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Hemingway Wrote Fortune Cookies, or Reviewing is Hard

February 23, 2008

The first honest snow storm of the fading Winter finds me working at home. I’ve been toiling over a book review for hours. Generally I don’t have a problem with it; I’m a careful reader who takes notes along the way, and usually it’s a simple case of the book is good/bad because…. But not this time.

The book causing consternation is The Good Life According to Hemingway, a collection of the author’s life philosophies collected by his friend A.E. Hotchner. Normally a Hemingway book is a slam dunk with me (except when it’s another of those horrible memoirs by a family member cashing in on the name). Again, not this time. While I’m always ravenous to have something new from my favorite writer, a lot of this material is just plain crap. Here are the alleged deep philosophical musings of a depressed drunk who blew his head off—yep, that’s the good life alright. Oh yeah!

Don’t get me wrong, there is some solid stuff in there too, but Hemingway also could have slummed it writing fortune-cookie fodder when times got lean. Some of it is that bad.

Yet, it’s my old pal Ernesto, the guy who has brought me endless joy, so do I take one for the team for old time’s sake and praise the book (I can write a review that’s an author and publisher’s wet dream—I believe I’m the most quoted reviewer in LJ’s history), or do I pump another round into him? I’m faced with a dilemma. This book isn’t going to be a big seller, so the library market will be important. A thumbs up will sell it, a thumbs down sink it.

Reviewing is hard and a lot of responsibility. No wonder Hemingway hated critics.

Anyway, tune in to this Tuesday’s LJXpress to read the review.


Posted by Michael Rogers on February 23, 2008 | Comments (7)


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February 23, 2008
In response to: Hemingway Wrote Fortune Cookies, or Reviewing is Hard
GraceAnne LadyHawk commented:

You could, of course, do both. It isn't easy in a 200-word review, but you can do it. We know that.




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In response to: Hemingway Wrote Fortune Cookies, or Reviewing is Hard
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In response to: Hemingway Wrote Fortune Cookies, or Reviewing is Hard
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