story the best.

Then, there is “The Killers”, an interesting take on a mafia-type hit to come. The inevitable death to come to a man; and him knowing it but not doing anything about it, just waiting it out. Hemingway’s description of the characters within this story is powerful.

I really enjoyed the “Undefeated”, a boxer who doesn’t want to retire. The boxer feels he still has it and wants to show that he still has it. Very gritty story and gives food for thought on how we all feel getting older and out of our prime, but we don’t want to face it.

“An Alpine Idyll” was bizarre, and after reading the different analyses of this story on the internet, one I read was disgusting. It is interesting how the majority didn’t come up with this one fellow’s discovery. Sometimes I think because Hemingway was “out there”, there are those out there creating more drama in their reviews of his stories than what he intended. How do we know for sure what Hemingway was truly intending to portray? I am taking everyone’s comments with a grain of salt, and coming to my own conclusions.

Every story in this small book has a message. Hemingway’s writing is very clever and intriguing. I recommend this book to adults only. I don’t know if kids would understand many of the hidden messages, and I am sure this is not on any reading list at school.
...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Oct 04, 2012 Mala rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, american-writers, short-stories

Recommended for: Tough guys with a gentle heart.

The blurb on the cover read " In these tales shorn of sensitivity and femininity,one meets real men–gunslingers, bullfighters,soldiers, jockeys,gangsters--," I stopped there,frowning--aren't doctors,academics,bankers (ok,not bankers) real men too?

Ah,but then you have to remember Hemingway's culture of machismo*: these are 'real men' cause they've looked death in the eye,they have gone to the edge & come back- mortally wounded yet never conceding de ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Oct 01, 2017 Zak rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I had two short story collections before me with the title 'Men Without Women', one by Ernest Hemingway, the other by Haruki Murakami. I went with Hemingway's because it was slimmer and had a nice cover photograph of some men sitting at a doorway drinking beer and smoking cigarettes (yeah, I'm shallow that way).

Anyway, as is typical for short story collections, some are good, some are so-so. The better ones require a bit of thinking, which is always a good thing. My favourites, in no particular ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Dec 09, 2020 Farhana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: story

Such a brilliant piece from Hemingway! There is a sense of Duality in each of these stories and I think I like this Duality.

In some stories it feels like the day has been saved, whereas, in reality they are the doomed ones. The base would fall off at any moment. On the other hand, there are stories where things get pretty convoluted. But the day is saved in the end.

I also enjoyed the brilliant framing of the stories: how Hemingway showed the bigger picture on the screen and delivered the core es ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Sep 17, 2017 Brian rated it liked it · review of another edition

An early collection of Hemingway stories that show the range he would employ in his longer works. The more famous "Hills Like White Elephants" and "The Killers" are included in this volume. "Now I Lay Me" was a new story for me and was my favorite of the bunch. ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2018 Sue rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: revisit-later, short-stories

I am determined to get through these stories if its the last thing I do, c'mon its Ernest Hemingway.

Everyone loves a Hemingway story right, so why not me.
...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

May 07, 2018 Gary Butler rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

21st book read in 2018.

Number 176 out of 681 on my all time book list.

Really good short stories with a surprising amount of depth.

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 30, 2016 Greg rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: titles-fit-for-a-thesis, reviewed

What an intriguing title! And what a fascinating cover/illustration. If you look closely, there appears to be one woman in the crowd, but her eyes are blocked from the action by a rope around the boxing ring. (We're approaching thesis territory about titles of books, but I digress.) And as the book progresses, one becomes further mystified as to why Hemmingway chose this title. The book opens with a good bullfight story in which no women appear. Next, a Major advises a patient to never marry: a ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2020 Gizem-in-Wonderland rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: world-classics

Hemingway’s Men Without Women is a compilation of short stories with unique themes and protagonists. However I don’t have the slightest clue as to why the famous author chose this title, which I found completely misleading. I do not know what I was expecting but not this. The narration was so dry and prosaic that I literally dragged myself to the end of this 100-page little book. I guess I had such high hopes for it that I ended up heartbroken and disillusioned.

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 24, 2011 Edita rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lost-generation, ernest-hemingway

We could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 06, 2018 Alison rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: guardians100greatest

“That's all we do, isn't it -- look at things and try new drinks?”

Men Without Women is a collection of stories by Ernest Hemingway. It includes such classics as "Hills Like White Elephants", "Fifty Grand", "The Killers", and "In Another Country."

