Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Book Review: Men Without Women


In one of the rare instances where I have gone back and reread something, I finished this collection of stories by Ernest Hemingway this weekend.

Usually I have so many new books and such I want to get to, its hard for me to be satisfied with going back and pouring over something I've already devoured.  I had forgotten, however, just how good this group of stories was.

Gathered here are 14 of Hemingway's best vignette's including "The Killers", "Hills Like White Elephants", "Ten Indians" and "Fifty Grand" to mention a few.  The stories are short and sharp.  Truly there is nary a wasted word and many of the stories contain a punch as hard as any boxer.  Covering topics from abortion, to homosexuals in the military, to drug/alcohol abuse, to gangsters, and bull fighting (to name a few), Hemingway is in his prime here.  These stories remind me again why he is my favorite fictional writer.

If you want a short primer on what makes Hemingway so great near some 100 years after his initial works, you could find no better example than this work.

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