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Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways
A chance encounter in Spain in 1959 brought young Irish reporter Valerie Danby-Smith face to face with Ernest Hemingway. The interview was awkward and brief, but before it ended something had clicked into place. For the next two years, Valerie devoted her life to Hemingway and his wife, Mary, traveling with them through beloved old haunts in Spain and France and living with them during the tumultuous final months in Cuba. In name a personal secretary, but in reality a confidante and sharer of the great man’s secrets and sorrows, Valerie literally came of age in the company of one of the greatest literary lions of the twentieth century.
Five years after his death, Valerie became a Hemingway herself when she married the writer’s estranged son Gregory. Now, at last, she tells the story of the incredible years she spent with this extravagantly talented and tragically doomed family.
In prose of brilliant clarity and stinging candor, Valerie evokes the magic and the pathos of Papa Hemingway’s last years. Swept up in the wild revelry that always exploded around Hemingway, Valerie found herself dancing in the streets of Pamplona, cheering bullfighters at Valencia, careening around hairpin turns in Provence, and savoring the panorama of Paris from her attic room in the Ritz. But it was only when Hemingway threatened to commit suicide if she left that she realized how troubled the aging writer was–and how dependent he had become on her.
In Cuba, Valerie spent idyllic days and nights typing the final draft of A Moveable Feast , even as Castro’s revolution closed in. After Hemingway shot himself, Valerie returned to Cuba with his widow, Mary, to sort through thousands of manuscript pages and smuggle out priceless works of art. It was at Ernest’s funeral that Valerie, then a researcher for Newsweek , met Hemingway’s son Gregory–and again a chance encounter drastically altered the course of her life. Their twenty-one-year marriage finally unraveled as Valerie helplessly watched her husband succumb to the demons that had plagued him since childhood.
From lunches with Orson Welles to midnight serenades by mysterious troubadours, from a rooftop encounter with Castro to numbing hospital vigils, Valerie Hemingway played an intimate, indispensable role in the lives of two generations of Hemingways. This memoir, by turns luminous, enthralling, and devastating, is the account of what she enjoyed, and what she endured, during her astonishing years of living as a Hemingway.
Five years after his death, Valerie became a Hemingway herself when she married the writer’s estranged son Gregory. Now, at last, she tells the story of the incredible years she spent with this extravagantly talented and tragically doomed family.
In prose of brilliant clarity and stinging candor, Valerie evokes the magic and the pathos of Papa Hemingway’s last years. Swept up in the wild revelry that always exploded around Hemingway, Valerie found herself dancing in the streets of Pamplona, cheering bullfighters at Valencia, careening around hairpin turns in Provence, and savoring the panorama of Paris from her attic room in the Ritz. But it was only when Hemingway threatened to commit suicide if she left that she realized how troubled the aging writer was–and how dependent he had become on her.
In Cuba, Valerie spent idyllic days and nights typing the final draft of A Moveable Feast , even as Castro’s revolution closed in. After Hemingway shot himself, Valerie returned to Cuba with his widow, Mary, to sort through thousands of manuscript pages and smuggle out priceless works of art. It was at Ernest’s funeral that Valerie, then a researcher for Newsweek , met Hemingway’s son Gregory–and again a chance encounter drastically altered the course of her life. Their twenty-one-year marriage finally unraveled as Valerie helplessly watched her husband succumb to the demons that had plagued him since childhood.
From lunches with Orson Welles to midnight serenades by mysterious troubadours, from a rooftop encounter with Castro to numbing hospital vigils, Valerie Hemingway played an intimate, indispensable role in the lives of two generations of Hemingways. This memoir, by turns luminous, enthralling, and devastating, is the account of what she enjoyed, and what she endured, during her astonishing years of living as a Hemingway.
325 pages, Paperback
First published October 26, 2004
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September 16, 2018
Since her interview with Ernest Hemingway in a Madrid hotel in 1959, Valerie Hemingway’s life has been inextricably linked to the Hemingway family. Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways is Valerie’s account of time she spent with Ernest Hemingway (as his personal secretary at the end of his life) and then as a Hemingway herself after meeting and wedding Ernest Hemingway’s estranged son, Gregory. Some readers have been put off that this is not strictly speaking about Ernest Hemingway. Rather, this is Valerie Hemingway’s memoir. While the focus, in the first half of the book, is on Ernest Hemingway, it is a Hemingway seen through a young woman’s eyes. The last half of the book (after Ernest Hemingway’s suicide) centers on Valerie’s marriage to Gregory (and his mental instability). Valerie’s account of her life with the father (Ernest) and then the son (Gregory) tie the book together and make it her own. Interesting reading!
February 21, 2014
Prepare to witness people getting trampled, if you're going to read Running With The Bulls, the true story, in her own words, of a foster child who by chance ends up a close confidant to Ernest Hemingway in the last years of his life.
Most know by now of the terribly troubled end to Hemingway's otherwise seemingly carefree and lively life (although it should be noted that he surrounded himself with people and made them stay up all night drinking and partying because he had insomnia due to a sort of fear of those lonely, dark hours of the night, an early precursor to his later mental issues), and it was this party atmosphere that Valerie got roped into under the loose pretense of being his personal secretary.
For a girl who'd lived an orphan's life, growing up in foster houses and convents, and who wished to cultivate a writer's career, it would seem a pretty lucky stroke for her to end up in the position she did, and therefore it becomes difficult to listen to her whinge about it. Indeed, there is a great deal of the "woe is me, but aren't I the put upon one" going on as Valeria plays the reluctant hero or passively accepting martyr, if you will, in the course of her being sucked up into the Hemingway circus. One feels as if this perhaps is partly for show.
With most all of the principle players dead at the time of the book being published, it's a bit of a one-sided story. We have to take Valerie's word at face value and hope for the sake of justice to all she slanders, that she actually is speaking the truth. Ernest, his wife Mary and their son Greg come in for the most criticism. Greg receives the attention of half the book and duly so since Valerie married him. It was not an altogether pleasant marriage as Greg
But all is not doom and gloom or venom from a scorned viper. There is praise and pity for all, as well as great insight to "Papa," really the only reason anyone would likely read Running with the Bulls. And it is apparent that Valerie took something quite positive from her time running with the most important of Hemingways: Directness. You see, Ernest Hemingway wrote in the compact style of the journalist. After all, that was his occupation at the start of his writing career, so why wouldn't that style carry over to his fictional work? It did, and now there's a huge contingent of Hemingway-haters who don't think he could actually write because he used simple language. I was one of those people at one time, I must admit. But what I didn't see was his intentional attempts at directness. He purposefully meant to get at the point in the most direct way possible so that there would be no ambivalence to his meaning. Valerie's writing has an admirable directness. You may not agree, you may not like what you hear, but you must admit she does not mince words.
Most know by now of the terribly troubled end to Hemingway's otherwise seemingly carefree and lively life (although it should be noted that he surrounded himself with people and made them stay up all night drinking and partying because he had insomnia due to a sort of fear of those lonely, dark hours of the night, an early precursor to his later mental issues), and it was this party atmosphere that Valerie got roped into under the loose pretense of being his personal secretary.
For a girl who'd lived an orphan's life, growing up in foster houses and convents, and who wished to cultivate a writer's career, it would seem a pretty lucky stroke for her to end up in the position she did, and therefore it becomes difficult to listen to her whinge about it. Indeed, there is a great deal of the "woe is me, but aren't I the put upon one" going on as Valeria plays the reluctant hero or passively accepting martyr, if you will, in the course of her being sucked up into the Hemingway circus. One feels as if this perhaps is partly for show.
