ERNEST HEMINGWAY - The Life and the Legend

The enigmatic life of one of America's greatest writers comes alive in pages that describe Hemingway's childhood and his reverence for the outdoors and the written word.

Grade 8 Up-- Ernest Hemingway projected the image of a tough guy, impervious to pain or stress. Lyttle explores the man stripped of the legend. Beginning with Hemingway's birth into a proper Victorian family, he shows how the writer's early life shaped both his interests and his prejudices. When alcoholism gives way to mental illness and eventual suicide, readers will not be totally surprised. Lyttle doesn't deliver detailed analysis or speculation. Rather, he lets the turbulent, colorful events of his subject's life speak clearly for themselves. Hemingway's books are tied to life events, but are not dissected in great detail. Little new ground is broken here, but well-constructed, simple language makes this book a good choice for new fans of Hemingway. The black-and-white illustrations are sharp and well chosen; the maps are a great help in tracking the globetrotting author. Nicholas McDowell's Hemingway (Rourke, 1989) is more complex in its vocabulary and literary analysis.
- Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

On a fishing trip at age three, Ernie snagged the biggest catch--perhaps even then recognizing the power of a good "fish story." The adult Ernest wrote of various pursuits during his itinerant experience in Italy, China, Paris and Cuba. His "tough guy" life--evidenced by a lifelong penchant for bullfights, womanizing and African safaris--assumed epic proportions through his writings. In line with current adult Hemingway biographies, Lyttle attempts to tame the legend and reveal the real man to a young audience. The book succeeds in its thoroughness and approachable style; it fails as a compelling story because of overwhelming details. Lyttle's spare, reportorial prose (reminiscent of Hemingway's own) sprays out events like a machine gun. Too many characters, places and literary works--along with repetitious mention of injuries, recurring colds and dark moods--prove confusing. However, the book serves as a meticulous overview of an extraordinary life. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In tedious, anecdotal fashion, Lyttle delivers a broadside against Hemingway's Tough Guy image rather than discussing the relationship between his life and work. In Lyttle's view, Hemingway was undeniably courageous-- actively seeking out dangerous situations as sportsman and war correspondent--but also brutal, vain, petty and physically awkward. His narrative is one long digest of names, hunting and fishing tallies (``They saw deer, flushed many flocks of partridge, and even scared up a bear...they caught 64 trout...he crept to within 350 yards before killing the oldest animal with one shot,'' etc., etc.), repetitious travelogues, illnesses, clumsy accidents, and Papa's cutting comments about wives, friends, and fellow authors. Some incidents have a slapstick element--Hemingway once reached for a toilet chain and pulled a skylight down on his head--and Lyttle makes occasional wry comments (``Ernest...entertained...with elaborate stories of past adventures which were often partly true''); but readers will bog down in details, getting little sense of what Hemingway's books are like, or even what they're about. Wait for a more balanced student biography, or steer readers to Anthony Burgess's Ernest Hemingway and His World (1978) or to Rovit and Brenner's Ernest Hemingway (1986). Bibliography; b&w photos and index not seen. (Biography. 12-15) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.