Bullfighting. Fly-fishing. Drinking. Women (misogyny?). Hunting. War. Indians. Sex with Indians. Fathers. Sons. Death.

These are the motifs running through Hemingway's work. He has his autobiographical proxies in these stories, most frequently Nick Adams. You get the sense that Hemingway is hiding himself - his protagonists are usually the least well drawn character in the story. It is a metaphorical and written attempt at self-eradication that he literally accomplished in a cabin in Idaho in 1961. ( )

I am not a fan of short stories but Ernest Hemmingway surprised me here. Most of the stories are short, compact, and yet pack a punch. There are memorable ones like 'The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, and 'A Natural History of the Dead'. Of course, there are weird ones too. I was left a bit confused because characters of the same name keep appearing in different stories eg. Nick, and I wasn't sure if they were the same person. ( )

I took a long time reading through this one, studying Hemingway's style. Not only did I learn a great deal about POV, the heart of a story, and methods of characterization, but the collection also inspired me with the great possibilities a short story has to offer.

I've been indoctrinated into the classic New Yorker short story to such a degree that it was unsettling (in a good way) to read new ways of conceiving the form. Those formal potentialities coupled with the depth of emotion Hemingway brought to the page (sadly not featured by the many broadly drawn characterizations of the man we have today) comprised a masterclass in prose writing and language artistry. I hope some of what I learned sticks. ( )

I took a long time reading through this one, studying Hemingway's style. Not only did I learn a great deal about POV, the heart of a story, and methods of characterization, but the collection also inspired me with the great possibilities a short story has to offer.

I've been indoctrinated into the classic New Yorker short story to such a degree that it was unsettling (in a good way) to read new ways of conceiving the form. Those formal potentialities coupled with the depth of emotion Hemingway brought to the page (sadly not featured by the many broadly drawn characterizations of the man we have today) comprised a masterclass in prose writing and language artistry. I hope some of what I learned sticks. ( )

I had forgotten how good a writer the younger Hemingway was. He may have been a better short story writer than a novelist. ( )