With most all of the principle players dead at the time of the book being published, it's a bit of a one-sided story. We have to take Valerie's word at face value and hope for the sake of justice to all she slanders, that she actually is speaking the truth. Ernest, his wife Mary and their son Greg come in for the most criticism. Greg receives the attention of half the book and duly so since Valerie married him. It was not an altogether pleasant marriage as Greg
But all is not doom and gloom or venom from a scorned viper. There is praise and pity for all, as well as great insight to "Papa," really the only reason anyone would likely read Running with the Bulls. And it is apparent that Valerie took something quite positive from her time running with the most important of Hemingways: Directness. You see, Ernest Hemingway wrote in the compact style of the journalist. After all, that was his occupation at the start of his writing career, so why wouldn't that style carry over to his fictional work? It did, and now there's a huge contingent of Hemingway-haters who don't think he could actually write because he used simple language. I was one of those people at one time, I must admit. But what I didn't see was his intentional attempts at directness. He purposefully meant to get at the point in the most direct way possible so that there would be no ambivalence to his meaning. Valerie's writing has an admirable directness. You may not agree, you may not like what you hear, but you must admit she does not mince words.
February 16, 2017
If I could sit down to a few beers with American men of my choice, living or dead, Hemingway would be right up in the top 5 along with Robert Ruark and Ted Roosevelt. I think Hemingway has had his life examined in print to a greater extent than even JFK; it seems that anyone who knew him even slightly has written a book about Hemingway; some have written more than one. Valerie Hemingway is one of those.
Actually, Valerie was only involved with Hemingway for a couple of years, getting in on the butt end of his time in Spain and tagging along as nominal secretary for a year in Cuba before the Hemingway holdings in that country were bequeathed to the Cuban people. She doesn't admit to any involvement with the author other than that of employee and Girl Friday, but seems to have been exceedingly close to Papa, a kinship that was resented by Hemingway's wife, Mary. I ask myself why a man in his sixties would take on an unskilled woman just out of her teens to be his live-in secretary and swim naked in his swimming pool, but perhaps I am being unfair to Valerie. It seems like something is left unsaid here, however.
So Papa takes up maybe the first third of the book. The remainder is concerned with Valerie's continued relationship with the Hemingway clan, in particular the author's son Gregory, whom she married and who eventually became the author's daughter Gloria. This is probably the most interesting part of the memoir. Val married into an incredibly screwed-up family, and in reading her account you wonder just why she was willing to tough it out as long as she did.
The book is written in plain, no-nonsense language and I found her accounts of her exploits with the Hemingway family and their associates to be totally engrossing. Bear in mind that it is Valerie's memoir, not Ernest's biography, and Valerie didn't go into any great amount of self-analysis or critique for her own motives in any of this drama. A solid read, and a good addition to the hoard of Hemingway literature.
Actually, Valerie was only involved with Hemingway for a couple of years, getting in on the butt end of his time in Spain and tagging along as nominal secretary for a year in Cuba before the Hemingway holdings in that country were bequeathed to the Cuban people. She doesn't admit to any involvement with the author other than that of employee and Girl Friday, but seems to have been exceedingly close to Papa, a kinship that was resented by Hemingway's wife, Mary. I ask myself why a man in his sixties would take on an unskilled woman just out of her teens to be his live-in secretary and swim naked in his swimming pool, but perhaps I am being unfair to Valerie. It seems like something is left unsaid here, however.
So Papa takes up maybe the first third of the book. The remainder is concerned with Valerie's continued relationship with the Hemingway clan, in particular the author's son Gregory, whom she married and who eventually became the author's daughter Gloria. This is probably the most interesting part of the memoir. Val married into an incredibly screwed-up family, and in reading her account you wonder just why she was willing to tough it out as long as she did.
The book is written in plain, no-nonsense language and I found her accounts of her exploits with the Hemingway family and their associates to be totally engrossing. Bear in mind that it is Valerie's memoir, not Ernest's biography, and Valerie didn't go into any great amount of self-analysis or critique for her own motives in any of this drama. A solid read, and a good addition to the hoard of Hemingway literature.
June 5, 2025
Iš pradžių šiek tiek apie knygos autorę, nes tai E. Hemingvėjaus marčios prisiminimai apie uošvį (kuris net neįtarė, kad tokiu taps), be abejo, ir apie ją pačią ir jos vyrą – E. Hemingvėjaus sūnų. Jei sudomins spalvingas autorės gyvenimas, gal susidomėsit ir jos knyga.
Ji parašė knygą, bet iki tol labiau buvo žinoma savo liudijimais bei galybe interviu apie rašytoją. Juk ji – paskutinė moteris (išskyrus žmoną Meri), kuri artimai bendravo su rašytoju paskutiniais jo gyvenimo metais – buvo ne tik jo privati sekretorė, bet (kaip teigia) ir labai artimas rašytojui žmogus. „Mano santykiai su Ernestu buvo kažkur tarp dukters, mūzos ir darbuotojo. Daugelio dalykų mišinys“, – taip prisipažįsta pati, nors kitame interviu teigia, kad tarp jų buvo abipusė meilė.
Kai susipažino su rašytoju, buvo devyniolikos: naivi, žalia, bet linksmo būdo, nebaugi, trokštanti įspūdžių – tuo ir paslaptingai patraukli – tad jai užteko drąsos Ispanijoje, bare susitikus Hemingvėjų, prisistatyti žurnaliste, gauti interviu, nors buvo baigusi tik sekretorių kursus. Jai pavyko ne tik prisišlieti prie gausios Hemingvėjų supusios kompanijos, bet ir sužavėti Nobelio premijos laureatą, nors Hemingvėjus, kaip vyriškis, jai įspūdį padarė negreit, nes atrodė netgi senesnis ir mažai panašus į anksčiau matytas jo nuotraukas. Bet puiki sutaptis – tada Hemingvėjus išgyveno paskutinį savo fizinį ir dvasinį pakilimą (vėliau pats sakė, kad 1959-ųjų vasara buvo viena geriausių jo gyvenime), vėl ieškojo pramogų ir nuotykių, įkvėpimo kūrybai. Hemingvėjus pasiūlė Valeri prisijungti prie kompanijos ir vykti Pamploną, San Fermino šventę pasižiūrėti įspūdingų koridų, kurios buvo aprašytos jo romane „Fiesta“, ir ji, be abejo, sutiko. Tik ten pagaliau suvokė, su kokiu nuostabiu žmogumi susipažino. Ne tik matadorai, koridos buvo jo stichija – pamatė, koks Hemingvėjus yra mylimas ir mylintis žmones, žavus ir traukiantis prie savęs. Netrukus po Pamplonos festivalio buvo Hemingvėjaus 60–metis ir rašytojas pakvietė Valeri į Malagą, kur buvo suorganizuota šventė, o ten visiems ją pristatė kaip neetatinę sekretorę. Išties, ji padėjo rašytojui atsakinėti į begalę laiškų ir sveikinimų. Kaip teigia pati, nesiruošė ilgai užsibūti su Hemingvėjumi, turėjo kitų planų, bet... Kai Hemingvėjus susiruošė grįžti į savo namus Kuboje, ji neįstengė atsisakyti keliauti su juo, jau kaip tikra sekretorė. „Su manim tu daug ko išmoksi, daugiau negu dirbdama žurnaliste“, – tarė Hemingvėjus, o po daugybės metų, pati duodama interviu Valeri patvirtino: „Jis buvo absoliučiai teisus.“ Gal būta ir pragmatiškumo: viliojo paslaptinga sala, žinojo, kad pas Hemingvėjų lankosi daug įžymių žmonių, kurie ne tik įdomūs, bet gali ateityje būti jai naudingi. Ji neapsiriko – gyvenimas Kuboje buvo puikus: daug įdomių žmonių, daug linksmų vakarėlių, išvykos Hemingvėjaus jachta į jūrą gaudyti didelių žuvų. Hemingvėjus mėgo aktyvų poilsį, o kai kurdavo – ramybę; tuo metu Valeri tvarkė jo paštą, rengė atsakymus į laiškus, kurių jis gaudavo šimtus ir stengėsi į visus atsakyti. Kaip į naują vyro padėjėją žiūrėjo žmona Meri? Žmones Meri vertino pagal tai, kokią įtaką jie daro vyrui. Valeri įtaka neabejotinai buvo teigiama, todėl Meri (išmintinga, įžvalgi moteris) buvo jos atžvilgiu maloni, nes norėjo, kad Hemingvėjus bet kokia kaina kurtų (turbūt nujautė, kad be kūrybos jis neišgyvens), tad jei ir būta pavydo, jis buvo užgniaužtas. Tarp kitko, jos artimai bendravo iki pat Meri mirties 1986 m.
