Ernest Hemingway Novel

Ernest Hemingway did much to change the style of English prose in the 20th century. He wrote in short, declarative sentences and was known for his tough, terse prose. For his efforts he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. This month our bookclub will be reading their own choice of a Hemingway novel.

Our challenge this month was to explore Ernest Hemingway. Not just his books, but the author himself. There were a variety of Hemingway titles read including Fiesta, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Snows of Kilimanjaro, A Movable Feast and A Farewell to Arms.

This proved to be an interesting experiment; we were able to identify many common and recurring aspects of the Hemingway style. Firstly his sentence structure; short, clipped and economical language with dialogue that became muddled and confusing at times, often with the need to re-read.

Depth of character was also found wanting. We had no interest in Hemingway’s repeated insistence of mundane activities such as eating, drinking, smoking etc simply because we knew so little of the characters and unable to make any connection with them. This was particularly true with his female roles. These we found struggling at every turn, barely one dimensional and in some cases a complete void.

Judy toiled with Fiesta, finally giving up and reading a biography on Hemingway instead. She shared some interesting info with us and we were able to see a clearer picture of the man and his work. He obviously failed badly with relationships and we came to the conclusion that the only successful relationship he had was with himself. When it came to romance within his stories, we felt nothing rang true and that they failed on every level. Was his style more suited to the male reader? We tended to think so. And why is his writing so universally applauded? Viti seems to think that at the time he gave American readers a new style that was ready to be embraced.

The real conundrum with Hemingway is The Old Man and the Sea. Every one of us who have read it believes this to be one of the great literary masterpieces. So how can this be? A literary genius with one magnificent book and a whole swag of ordinary work.

Regardless of what you think of the man or his work, he has embedded himself in the world of classic literature with his style and his reputation.

So be it.

The Submission by Amy Waldman

A jury gathers in Manhattan to select a memorial for the victims of a devastating terrorist attack. Their fraught deliberations complete, the jurors open the envelope containing the anonymous winner’s name – and discover he is an American Muslim. Instantly they are cast into roiling debate about the claims of grief, the ambiguities of art, and the meaning of Islam. Their conflicted response is only a preamble to the country’s.

A striking portrait of a fractured city striving to make itself whole.

There were some big questions asked at this month’s meeting, which showed our group was up to the task of this slightly confronting book from Amy Waldman, an American journalist turned novelist.

Foremost in everyone’s mind was simply … will we ever be a totally tolerant species, where all are considered equal regardless of race, culture or creed? Not a new topic by any means, but set in the context of 9/11, it gave us some interesting discussion points. One of them being the power of today’s media and the part it plays in the rise and fall of certain individuals, community groups and their agendas. This was thought to be well done by Waldman, whose knowledge of her characters and their environment earned her some high scores from us.

This is not to say everyone was sold. Individual taste matters in our group and some are not necessarily enamoured with American writing styles and found it a little superficial with stereotypical characters. But in saying that, we all agreed we were forced to think and maybe rethink the situation and conundrum the committee was faced with.

It was commented that this book would no doubt make a good movie and that it was a realistic snapshot of society. There was also comment about the illegal workers caught up in the 9/11 disaster, which again made us rethink and acknowledge the human catastrophe that unfolded on that day. Joan felt the author was to some extent exploiting the event, but generally the group was impressed with The Submission and is happy to recommend it as an intelligent read with plenty of questions and not many answers.