Papa: A Personal Memoir

by Gregory H. Hemingway, Norman Mailer (Preface)

Paperback.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Biography Memoir

119 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1976

Reviews

[Hunter Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight on a man larger than life from someone who knew him better than most, his son. The prose is surprisingly wonderful. The apple didn't fall far from the tree.

[W Freeman]

Occasionally touches at the raw nerve of a complicated relationship with a now dead complicated father but pads out the text mostly with a few fond memories stretched thin and sprinkled with far too many directly attributed quotes to seem a believable memory - also omits any aspect of the author's gender dysphoria and the complicated ways this tied into her relationship with her father. Of course I understand why this would be omitted (published in the 70s far before her public transition and in a time of little acceptance) but somewhat disappointing in terms of interest in something closer to the truth - actually why I picked this up after reading Hemingway's final, heavily edited, novel Garden of Eden which was such an odd freakout of gender anxiety (two lovers increasingly androgenizing toward a middle during a toxic codependent love affair, with Catherine taking a masculine name and referring to David as her girl) that basically even a surface read completely reorders the popular image of Hemingway that I grew very curious what else lay in such a snare? Last few pages are quite haunting as the author phones her father for more money while he is holed up at a mental institution and being electro shocked until his memory is kaput. Shortly later he is dead and she is at the funeral - "'atoms can't dream, Gig,' I heard him say, 'don't delude yourself kid.' There was no solace in thinking of cliches... I would never see him again."

The short memoir also offers a glimpse of a sort of spoiled-brat psychopath where for years the author takes out her frustrations on hordes of elephants which she mercilessly kills for little reason other than to try and satiate some black pit deep inside her -- deeply upsetting passages.

[Melano Durmishidze]

“Papa- A Personal Memoir” is a book written by Gregory H.Hemingway, Ernets Hemingways’s youngest son. It is entertaining and heart touching.I really enjoyed reading the book as Hemingway s one of my favorite writers.

There's a good case with Ernest Hemingway that knowing the personality of the writer is actually relevant to understanding the literature. Doubtless, Hemingway was an emotional person, and he appears to have worked out a lot of his emotions and thoughts in his writing. The book describes lots of exciting stories of life as the son of an American Literary Giant. Ernest Hemingway traveled from New York to Paris to Spain, fished the waters off Cuba, hunted in Idaho, ran with the bulls in Pamplona—and once Hotchner even masqueraded as a matador and Hemingway’s manager in an actual bullfight.

In addition, the book was wirtten in 1966 and all the stories take part in different places.It is a nice tribute to Ernest Hemingway by his youngest son. What makes this memoir even more poignant to me is that Gregory Hemingway was a mixed up guy who became a doctor and later a woman. Interesting to me is the relationship between Martha Gellhorn and Gregory Hemingway, whose mother was E. Hemingway's second wife, Pauline. Gregory or as he was called by Ernest, Gig, calls Gellhorn, "Marty".

Moreover, I think that the book doesn't have a particular reason or goal. This is the best short biography of Hemingway.It is not the most extensive study, but if you're looking for a brief and powerful biography, this is the best choice.There's a lot of love in this book and a lot of hate as well. Lots of exciting stories about life as the son of the awesome writer, as well as tales of hunting for elephants, almost being eaten by sharks and etc.

Lastly, I would recommend this book to people who appreciate other people’s work and the most important-love them. This book will appeal ones who like meeting new people and listening to their stories.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

hodně zajímavej obraz hemingwaye spisovatele, ale nechala jsem se zlákat kontroverzí ohledně gregoryho / glorie hemingway a myslela jsem, že bude tenhle aspekt jejich vztahu v knize nějak rozebranej. byly tam určitý zmínky, ale vážně to bylo spíš o vztahu otce a syna, respektive literárního giganta a jeho potomka

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last line of this is simple and devastating.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short (at just 119 pages), but good. Gregory is definitely still dealing with difficult feelings about his famous father 15 years after his death. It’s definitely a love hate relationship. Very raw and real assessment of Hemingway.