Apie savo, kaip sekretorės, darbą pas Hemingvėjų, Valeri yra išsireiškusi taip: „Humoro jausmas, sugebėjimas aptarti literatūrą, būti geru gėrėju ir geru klausytoju. Nežinau, kas buvo svarbiausia.“ Kaip teigia Valeri, ji patardavo redaguojant kūrinius, jautėsi rašytojo mūza. Ko gero, jie susitiko per vėlai, kai Hemingvėjus jau buvo išeikvojęs kūrybines galias, be to, jį kankino ne tik fiziniai skausmai, bet ir nerimas dėl keleto pradėtų ir niekaip nepabaigiamų knygų. Baigdamas vieną iš jų – „Šventė, kuri visada su tavimi“ – Hemingvėjus vyko į Paryžių prisiminti kai kurias detales (nes rašė apie įvykius buvusius prieš trisdešimt metų) ir kartu su juo vyko Valeri. Ji stebėjosi, kaip puikiai rašytojas orientuojasi Paryžiuje, atpažįsta žmones, bendrauja su jais, vėl pasijutęs jaunas ir žvalus. Po to – kelionė į Ispaniją, nes Hemingvėjus norėjo pasitikslinti kai kurias koridų detales rašomoje (ir niekaip nepabaigiamoje) knygoje „Pavojinga vasara“. Tuo metu Hemingvėjui pradėjo blogėti regėjimas. Valeri jo anksčiau parašytus rankraščius garsiai skaitė, o jis sprendė, ką ir kaip redaguoti. Deja, kelionės pabaiga nebuvo maloni: 1960 m. spalyje rašytojui sustiprėjo paranojos simptomai. Jis tapo grubus, įtarus. Valeri viename iš interviu mini, kad jos atsiskyrimą nuo Hemingvėjų lėmė tai, kad rašytoją vis labiau užvaldė pesimizmas ir mintys apie savižudybę. Kaip ten bebūtų, Hočneris (artimas ilgametis Hemingvėjaus draugas) savo prisiminimų knygoje teigia, kad ji išvyko mokytis į Niujorką, o rašytojas finansavo jos studijas. Taip baigėsi pusantrų metų trukęs bendravimas.
Valeri prisiminimuose bando save prilyginti kitai rašytojo mūzai – italei Adrianai Ivančič, deja, nesėkmingai: Adriana bendravo su Hemingvėjumi kur kas ilgiau, tapo ne tik romano „Anapus upės medžių ūksmėje“ pagrindinės veikėjos prototipu, bet ir padėjo rašytojui sukurti įžymiąją apysaką „Senis ir jūra“, už kurią jis gavo Nobelio literatūrinę premiją. Be to, Adriana buvo visiškai savarankiška, o Valeri – darbuotoja, kuriai Hemingvėjus mokėjo algą (taigi, jei ir buvo, tai tarnybinis romanas).
Neilgai trukus po rašytojo mirties, 1962 metais Valeri susilaukė kūdikio nuo ilgamečio draugo B. Behano, kuris taip ir nesusituokęs su ja (nes jau buvo santuokoje), mirė 1964 metais.
1966-aisiais Meksike Valeri susituokė su Hemingvėjaus sūnumi gydytoju Gregory. Jie vienas kitą pamatė per rašytojo laidotuves (turbūt taip buvo lemta) ir pradėjo bendrauti. 1967 m. Floridoje santuoką teko pakartoti, nes išaiškėjo, kad Gregory tuokdamasis dar nebuvo išsiskyręs su antrąja žmona. Išsiskyrė jis (tiesa, po 20 metų, susilaukęs 3 vaikų) ir su Valeri. Valeri išmokslino visus tris vaikus, ir Hemingvėjus, kaip senelis, tikrai didžiuotųsi jais.
Kai vienas žurnalistas paklausė Valeri, kas labiausiai įstrigę atminty iš viso gyvenimo, ji atsakė: „Kai šokau Pamplonos gatvėje, linksminausi su matadorais Valensijoje, keliavau po Provansą Prancūzijoje, kai žvelgiau į Paryžių per viešbučio Ritz langą. Visa tai buvo su tėtušiu Hemingvėjumi.“ Kas tarp jų iš tikrųjų buvo, be abejo, žinojo tik jie. Hemingvėjus gyvenimo pabaigoje haliucinuodamas šnekėdavo, kad jaučiasi atsakingas už Valeri dorovę, kad gali būti nubaustas už jaunos merginos tvirkinimą. Šis liudijimas – patikimas, nes jis Hočnerio, kuris nepaprastai gerbė savo vyresnįjį draugą (“tėtušį” – šis žodis ir jo prisiminimų knygos pavadinime).
Tačiau pažymėtina ir tai, kad dauguma rašytojo biografų stengiasi neanalizuoti jo santykių su Valeri. Jų nuomone, nieko reikšmingo tarp Valeri ir Hemingvėjaus nevyko. Tada kyla logiškas klausimas: gal Valeri prisiminimų komercinei sėkmei svarbu, kad vis dėlto „kažkas tokio“ tarp jų buvo? Todėl autorė to nepaneigė...
Kaip ten bebūtų, istorijoje ji išliks kaip Valerie Hemingway, didžiojo rašytojo sūnaus žmona. Jai šiuo metu 85 metai. Prisiminimų knygą ji išleido praėjus daugiau kaip 40 metų po rašytojo mirties, kai ir dauguma aprašomų žmonių jau iškeliavę Anapilin – manau, kad tai dėl dviejų priežasčių: ne tik etikos sumetimais, bet ir bijant teisminių ginčų.
Kadangi esu perskaitęs nemažai knygų apie Hemingvėjų ir jo žmonas, man ši nesuteikė daug papildomos informacijos (nebent kai kurios detalės iš Gregorio Hemingvėjaus gyvenimo; nors apie Valeri ir Gregorio sunkios santuokos istoriją jau buvau skaitęs, dabar, iš pirmų lūpų, daug kas nušvito kitaip).
Rašydama apie save, autorė mini begalę to meto jai svarbių žmonių, kurie man nežinomi ir nesvarbūs, knygos teksto sklandumą irgi negaliu pagirti. Tad knygai skiriu 7 balus. Tačiau tie skaitytojai, kurie mažiau susipažinę su rašytojo gyvenimu, ją gali įvertinti ir geriau.
Ji parašė knygą, bet iki tol labiau buvo žinoma savo liudijimais bei galybe interviu apie rašytoją. Juk ji – paskutinė moteris (išskyrus žmoną Meri), kuri artimai bendravo su rašytoju paskutiniais jo gyvenimo metais – buvo ne tik jo privati sekretorė, bet (kaip teigia) ir labai artimas rašytojui žmogus. „Mano santykiai su Ernestu buvo kažkur tarp dukters, mūzos ir darbuotojo. Daugelio dalykų mišinys“, – taip prisipažįsta pati, nors kitame interviu teigia, kad tarp jų buvo abipusė meilė.