I listened to this collection on audible as read by Stacey Keach, and he was a wonderful reader. His voice, for one, sounds to me like Hemingway might sound. Also he did a great job with the dialects which included Italians, New Yorkers, women, a drunk, ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 19, 2018 Bhzd Sdgh rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-story

Stories in this collection range from pure genius (Hills like White Elephants) to good enough (Fifty Grand) to total crap (Che Ti Dice La Patria?).
The book was written near the beginning of Hemingway's career and was one of the books that made him popular. The famous reticent style consisting of short sentences with which Hemingway is known starts to take shape in this book, and the special topics in which Hemingway was always interested (was, bullfighting, boxing, hunting, etc.) appear in most ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

May 01, 2020 Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics

Hemingway is at his best in small measures, like the stories in this book or a short novel like The Old Man and the Sea. Even so, there are ups and downs and not all stories in this collection deserve four stars. It should be noted that the title, while an amusing example of Hemingway machismo, is a little misleading. A few of the stories do feature women in main roles, such as the one which is probably the best in the collection: Hills Like White Elephants.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 12, 2019 Bruno rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-literature, hemingway-s-works, collections-of-short-stories

Unlike the book In our times, in which I've found interest in journey and meeting new peoples, Men without women is quite enjoyable with it's dynamic and excited plots. We have fights with bulls in The undefeated, boxing match in Fifty grand, collecting the debts in The Killers, broken loves in Ten Indians, facing the consequences of war in Now I lay me and so on. It's so versatile and almost certainly everyone can find something for himself. My personal favourite is the first story, The undefea ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 02, 2011 Toby rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, lit

My first taste of Hemingway and his much praised writing style. The stories from this collection, and especially The Killers, are very good examples of slice of life narratives. I love how backstory is implied for the characters and events and every story leaves you contemplating what will follow.

I did however feel let down by possibly the two weakest stories closing the collection which left a bad flavour in the mouth of an otherwise highly enjoyable experience.

Both movie adaptations of The Kil ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2007 Matt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Style vs. Substance, that's the ongoing debate. In this collection I'd have to say that Style is the main event -- which isn't to say there aren't some good stories in there -- but in my opinion, the action takes a back seat to the rhythm of the writing itself.

Used to teach Hills Like White Elephants and Ten Indians, subsequently they're my favorite. Chosen for their thematic content and (admittedly) their brevity, these are a great way to introduce students to the idea of subtext: almost boring ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 20, 2014 Satyabrata Mishra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Men without women is a collection of short stories. After a movable feast, this book felt like a letdown. It's brilliant in patches ( hills like white elephant is extremely well crafted). But then again all the stories leave you wishing for more. Still pick it up just for hills like white elephant. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 12, 2014 Falina rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 50-books-to-read-before-you-die

I am so indifferent to this book. I honestly don't understand why people love Hemingway or what meaning they find in stories like these. They just seemed so inconsequential to me. ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Feb 10, 2017 Danika rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Boring, uninspiring, and a struggle to make myself read it.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
50 books to read ...: Men without Women	1	15	Jul 02, 2020 12:13PM
Armenian readers ...: Hills like withe elephants. քննարկում	11	34	Apr 09, 2015 03:12PM
Armenian readers ...: Today is friday	5	13	Apr 09, 2015 02:52AM
Armenian readers ...: An alpine idyll	8	7	Apr 08, 2015 04:56AM
Armenian readers ...: Ten indians	3	8	Apr 07, 2015 02:20PM
Armenian readers ...: A simple enquiry	8	18	Apr 05, 2015 06:26AM
Armenian readers ...: Fifty grand	2	8	Apr 05, 2015 03:05AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Fiction

315 users

Classics

266 users

Short Stories

264 users

Literature

61 users

Literature > American

51 users

Literature > 20th Century

20 users

Novels

19 users

Classics > Classic Literature

14 users

The United States Of America

10 users

Literary Fiction

10 users

See top shelves…

About Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway

23,449 followers

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collec Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections and two non-fiction works. Three novels, four collections of short stories and three non-fiction works were published posthumously. Many of these are considered classics of American literature.

Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois, and after high school he reported for a few months for The Kansas City Star, before leaving for the Italian front to enlist with the World War I ambulance drivers. In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms. In 1922, he married Hadley Richardson, the first of his four wives. The couple moved to Paris, where he worked as a foreign correspondent, and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s "Lost Generation" expatriate community. The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway's first novel, was published in 1926.

After his 1927 divorce from Hadley Richardson, Hemingway married Pauline Pfeiffer. They divorced after he returned from Spanish Civil War where he had acted as a journalist, and after which he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940. They separated when he met Mary Welsh in London during World War II; during which he was present at the Normandy Landings and liberation of Paris.

Shortly after the publication of The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, Hemingway went on safari to Africa, where he was almost killed in two plane crashes that left him in pain and ill-health for much of the rest of his life. Hemingway had permanent residences in Key West, Florida, and Cuba during the 1930s and 1940s, but in 1959 he moved from Cuba to Ketchum, Idaho, where he committed suicide in the summer of 1961. ...more