Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway

First off my opinion should not mean much to you. My opinion does not mean much to myself because I am 18 and I live a strange lifestyle where my hands and feet and back and heart are cold 90% of the time. Even while I sleep I am cold because, it is freezing here. But, I have read Hemingway at his best and I have read Hemingway when hes okay and I have read Hemingway when Hemingway most likely does not care what he is writing.

Islands in the stream was published after his death and it contains 3 parts.

I loved the first part about Tom Hudson and his friends Roger and the boys. After the first part you no longer hear about Roger or the boys or Joseph. Tom Hudson the painter eventually goes to Cuba and at the end he joins the war or something and there is a lot of war and ship lingo that is complicated

The first part is beautiful and Hemingway came up with a forth part of this novel which came to be known as The Old Man and the Sea. In the first part of the novel Tom Hudson's boy David catches a large swordfish and struggles for hours. I will not tell what happens.

I almost feel Hemingway wrote the novel for himself. Maybe he wanted to do something with it, but half way through he said, "Ah screw it" and simply wrote what he wanted to write. The book talks about a lot of alcohol and I believe he may have been mentally distressed while he wrote this novel.


I highly recommend the first part of the novel and a few pages into Part 2 which is called Cuba. I love Hemingway and in my opinion he is one of the greatest writers of all time. I am currently reading Animal Farm by George Orwell and I believe that to be a great novel. I know it dives into socialism and some of the characters are based on Stalin and guys like that, but I'm not much of a history buff. perhaps someone could explain it to me simply through the messaging system on this site.










Well I hope you enjoyed my review. I am an average man and a poor man and I have a poor mans opinion. I am sorry I am not an academic, but these values were not instilled upon me while I was a child so I no longer care though I am in college I am just slogging through one day at a time. :crash:

You have quite a writing style, sir!:D I enjoyed reading your post very much.:) We're taking up Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea in class, but i haven't read the book yet. We just watched an animated film of it. But I did read a short story of his, A Clean, Well-lighted Place, and I must say, I find his work rather reflective. I plan to read more of his work.:)

Thanks. I always get points taken off for run on sentences or incomplete sentences, but I don't care. I can't write without them. My essay will go nowhere without them.

A clean well lighted place is a great short story. Hemingway has written many great short stories. The Nick Adams stories are something to check out.

The first part of Islands in the Stream is superb I reckon, up there with the very best of Hem's work. Of course it goes downhill considerably in the second part, 'Cuba', and the third part is just an adventure story. As a whole it is, however, stronger than both To Have and Have Not and Across the River and Into the Trees.

The first part does remind me of Old Man and the Sea, especially during the fishing but also in its overall vibe. I also like how Hemingway is working with a protagonist that is an artist and you can feel how Hem's feelings towards writing and creating comes out beautifully in the painting of Hudson. A very warm and atmospheric story.

I enjoyed to have and to have not. That is when they run the boat between Cuba and Florida correct? And they get shot at. I love the title. I forgotten much of the story. I want to read Across the River and into the Trees. It sounds like a beautiful title though the novel was not reviewed well by the critics. But I agree completely with you w/ Islands in the Stream. I enjoyed the part where he talked about the cat and how the cat loved the word medicine. It was cute and I am craving a kind cat right now. The Old Man and The Sea was originally going to be the fourth part of Islands and The Stream, but Hemingway thought better of it which I believe was a great idea. Hemingway was a beautiful man and he has powerful novels. He is one author who I always enjoy even when he is at his worst. He just had the gift. He had style and he had talent. Combine those two together and you have magic. It sounds simple, but it really isn't.

It was a shame that he never finished Islands off properly. The first part needs no or few changes, and if he had elaborated on Hudson's loss in the second part, it could have become a classic.

To Have and Have Not is alright, but quite rough around the edges and the ending is a debacle. It's like two different novels put together (it was three short stories combined or something like that).

Luckily Hemingway finished off with a bang and won the nobel prize. I agree. I believe he should have focused on the death of young Tom. They just die and he drinks and runs a muck.

I thought it was a great novel. You could see a spot here and there that made you see why he left it unpublished. But these "spots" had more to do with subject matter, than it being unfinished or rough. I'm glad his survivors decided to publish this - it was a really good book. Hemingway's writing in this was first rate - and the themes of death and loss (which came in the latter part of the book) were poignant and artfully done