Kai susipažino su rašytoju, buvo devyniolikos: naivi, žalia, bet linksmo būdo, nebaugi, trokštanti įspūdžių – tuo ir paslaptingai patraukli – tad jai užteko drąsos Ispanijoje, bare susitikus Hemingvėjų, prisistatyti žurnaliste, gauti interviu, nors buvo baigusi tik sekretorių kursus. Jai pavyko ne tik prisišlieti prie gausios Hemingvėjų supusios kompanijos, bet ir sužavėti Nobelio premijos laureatą, nors Hemingvėjus, kaip vyriškis, jai įspūdį padarė negreit, nes atrodė netgi senesnis ir mažai panašus į anksčiau matytas jo nuotraukas. Bet puiki sutaptis – tada Hemingvėjus išgyveno paskutinį savo fizinį ir dvasinį pakilimą (vėliau pats sakė, kad 1959-ųjų vasara buvo viena geriausių jo gyvenime), vėl ieškojo pramogų ir nuotykių, įkvėpimo kūrybai. Hemingvėjus pasiūlė Valeri prisijungti prie kompanijos ir vykti Pamploną, San Fermino šventę pasižiūrėti įspūdingų koridų, kurios buvo aprašytos jo romane „Fiesta“, ir ji, be abejo, sutiko. Tik ten pagaliau suvokė, su kokiu nuostabiu žmogumi susipažino. Ne tik matadorai, koridos buvo jo stichija – pamatė, koks Hemingvėjus yra mylimas ir mylintis žmones, žavus ir traukiantis prie savęs. Netrukus po Pamplonos festivalio buvo Hemingvėjaus 60–metis ir rašytojas pakvietė Valeri į Malagą, kur buvo suorganizuota šventė, o ten visiems ją pristatė kaip neetatinę sekretorę. Išties, ji padėjo rašytojui atsakinėti į begalę laiškų ir sveikinimų. Kaip teigia pati, nesiruošė ilgai užsibūti su Hemingvėjumi, turėjo kitų planų, bet... Kai Hemingvėjus susiruošė grįžti į savo namus Kuboje, ji neįstengė atsisakyti keliauti su juo, jau kaip tikra sekretorė. „Su manim tu daug ko išmoksi, daugiau negu dirbdama žurnaliste“, – tarė Hemingvėjus, o po daugybės metų, pati duodama interviu Valeri patvirtino: „Jis buvo absoliučiai teisus.“ Gal būta ir pragmatiškumo: viliojo paslaptinga sala, žinojo, kad pas Hemingvėjų lankosi daug įžymių žmonių, kurie ne tik įdomūs, bet gali ateityje būti jai naudingi. Ji neapsiriko – gyvenimas Kuboje buvo puikus: daug įdomių žmonių, daug linksmų vakarėlių, išvykos Hemingvėjaus jachta į jūrą gaudyti didelių žuvų. Hemingvėjus mėgo aktyvų poilsį, o kai kurdavo – ramybę; tuo metu Valeri tvarkė jo paštą, rengė atsakymus į laiškus, kurių jis gaudavo šimtus ir stengėsi į visus atsakyti. Kaip į naują vyro padėjėją žiūrėjo žmona Meri? Žmones Meri vertino pagal tai, kokią įtaką jie daro vyrui. Valeri įtaka neabejotinai buvo teigiama, todėl Meri (išmintinga, įžvalgi moteris) buvo jos atžvilgiu maloni, nes norėjo, kad Hemingvėjus bet kokia kaina kurtų (turbūt nujautė, kad be kūrybos jis neišgyvens), tad jei ir būta pavydo, jis buvo užgniaužtas. Tarp kitko, jos artimai bendravo iki pat Meri mirties 1986 m.
Apie savo, kaip sekretorės, darbą pas Hemingvėjų, Valeri yra išsireiškusi taip: „Humoro jausmas, sugebėjimas aptarti literatūrą, būti geru gėrėju ir geru klausytoju. Nežinau, kas buvo svarbiausia.“ Kaip teigia Valeri, ji patardavo redaguojant kūrinius, jautėsi rašytojo mūza. Ko gero, jie susitiko per vėlai, kai Hemingvėjus jau buvo išeikvojęs kūrybines galias, be to, jį kankino ne tik fiziniai skausmai, bet ir nerimas dėl keleto pradėtų ir niekaip nepabaigiamų knygų. Baigdamas vieną iš jų – „Šventė, kuri visada su tavimi“ – Hemingvėjus vyko į Paryžių prisiminti kai kurias detales (nes rašė apie įvykius buvusius prieš trisdešimt metų) ir kartu su juo vyko Valeri. Ji stebėjosi, kaip puikiai rašytojas orientuojasi Paryžiuje, atpažįsta žmones, bendrauja su jais, vėl pasijutęs jaunas ir žvalus. Po to – kelionė į Ispaniją, nes Hemingvėjus norėjo pasitikslinti kai kurias koridų detales rašomoje (ir niekaip nepabaigiamoje) knygoje „Pavojinga vasara“. Tuo metu Hemingvėjui pradėjo blogėti regėjimas. Valeri jo anksčiau parašytus rankraščius garsiai skaitė, o jis sprendė, ką ir kaip redaguoti. Deja, kelionės pabaiga nebuvo maloni: 1960 m. spalyje rašytojui sustiprėjo paranojos simptomai. Jis tapo grubus, įtarus. Valeri viename iš interviu mini, kad jos atsiskyrimą nuo Hemingvėjų lėmė tai, kad rašytoją vis labiau užvaldė pesimizmas ir mintys apie savižudybę. Kaip ten bebūtų, Hočneris (artimas ilgametis Hemingvėjaus draugas) savo prisiminimų knygoje teigia, kad ji išvyko mokytis į Niujorką, o rašytojas finansavo jos studijas. Taip baigėsi pusantrų metų trukęs bendravimas.
Valeri prisiminimuose bando save prilyginti kitai rašytojo mūzai – italei Adrianai Ivančič, deja, nesėkmingai: Adriana bendravo su Hemingvėjumi kur kas ilgiau, tapo ne tik romano „Anapus upės medžių ūksmėje“ pagrindinės veikėjos prototipu, bet ir padėjo rašytojui sukurti įžymiąją apysaką „Senis ir jūra“, už kurią jis gavo Nobelio literatūrinę premiją. Be to, Adriana buvo visiškai savarankiška, o Valeri – darbuotoja, kuriai Hemingvėjus mokėjo algą (taigi, jei ir buvo, tai tarnybinis romanas).
Neilgai trukus po rašytojo mirties, 1962 metais Valeri susilaukė kūdikio nuo ilgamečio draugo B. Behano, kuris taip ir nesusituokęs su ja (nes jau buvo santuokoje), mirė 1964 metais.
1966-aisiais Meksike Valeri susituokė su Hemingvėjaus sūnumi gydytoju Gregory. Jie vienas kitą pamatė per rašytojo laidotuves (turbūt taip buvo lemta) ir pradėjo bendrauti. 1967 m. Floridoje santuoką teko pakartoti, nes išaiškėjo, kad Gregory tuokdamasis dar nebuvo išsiskyręs su antrąja žmona. Išsiskyrė jis (tiesa, po 20 metų, susilaukęs 3 vaikų) ir su Valeri. Valeri išmokslino visus tris vaikus, ir Hemingvėjus, kaip senelis, tikrai didžiuotųsi jais.
Kai vienas žurnalistas paklausė Valeri, kas labiausiai įstrigę atminty iš viso gyvenimo, ji atsakė: „Kai šokau Pamplonos gatvėje, linksminausi su matadorais Valensijoje, keliavau po Provansą Prancūzijoje, kai žvelgiau į Paryžių per viešbučio Ritz langą. Visa tai buvo su tėtušiu Hemingvėjumi.“ Kas tarp jų iš tikrųjų buvo, be abejo, žinojo tik jie. Hemingvėjus gyvenimo pabaigoje haliucinuodamas šnekėdavo, kad jaučiasi atsakingas už Valeri dorovę, kad gali būti nubaustas už jaunos merginos tvirkinimą. Šis liudijimas – patikimas, nes jis Hočnerio, kuris nepaprastai gerbė savo vyresnįjį draugą (“tėtušį” – šis žodis ir jo prisiminimų knygos pavadinime).
Tačiau pažymėtina ir tai, kad dauguma rašytojo biografų stengiasi neanalizuoti jo santykių su Valeri. Jų nuomone, nieko reikšmingo tarp Valeri ir Hemingvėjaus nevyko. Tada kyla logiškas klausimas: gal Valeri prisiminimų komercinei sėkmei svarbu, kad vis dėlto „kažkas tokio“ tarp jų buvo? Todėl autorė to nepaneigė...