[Jim Cherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was growing up, Hemingway (so ubiquitous was his name and legend you don’t have to

attach the qualifier of his first name, everyone knows who you’re talking about) was the model

of a writer, living a larger than life life and writing about it. I’ve read most of Hemingway’s

novels, and those novels pushed me to his biographies to try and figure out his secrets. While

they were successful in transmitting the legend, the facts, wild tales, and anecdotes of his life.

However, failed to glimpse the man, that is until I read Papa: A Personal Memoir by Gregory

Hemingway.


Gregory Hemingway is Hemingway’s youngest son. The son Hemingway claimed most

resembled him in temperament, the son who had a falling out with his father (Hemingway

accused Gregory of causing his mother’s death). The father’s legend weighed so heavily on

the son’s life who had a lot of the same problems of the father which manifested themselves in

the son’s life. His story sadly, ended much the same as his father’s. Although Gregory

Hemingway’s relationship with his father was conflicted, he was able to write a memoir that

remembers a warm, loving man of his youth and recognizes the deterioration that seeped into his

father’s life and psyche. Through Gregory’s memoir we get to see what so many other books

have failed at, and that we’re rarely able to glimpse, the human being behind one of the largest

legends of the twentieth century.

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting look into an incredible author. We visited Hemingway’s home in Key West last year so it was fun to be able to visualize the area. There will always be a disconnect between reading talented authors and hating the lives that some of them lived.

I know things are different now, but having the author bragging about the trophy animals he killed in Africa was a real problem for me- especially the amount of elephants killed just for the tusks. It made me want to throw up.

[HJ Vanny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Childhood Adventures with Ernest Hemingway:

Written by Ernest's youngest son 15 years after Ernest's death, this short book is full of fascinating stories. If you're looking for a complete biography of Ernest or Gregory, this volume is not for you. Random childhood events are recalled with humor, some with anger, but it's written from a young boy's perspective, a boy who grew up in the shadow of a giant.
There are really interesting and funny commentaries on various writers by Ernest as recalled by Gregory. Those and the story about "Gladly, the cross-eyed bear" are worth the read alone.

Gregory defends Ernest ("nobody would ever let papa just be human") and oddly blames others for driving Ernest to suicide while also stating that Ernest took the only option he had.
At the semi-Christian burial of Ernest, the priest was instructed to read from Ecclesiastes, "which papa knew put men in their proper place." "One generation cometh and another passeth away, but the land abideth forever." He stopped short of the phrase, "The Sun also Rises...".
Childhood adventures of Gregory with Ernest are what this book is about and it was a joy to read.

[Frederick Gault · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir by Ernest Hemingway's son is extraordinary for what it does NOT include. It is a deeply dishonest book - omitting the fact that the author, Gregory Hemingway, was bi-polar, a cross-dresser undergoing sex-reassignment surgery and an alcoholic who died in jail. He also doesn't mention one of his four wives who was schizophrenic. That's a lot to gloss over in a biography! It is important to continue on to the whole story by reading STRANGE TRIBE by John Hemingway, the author's son, and Ernest Hemingway's grandson, to get the full story. The omissions in PAPA: A PERSONAL MEMOIR is actually part of the tragedy of Gregory's chaotic life, showing a very different person than who he was. This book was an effort to re-write history.

[Aj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because I wanted to gain insight into the mind of a woman who never got to live the life that would have made her happy but survived nonetheless. I am not sure I got that. I enjoyed it anyway.

I was struck by many things in this short memoir; from the racism, to the blasé recount of killing endangered species, to the surprising eloquence and insight of the author.

I hope Gloria Hemingway was able to find her peace.

[Renae Hesselink · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many different perspectives for learning about Ernest. Gregory was son number 3. Pauline was his mother. Such a complicated man Ernest was but he seemed to be a loving man at least for his children.

[Michael Alligood · Rating 2 out of 5]

Self indulgent and not very well written. Also, these memoirs do not add up to anything close to those that are well-researched and amply documented.

