Member Reviews

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  1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

  • Rated 5 stars

  “Hemingway’s stunning debut. A short story collection that reads like a novel, “In Our Time” contrasts flashing fragments of monologue and imagery depicting a reeling post-WWI Europe with the quiet struggle of a shell-shocked generation of veterans trying to reclaim some sort of innocence. It’s part “The Waste Land”, part the Associated Press.
  
  It’s vital, when reading “In Our Time,” to understand how new this book was. Did anybody write like this before Hemingway appeared on the scene? He completely reinvents English prose. His originality lies in what he doesn’t do, in what is eliminated, in what is implied but never stated. In our time, Hemingway is telling us, things are too deadly serious for "literary" fiction – just get it “true.”
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  Lord Manleigh wrote this review Thursday, November 15 2007. ( reply | view 4 replies | permalink )
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  • Rated 5 stars

  “Ernest Hemingway at his best! Although this book is from 1920's it really shows Hemingways symbolic side of his writting. This book is NOT made up of chapters but insted made up of short stories.”

  Charlie V wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “It's been said a million times by a million different critics and lovers of literature, but it is very true: Hemingway's genius is what he leaves OUT of his writing, not what he puts in. I've taught "The End of Something" for several years in order to show my students how a master does this - not to mention how to read closely and construct meaning from subtle textual hints. I just read the first story in the book, "Indian Camp." Then, I read it again, and insight broke suddenly during that second reading like a cell phone going off in dead silence. His uncle's cigars, the quiet suicide, the pivotal line from Nick's father about not hearing what's not important - god, this man was brilliant!”

  Mr. V wrote this review Wednesday, July 2 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 1 stars

  “I am not for the short stories that have nothing to do with each other.”

  Jason_C wrote this review Saturday, June 21 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “Hemingway is an author with whom I have a very strange relationship. I find myself avoiding his work for the most part, but whenever I sit down to read it, I'm riveted and usually finish the book in one go. This happened with "The Old Man and the Sea" and happened again with "In Our Time." As I was flipping through the pages, just catching a few words of text at a time, I remembered the stories vividly-- not usually a claim I can make. I strongly recommend reading the entire book, but my favorite stories were "The Battler," "My Old Man" and both "Big Hearted River" stories.”

  ~katie. wrote this review Thursday, May 22 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 3 stars

  “Hemingway's first American publication is a cycle of related stories with war-related vignettes between the stories.”

  Jim H wrote this review Thursday, March 6 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “Very good collection. Clearly shows the simple, descriptive style that would become Hemingway's signature.
  
  My favorite stories were "The Three Day Blow" and "My Old Man"”

  PatrickJoyce wrote this review Friday, January 11 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 0 stars

  “This is one of the great thematically unified story collections. With the character Nick reappearing in many of the stories, the book reads like a deconstructed novel. Hemingway is at his best as a minimalist, often changing or revealing everything with a single word or phrase. In the story "Indian Camp," notice what is shown when the young Nick finally calls his father "Daddy." Few writers have the courage to be so subtle and light of touch.”

  Bruce Henricksen wrote this review Saturday, December 8 2007. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 5 stars

  “Hemingway's most honest and compelling work of fiction.”

  highhope84 wrote this review Sunday, October 28 2007. ( reply | permalink )