Kaip ten bebūtų, istorijoje ji išliks kaip Valerie Hemingway, didžiojo rašytojo sūnaus žmona. Jai šiuo metu 85 metai. Prisiminimų knygą ji išleido praėjus daugiau kaip 40 metų po rašytojo mirties, kai ir dauguma aprašomų žmonių jau iškeliavę Anapilin – manau, kad tai dėl dviejų priežasčių: ne tik etikos sumetimais, bet ir bijant teisminių ginčų.
Kadangi esu perskaitęs nemažai knygų apie Hemingvėjų ir jo žmonas, man ši nesuteikė daug papildomos informacijos (nebent kai kurios detalės iš Gregorio Hemingvėjaus gyvenimo; nors apie Valeri ir Gregorio sunkios santuokos istoriją jau buvau skaitęs, dabar, iš pirmų lūpų, daug kas nušvito kitaip).
Rašydama apie save, autorė mini begalę to meto jai svarbių žmonių, kurie man nežinomi ir nesvarbūs, knygos teksto sklandumą irgi negaliu pagirti. Tad knygai skiriu 7 balus. Tačiau tie skaitytojai, kurie mažiau susipažinę su rašytojo gyvenimu, ją gali įvertinti ir geriau.
July 30, 2016
First half of the book was interesting, but after E.Hemingway died, the second half was just sad when Valerie married E.H.'s transvestite son. She spends a lot of time name dropping and explaining why E.H. (61 years old) requires her(age 20) to be with him most of the time as his "secretary" which includes swimming nude while E.H.'s Minnesota born wife Mary turns a blind eye. There is much more to this story than Valerie indicates which makes one wonder how much is fabricated. She also picks and chooses which of E.H.'s letters are to be destroyed to protect his memory and destroys any from her to E.H. Face it, older men don't fall in "love" with young girls for their minds! Mary Hemmingway is very intriguing and it would have been interesting to learn more about what made her tick. Also would have liked to hear more about E.H.'s thoughts and dreams during the last part of his life. Doesn't it seem strange that although he confided his plans to commit suicide to only Valerie, she would not care enough to try to prevent it by discussing with a professional or Mary H.? If someone you care for deeply tells you they are planning to take their own life would you turn away and say it is their choice and do nothing?
March 20, 2012
This is an extraordinary memoir, written in graceful, subdued language by an Irish newswoman who became Hemingway's personal secretary and confidante during his last years, when he was struggling. She was on hand for the somber chapters of Ernest Hemingway's life, when depression overtook him. She was there at the Finca during the Cuban revolution. She helped Mary sort through Ernest's things after he killed himself. And later, she married Ernest's troubled son Gregory, and settled in Montana (where she still lives, long after she and Gregory parted). There is a deep tenderness and kindness threading through this memoir. She lives in Bozeman, which is also the home of Patrick Hemingway, the sole surviving Hemingway son.
August 13, 2022
I really thought this just would be a gossipy book about Hemingway family. It is about a woman who managed to squeeze her way into the family have relationships with all and go along for the ride with the famous writer. that said not a bad read but i doubted a lot of the facts they seemed a bit too much. So sos many books written about Hemingway some not so believable-
October 15, 2014
True to the Spirit and the Legacy
Valerie Hemingway acquired her opinions and observations honestly. Running with the Bulls reflects three decades of interaction with the Hemingway family. She served as Ernest Hemingway’s secretary for more than a year. She traveled with Ernest and his wife Mary in Spain and France, and lived at their estate in Cuba during those final months they spent in that nation. After Ernest Hemingway’s funeral, she returned with Mary to retrieve manuscripts and personal papers, which she later catalogued for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. She remained friends with Mary Hemingway even after marrying her estranged stepson Gregory, who rarely spoke of his father, although he was once the favorite son. She birthed four of Hemingway’s grandchildren, albeit after his death.
The tragedy of Ernest Hemingway’s death is mirrored by a different tragic death on the part of her husband. Family can get complicated. Nevertheless, she was there as Ernest traveled with his memories, and saw, in retrospect she witnessed the terrain where the writer achieved his greatness, from Pamplona to Cuba and Key West, to New York. She also gained an intimate acquaintance with Idaho and the Mountain West where he came to his final defeat. Her writing style was honed as a reporter for various magazines and secretary to three literary figures. The book is a fascinating read, and one of the best written nonfiction books I have ever read.
Valerie Hemingway acquired her opinions and observations honestly. Running with the Bulls reflects three decades of interaction with the Hemingway family. She served as Ernest Hemingway’s secretary for more than a year. She traveled with Ernest and his wife Mary in Spain and France, and lived at their estate in Cuba during those final months they spent in that nation. After Ernest Hemingway’s funeral, she returned with Mary to retrieve manuscripts and personal papers, which she later catalogued for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. She remained friends with Mary Hemingway even after marrying her estranged stepson Gregory, who rarely spoke of his father, although he was once the favorite son. She birthed four of Hemingway’s grandchildren, albeit after his death.
The tragedy of Ernest Hemingway’s death is mirrored by a different tragic death on the part of her husband. Family can get complicated. Nevertheless, she was there as Ernest traveled with his memories, and saw, in retrospect she witnessed the terrain where the writer achieved his greatness, from Pamplona to Cuba and Key West, to New York. She also gained an intimate acquaintance with Idaho and the Mountain West where he came to his final defeat. Her writing style was honed as a reporter for various magazines and secretary to three literary figures. The book is a fascinating read, and one of the best written nonfiction books I have ever read.
June 17, 2022
Valerie Hemingway’s memoir Running With Bulls is something of a curio. It is indeed a memoir of her life, but it does beg the question: why publish it?
As the title suggests — and one assumes that the title and (at least on my paperback copy of the book) a photograph of the writer are intended to underline the fact — Ernest Hemingway would be the focus of the work. Well, he is, but only up to a point.
In fact, many readers, this one included, will have chosen to read the book for what information it might pass on about the writer which was not already public. But of that we get precious little. In fact there’s nothing new at all.
What is new is not relevant and what is relevant is not new. (That reminds me of the judgment many years ago by someone or other — I think it was Samuel Johnson — who wrote: ‘Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.’)
The pages in which Hemingway does appear cover the four months Valerie Hemingway spent nominally as a secretary and as part of his entourage while he was criss-crossing Spain following an exhausting and exhaustive tour of bullfights, and later when she lived in the Hemingway household in Cuba for about five months.
From the outset it seems Hemingway pretty much fell in love with the then 19-year-old as he had done ten years previously with another 19-year-old and, possessive old egoist that he was, more or less ‘blackmailed’ her into carrying on her secretarial duties for most of the following year at his Cuban home, the Finca Vigia.
Other biographers tell us Mary Welsh, his fourth wife, was not pleased at all, to put it mildly (and in those months in Spain Hemingway is said to have treated Welsh like dirt), but if this was apparent to Valerie, she makes scant reference to it. She and Welsh did, though, later grow closer.
‘Blackmail’ might sound extreme, but as our Val tells it, Hemingway made it very clear that he ‘relied’ on her to keep writing — he believed her presence was beneficial — and that he could not ‘go on’ if she would not come to Cuba. The implication, one very obvious to Valerie, was that he would end his life if she did not. So she did. What ‘Papa’ wanted, ‘Papa’ got.
When, back in Cuba Castro and not yet ‘a communist’ (and boy did the US play that one badly), came to power, Hemingway and his wife were persuaded that it would be safer for them to move to the US. Valerie did not join them, and she never saw Hemingway again.
He had made her promise not to get in touch with him unless he got in touch first and he didn’t seem to get in touch. Ironically, as she found out many years later on a visit to the Hemingway archive of Boston’s JFK Library, in October 1960 he had written to her, but she says she never received the letter.
She does concede, though, that even had she done so, his decline would have continued inexorably and he would still eventually have topped himself. From what we know of the last ten months of his life, she was right. Once Castro came to power in Cuba and departure to the US seemed inevitable, he mentioned it again and again.
One of the oddities about the book is the contrast, as provided by Valerie, between the seemingly ‘normal’ Hemingway of the 1959 bullfight tour (undertaken to write a feature for Life magazine) and the subsequent and apparently quite precipitous decline in his mental health.
In fact, and pertinently, most biographies suggest all was certainly not well in the summer of 1959 (the ‘dangerous summer’, though here ‘dangerous’ is just publishers’ clickbait).
As for that exhaustive tour of Spain, Valerie makes it clear that she became increasingly fed up with always, in a sense, being ‘on duty’ — being on call to booze into the night with the entourage (Hemingway had insomnia so went to bed very late and expected everyone else to stay up and keep him company) for example; being obliged to listen to the same tall anecdotes and stories told over and over again.
But then ‘Papa’ was by then ‘revered’ and ‘an elder statesmen’ of letters. She was a young woman who wanted a little independence, but reminded herself that it wouldn’t last for ever.
She did feel like a possession and recounts how just to get a little time to themselves, she and a friend who had also been roped into the entourage, the actress Beverley Bentley, who was later married to Norman Mailer for several years, one evening pretended to be ill so they would not have to join in and were able to get out on the town a little.
Hemingway was having none of that: he sent his Ketchum physician (who had flown to Spain with his to attend his 60th birthday party) to check on them. A little later, as Val n’ Bev were planning to get away, his rather creepy confidant / acolyte / friend / business partner A E Hotchner came to their room, also to check up. They eventually didn’t get away.
(One revelation which gives an insight into Hotchner was how he seemed to be encouraging Val n’ Bev to slag off others in the entourage. They remained diplomatic and were glad that had done because it seemed creepy Hotchner had been tape-recording their conversation. Odd.)
It is ironic that it never occurred to Valerie that we the reader could also become quite exhausted by the — disproportionately long — chapters detailing the Hemingway entourage’s criss-crossing of Spain for four months. This reader did, at least and found her account ever duller and duller. The image that come to mind while writing this that of from the top of a hill viewing in the far distance a very large housing estate and being required to find anything of any interest in the sight.
She follows the Spain months with her months in Cuba, but these are by no means startling, informative or even interesting. She takes dictation, she goes for walks with Hemingway, visits the Havana markets every week with Mary Welsh, Hemingway’s fourth and long-suffering wife.
After a hard day’s whatever, she swims in the nude, though only after ‘Papa’ and then Welsh have had their turn. What with the nine-strong staff and Juan, the grey-uniformed (‘gray-uniformed’ — wouldn’t want to confuse American readers) chauffeur, there was something distinctly grand and feudal about the Hemingway court at Finca.
Finally, she parts company with the Hemingways and moves to New York. But things are not going well with Hemingway who was slowly losing his marbles. That summer he had taken it into his head that he needed to go to Spain again for more research on his Live feature, but it becomes apparent he can’t cope and Welsh sends Valerie out to keep an eye on his.
Eventually back in the US, Hemingway’s health, both mental and physical goes from bad to worse over the following ten months and blasts his head off. And that is pretty much all we get of Hemingway in Running With Bulls.
Those chapters covering April 1959 to summer 1960, are topped and tailed by a few opening chapters detailing Valerie’s childhood and how she ended up in Spain and met Hemingway. The nine chapters after attending his funeral and her subsequent life then follow. They all beg the question: of what interest are they given that Hemingway is the focus of this volume and the reason many would have bought it?
OK, you might say, this is Valerie Hemingway’s memoir, so it should be about her. But, quite frankly why, without the Hemingway months, should we be interested in Valerie Hemingway, neé Valeria Danby-Smith? Yes, she had a career in publishing, but it was not stellar or extraordinary and, well, so did and do many other people.
OK, you go on, but she did marry Hemingway’s third son, Gregory. Well, yes she did, and an odd and unhappy character he turns out to be, but those chapters are also curiously dull. The world is full of odd and unhappy characters, many like him who suffered and suffer from gender dysphoria. But a chronicle of their lives would not differ much from the chronicle of her life with Gregory, distressing as it must have been.
The only distinction was that Gregory was Hemingway’s third son and that his share of the royalties (finally granted after he and his brothers John and Patrick threatened to take Welsh, who inherited everything, to court) enabled him to live a somewhat harum-scarum life. But there again, in that respect he certainly did not stand out — the world is full of sons of wealthy dads who have gone off the rail.
Yes, as her husband, he surely deserves a role in Valerie Hemingway’s memoir, but — I’ll repeat — if it weren’t for those months she spent with Hemingway, would we even bother reading Valerie Hemingway’s memoir?
Frankly, what is of any interest that in this volume would have made a readable magazine or Sunday supplement feature of about 3,000 words (or in US where they seem to prefer for overwritten, longwinded features about 10,000 to 15,000 words). To be blunt, it overstays its welcome badly.
For me the one fact of note was the account of the last year or so of Valerie’s marriage to Gregory, who repeatedly got the all-clear from fellow physicians (who, as Val points out, were not about to rat out a colleague), but who was in demotic terms as nutty as fruitcake.
His virulent and very frightening verbal and almost physical abuse of Valerie in that time reminded me starkly of accounts of the manic treatment Hemingway meted out to his third wife Martha Gellhorn in the dying days of their marriage. It would seem Hemingway pére and Hemingway fils had more in common than either might have liked to acknowledge.
In fact, that is something the father did acknowledge when he once remarked that his son had ‘the biggest dark side in the family except me’ (and does prompt me to wonder whether Ernest also suffered from gender dysphoria? His manic machismo, his fetish for hair and his enthusiasm for role reversal in bed do make the notion not completely far-fetched).
I should, perhaps, explain my rather measly verdict of 2/5 for Valerie’s memoir. It might well have got 3/5, and it is certainly not badly written. But — to my tastes at least — it is rather too much like the ‘standard middle-class memoir’ turned out by ‘standard middle-class writers’.
Her style is English / Irish pedestrian: everyone is ‘enthralled’ and ‘enchanted’, meals are ‘devoured’, fires inevitably ‘roar’, nights are invariably ‘wonderful’. You’ve read it once, you’ve read it 1,001 times.
Some might like that style, but it sets my teeth on edge. Some might be — well are, judging by the many four-star verdicts this book gets — ‘enthralled’ by it. I wasn’t.
If by some chance Val reads my rather sniffy review: sorry. But as plain-spoken, down-to-earth Irishwoman I’m sure at heart you wouldn’t want anything but honesty.
As the title suggests — and one assumes that the title and (at least on my paperback copy of the book) a photograph of the writer are intended to underline the fact — Ernest Hemingway would be the focus of the work. Well, he is, but only up to a point.
In fact, many readers, this one included, will have chosen to read the book for what information it might pass on about the writer which was not already public. But of that we get precious little. In fact there’s nothing new at all.
What is new is not relevant and what is relevant is not new. (That reminds me of the judgment many years ago by someone or other — I think it was Samuel Johnson — who wrote: ‘Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.’)
The pages in which Hemingway does appear cover the four months Valerie Hemingway spent nominally as a secretary and as part of his entourage while he was criss-crossing Spain following an exhausting and exhaustive tour of bullfights, and later when she lived in the Hemingway household in Cuba for about five months.
From the outset it seems Hemingway pretty much fell in love with the then 19-year-old as he had done ten years previously with another 19-year-old and, possessive old egoist that he was, more or less ‘blackmailed’ her into carrying on her secretarial duties for most of the following year at his Cuban home, the Finca Vigia.
Other biographers tell us Mary Welsh, his fourth wife, was not pleased at all, to put it mildly (and in those months in Spain Hemingway is said to have treated Welsh like dirt), but if this was apparent to Valerie, she makes scant reference to it. She and Welsh did, though, later grow closer.
‘Blackmail’ might sound extreme, but as our Val tells it, Hemingway made it very clear that he ‘relied’ on her to keep writing — he believed her presence was beneficial — and that he could not ‘go on’ if she would not come to Cuba. The implication, one very obvious to Valerie, was that he would end his life if she did not. So she did. What ‘Papa’ wanted, ‘Papa’ got.
When, back in Cuba Castro and not yet ‘a communist’ (and boy did the US play that one badly), came to power, Hemingway and his wife were persuaded that it would be safer for them to move to the US. Valerie did not join them, and she never saw Hemingway again.
He had made her promise not to get in touch with him unless he got in touch first and he didn’t seem to get in touch. Ironically, as she found out many years later on a visit to the Hemingway archive of Boston’s JFK Library, in October 1960 he had written to her, but she says she never received the letter.
She does concede, though, that even had she done so, his decline would have continued inexorably and he would still eventually have topped himself. From what we know of the last ten months of his life, she was right. Once Castro came to power in Cuba and departure to the US seemed inevitable, he mentioned it again and again.
One of the oddities about the book is the contrast, as provided by Valerie, between the seemingly ‘normal’ Hemingway of the 1959 bullfight tour (undertaken to write a feature for Life magazine) and the subsequent and apparently quite precipitous decline in his mental health.
In fact, and pertinently, most biographies suggest all was certainly not well in the summer of 1959 (the ‘dangerous summer’, though here ‘dangerous’ is just publishers’ clickbait).
As for that exhaustive tour of Spain, Valerie makes it clear that she became increasingly fed up with always, in a sense, being ‘on duty’ — being on call to booze into the night with the entourage (Hemingway had insomnia so went to bed very late and expected everyone else to stay up and keep him company) for example; being obliged to listen to the same tall anecdotes and stories told over and over again.
But then ‘Papa’ was by then ‘revered’ and ‘an elder statesmen’ of letters. She was a young woman who wanted a little independence, but reminded herself that it wouldn’t last for ever.
She did feel like a possession and recounts how just to get a little time to themselves, she and a friend who had also been roped into the entourage, the actress Beverley Bentley, who was later married to Norman Mailer for several years, one evening pretended to be ill so they would not have to join in and were able to get out on the town a little.
Hemingway was having none of that: he sent his Ketchum physician (who had flown to Spain with his to attend his 60th birthday party) to check on them. A little later, as Val n’ Bev were planning to get away, his rather creepy confidant / acolyte / friend / business partner A E Hotchner came to their room, also to check up. They eventually didn’t get away.
(One revelation which gives an insight into Hotchner was how he seemed to be encouraging Val n’ Bev to slag off others in the entourage. They remained diplomatic and were glad that had done because it seemed creepy Hotchner had been tape-recording their conversation. Odd.)
It is ironic that it never occurred to Valerie that we the reader could also become quite exhausted by the — disproportionately long — chapters detailing the Hemingway entourage’s criss-crossing of Spain for four months. This reader did, at least and found her account ever duller and duller. The image that come to mind while writing this that of from the top of a hill viewing in the far distance a very large housing estate and being required to find anything of any interest in the sight.
She follows the Spain months with her months in Cuba, but these are by no means startling, informative or even interesting. She takes dictation, she goes for walks with Hemingway, visits the Havana markets every week with Mary Welsh, Hemingway’s fourth and long-suffering wife.
After a hard day’s whatever, she swims in the nude, though only after ‘Papa’ and then Welsh have had their turn. What with the nine-strong staff and Juan, the grey-uniformed (‘gray-uniformed’ — wouldn’t want to confuse American readers) chauffeur, there was something distinctly grand and feudal about the Hemingway court at Finca.
Finally, she parts company with the Hemingways and moves to New York. But things are not going well with Hemingway who was slowly losing his marbles. That summer he had taken it into his head that he needed to go to Spain again for more research on his Live feature, but it becomes apparent he can’t cope and Welsh sends Valerie out to keep an eye on his.
Eventually back in the US, Hemingway’s health, both mental and physical goes from bad to worse over the following ten months and blasts his head off. And that is pretty much all we get of Hemingway in Running With Bulls.
Those chapters covering April 1959 to summer 1960, are topped and tailed by a few opening chapters detailing Valerie’s childhood and how she ended up in Spain and met Hemingway. The nine chapters after attending his funeral and her subsequent life then follow. They all beg the question: of what interest are they given that Hemingway is the focus of this volume and the reason many would have bought it?
OK, you might say, this is Valerie Hemingway’s memoir, so it should be about her. But, quite frankly why, without the Hemingway months, should we be interested in Valerie Hemingway, neé Valeria Danby-Smith? Yes, she had a career in publishing, but it was not stellar or extraordinary and, well, so did and do many other people.
OK, you go on, but she did marry Hemingway’s third son, Gregory. Well, yes she did, and an odd and unhappy character he turns out to be, but those chapters are also curiously dull. The world is full of odd and unhappy characters, many like him who suffered and suffer from gender dysphoria. But a chronicle of their lives would not differ much from the chronicle of her life with Gregory, distressing as it must have been.
The only distinction was that Gregory was Hemingway’s third son and that his share of the royalties (finally granted after he and his brothers John and Patrick threatened to take Welsh, who inherited everything, to court) enabled him to live a somewhat harum-scarum life. But there again, in that respect he certainly did not stand out — the world is full of sons of wealthy dads who have gone off the rail.
Yes, as her husband, he surely deserves a role in Valerie Hemingway’s memoir, but — I’ll repeat — if it weren’t for those months she spent with Hemingway, would we even bother reading Valerie Hemingway’s memoir?
Frankly, what is of any interest that in this volume would have made a readable magazine or Sunday supplement feature of about 3,000 words (or in US where they seem to prefer for overwritten, longwinded features about 10,000 to 15,000 words). To be blunt, it overstays its welcome badly.
For me the one fact of note was the account of the last year or so of Valerie’s marriage to Gregory, who repeatedly got the all-clear from fellow physicians (who, as Val points out, were not about to rat out a colleague), but who was in demotic terms as nutty as fruitcake.
His virulent and very frightening verbal and almost physical abuse of Valerie in that time reminded me starkly of accounts of the manic treatment Hemingway meted out to his third wife Martha Gellhorn in the dying days of their marriage. It would seem Hemingway pére and Hemingway fils had more in common than either might have liked to acknowledge.
In fact, that is something the father did acknowledge when he once remarked that his son had ‘the biggest dark side in the family except me’ (and does prompt me to wonder whether Ernest also suffered from gender dysphoria? His manic machismo, his fetish for hair and his enthusiasm for role reversal in bed do make the notion not completely far-fetched).
I should, perhaps, explain my rather measly verdict of 2/5 for Valerie’s memoir. It might well have got 3/5, and it is certainly not badly written. But — to my tastes at least — it is rather too much like the ‘standard middle-class memoir’ turned out by ‘standard middle-class writers’.
Her style is English / Irish pedestrian: everyone is ‘enthralled’ and ‘enchanted’, meals are ‘devoured’, fires inevitably ‘roar’, nights are invariably ‘wonderful’. You’ve read it once, you’ve read it 1,001 times.
Some might like that style, but it sets my teeth on edge. Some might be — well are, judging by the many four-star verdicts this book gets — ‘enthralled’ by it. I wasn’t.
If by some chance Val reads my rather sniffy review: sorry. But as plain-spoken, down-to-earth Irishwoman I’m sure at heart you wouldn’t want anything but honesty.
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April 28, 2022The first thing that came to mind upon reading Valerie Hemingway's memoir was "Boy! Can this lady write!" I really enjoyed the crisp style she uses, which makes sense once you read about her career in journalism. However, what I enjoyed most was her personal story. What a life! Spanning before, during, and after "Papa," the book reads like a novel, and it really helped expand my understanding of Hemingway, the man, the family man, the friend, the brilliant writer, and the very complicated person that he was. For most of the book, I envied her life running with the bulls and with Papa and his entourage, but in the latter part of the book, I was glad that I didn't have to go through the personal misfortunes and tragedies she and her family endured. It is an explicit and unvarnished tale of a life lived as big as her primary subjects. I highly recommend this book! A wonderful book and a great addition to anyone's Hemingway collection!
March 18, 2015
Great book that fills in a lot of the details about the last years of Ernest Hemingway's life, from the dangerous summer to his suicide. Written by Valerie Hemingway, his secretary and later wife to his youngest son and later a journalist.
Although the book covers Valerie's entire life, the focus is mainly on her relationship with the Hemingways, Ernest, Mary and Greg, which begins when she's sent to interview Ernest at a Madrid hotel in 1959.
The last line of the second-to-last chapter speaks volumes: "More than twenty-eight years had passed since that fateful day when I walked into the Suecia hotel in Madrid to interview Ernest Hemingway. From that day on, for better or worse, my life was inextricably linked to the Hemingway family."
And a dysfunctional family it is.
Although the book covers Valerie's entire life, the focus is mainly on her relationship with the Hemingways, Ernest, Mary and Greg, which begins when she's sent to interview Ernest at a Madrid hotel in 1959.
The last line of the second-to-last chapter speaks volumes: "More than twenty-eight years had passed since that fateful day when I walked into the Suecia hotel in Madrid to interview Ernest Hemingway. From that day on, for better or worse, my life was inextricably linked to the Hemingway family."
And a dysfunctional family it is.
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December 26, 2016Dysfunctional! This is the memoir of an Irish woman who as a young girl worked for and became a close associate of Ernest Hemingway and his family. She later married Ernest Hemingway's youngest son and was for many decades an ally and a friend. Without going in to detail this is a story of rich people. their drinking, their sexual issues, their lifestyle and the people associated with that lifestyle. There are some interesting spots including the loss of their Cuban home when Castro took over Cuba and their meetings with him. The book takes place in Spain, France, Bimini, Cuba, Key West, New York, Sun Valley and all the jet set places. All in all, it is a story of dysfunction and an expose of a lifestyle that I hope is very limited in these days.
August 20, 2010
This was written by the ex-wife of the son of Hemingway who later became a woman. Valerie Hemingway kept the Hemingway name, obviously, but she really earned it by helping Ernest out with his manuscripts and writing. She transcribed for him. She lived with he and Mary, the last wife, down in Cuba. I found this story quite interesting with unusual points of candid observations that I hadn't found in other books about Ernest Hemingway and his family. I change my rating though as I have thought about the book in retrospect. It wasn't amazing it was just really good.
May 1, 2015
When I first stumbled across this book, it struck me that there are only a handful of people or less in the world who know what it is like to have been young, green, and suddenly in the company of a writer at the top of his game. Valerie Hemingway's book is a fascinating read, taking the reader into the heart of the life she led with Ernest (and Mary) Hemingway in his last years. She writes beautifully, recreating scenes and giving us a keen sense of what she experienced. Highly recommended!
March 14, 2020
As a current resident of Walloon Lake, Michigan (Ernest Hemingway’s youthful summer home) this was a treat...plus I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Valerie a few times up north here. She had a unique opportunity and perspective inside Hemingway’s world that few others can claim...even after his death. Many (many) books have been written about Hemingway and this one is definitely worth the read!
February 1, 2016
Another perspective
A very interesting read and perspective on Hemingway, although the latter years of his life. However, the authors own story and insight into Hemingways kids is very interesting.
A very interesting read and perspective on Hemingway, although the latter years of his life. However, the authors own story and insight into Hemingways kids is very interesting.
October 19, 2016
A Witness to History
I'm very glad that I read Valerie Hemingway's book. Like all family stories, this one deserved to be told. Blessings.
I'm very glad that I read Valerie Hemingway's book. Like all family stories, this one deserved to be told. Blessings.
November 4, 2016
I love learning more about Hemingway. Very interesting read!
March 28, 2021
This is a unique perspective on life with the Hemingways.
Valerie worked as Ernest's secretary in the last years of his life, then worked as Mary's secretary after Ernest's death, and then married Ernest's son, Gregory, and had three children with him (he adopted a 4th child from an earlier 'relationship' of Valerie's). She fell into their lives and had a great adventure along the way (before marrying Gregory, that is). She sticks with what she knows and the book reads as an honest reflection of her relationships with the various Hemingways. The closing sentence of the books rings melancholy and true. "It is the saddest story and it is, in part, my own." The book provides details and stories not found elsewhere and it is a worthy read.
Valerie worked as Ernest's secretary in the last years of his life, then worked as Mary's secretary after Ernest's death, and then married Ernest's son, Gregory, and had three children with him (he adopted a 4th child from an earlier 'relationship' of Valerie's). She fell into their lives and had a great adventure along the way (before marrying Gregory, that is). She sticks with what she knows and the book reads as an honest reflection of her relationships with the various Hemingways. The closing sentence of the books rings melancholy and true. "It is the saddest story and it is, in part, my own." The book provides details and stories not found elsewhere and it is a worthy read.
April 22, 2024
What an incredibly strong woman. Thank you Valerie for telling your story. I had the pleasure of meeting Valerie at a writer's retreat this past weekend and heard some of the story and had started listening to her book on Audible on the drive to the retreat, then listened to it on the way home and finished it up today. I've been learning about the Hemingway family for a few years now and did read Gregory/Gloria's memoir Papa a couple of years ago - I may need to reread that now. Valerie is an incredible teacher and person.
December 22, 2023
Nice work Mrs. Valerie!
The first half of this book was great, what we get the book for - mostly about her interactions with Papa. It was great to hear her version of their travels and relationships with the bullfighters and bullfighting.
The second half was more on her life after Ernest.
Funny thing, I had a vision of what she looked like in my head, that changed dramatically when I got to the middle and saw her pictures.
Really like her writing style in this.
Good stuff.
The first half of this book was great, what we get the book for - mostly about her interactions with Papa. It was great to hear her version of their travels and relationships with the bullfighters and bullfighting.
The second half was more on her life after Ernest.
Funny thing, I had a vision of what she looked like in my head, that changed dramatically when I got to the middle and saw her pictures.
Really like her writing style in this.
Good stuff.
June 7, 2017
I am giving this book 5 stars, it was well written and Anne Flosnik did a great job reading the book. I listened to this in my car. When I drove into my garage, I did not want to get out of my car. I wanted to keep listening. I am a huge fan of Ernest Hemingway.
Valerie had an interesting and heartbreaking life during those years. What an adventure!
Valerie had an interesting and heartbreaking life during those years. What an adventure!
June 5, 2019
Estas son las memorias de Valerie Hemingway 💭, quien a los 19 años conoció a Ernest Hemingway y se convirtió en su secretaria y amiga por muchos muchos años, teniendo así, el privilegio de convivir con el escritor y su familia como pocas personas (después casándose con su hijo Gregory Hemingway), y ahora compartiendo sus experiencias en este libro increíble
August 30, 2017
His secretary's autobiography
Although only about 1/3 of the book was about Papa himself, the entire book is her life story as it was affected by a chance meeting with him. It's an interesting look into the world through the eyes of the privileged in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Although only about 1/3 of the book was about Papa himself, the entire book is her life story as it was affected by a chance meeting with him. It's an interesting look into the world through the eyes of the privileged in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
August 20, 2019
I read this on recommendation of a Hemingway scholar I met at one of the Hemingway homes. It gives a different perspective and insight on Ernest Hemingway and his family. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Ernest Hemingway's time in Cuba and the final years of his life.
December 24, 2018
Very engaging and enjoyable story of the last years of Hemingway's life and Valerie Hemingway's relationship with him. The story of Greg Hemingway is very sad.
February 10, 2020
Excellent book. Listened to it while driving. Really interesting perspective from a woman who was first the personal secretary to Ernest Hemingway and later married his son Gregory.
July 4, 2020
Valerie Hemingway
This looked to be a promising read but it turned out disappointing though the first 60% of the book was fairly good but the rest was pretty average reading.
This looked to be a promising read but it turned out disappointing though the first 60% of the book was fairly good but the rest was pretty average reading.
August 17, 2021
Interesting biography written by a friend of EH during his Spanish and Cuban years. I enjoy EH's persona - the bad is bad and the good is good like most of us.
August 3, 2022
It is one of the best books on Hemingway that I’ve read - Norman Mailer and…
I have to agree.
I have to agree.
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