[Rick Saunders · Rating 1 out of 5]

To steal from Dotty Parker, this is not a book to be tossed aside lightly but thrown with great force. Greg should have gotten a ghostwriter. Bleh.

[Melissa Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, compelling read. I enjoyed it a lot. RIP Gloria Hemingway.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull, with a few interesting segments and a couple truly moving sentences

[Joseph Hageman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining, thoughtful and well written

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

A priceless read for fans of Ernest Hemingway

[Emily Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice and moving.

[C. Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written but really much too short, too surface.

[Linda Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful read. Gregory Hemingway's writing is very visual. Touching memories of his father, Ernest, and their life together. Enjoyed reading about the authors the older Hemingway enjoyed.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This small book is a nice tribute to Ernest Hemingway by his youngest son. I have had it on my shelves for years and just now decided to read it. It is an easy and quick read and reveals a sweetness in the elder Hemingway that somehow has been overlooked in other books. Maybe Gregory saw a sweetness that wasn't there given his eventual life circumstances, but he notes it, nonetheless. Interesting to me is the relationship between Martha Gellhorn and Gregory Hemingway, whose mother was E. Hemingway's second wife, Pauline. Gregory or as he was called by Ernest, Gig, calls Gellhorn, "Marty". What makes this memoir even more poignant to me is that Gregory Hemingway was a mixed up guy who became a doctor and later a woman. Gregory Hemingway's first wife was Valerie Hemingway who wrote RUNNING WITH THE BULLS. The photographs included in PAPA show manly activities Gregory enjoyed with his father as well as Gregory in Sun Valley with Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper. Gregory HEmingway committed suicide in 2001.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect companion piece - providing insight - to "The Old Man and the Sea."

There's a good case with Ernest Hemingway that knowing the personality of the writer is actually relevant to understanding the literature. Doubtless, Hemingway was an autobiographical writer, and he was emotional, and he appears to have worked out a lot of his emotions and thoughts in his writing.

Gregory's book falls short of delving into gender issues (think Hemingway's Pilar in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and asundry other Hemingway characters), but Gregory wrote and published this book in 1976, before he delved into those issues himself. Oddly, this book isn't the place to find any of those thoughts, but this book is the place to find a great deal of introspection and interpretation of Hemingway as a father and a man, and the literature.

[Jason Lilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

While researching Hemingway's life, I was happy to discover this brief biography of one of the most intriguing and talented American writers. Gregory "Gig" Hemingway stumbled from complete admiration for his father, to fear, to frustration. This is the best short biography of Hemingway I have read from someone who knew him well, better than all scholars, professors, and Hemingway fans. It is not the most extensive study, but if you're looking for a brief and powerful biography, this is the best choice.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a memoir by Ernest Hemmingway's youngest son about his father. Giving it 3 stars because it did enlighten me as to a few things about Hemmingway that I didn't know. However, the anecdotes are peacemeal with no real flow. It was like he was sitting around the kitchen table telling a bunch of separate stories about his father. Also the 60's vernacular was a bit racist/sexist for my tastes and although that was the times it was still off-putting. But it did give a bit more insight into the man.

[Baglady · Rating 2 out of 5]

brief and interesting, a story of a boy and his father, but I skimmed a great deal. Seems more a son's reaction to his father's actions, rather than interactions between the two. The closest interactions were drinking (a young child drinking alcohol and suffering ill effects and dad seems to be both accepting and proud)and hunting. Admittedly, the relationships between parent and child were different then, but the author seems quite happy with what, to me, seems to be a very distant relationship.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by Hemingway’s youngest son, who became a doctor, fathered umpteen children, and eventually went on to undergo years of therapy for his cross-dressing. Well-written but of course just a slice of Hemingway’s life — he and his brothers usually spent only summers and some holidays with their father.

[Brett Brunmeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remarkably good, albeit brief, memoir from EH's youngest son. He shares insights his other biographers have either avoided or could not have known, not only about his father, but others in EH's life, including his two wives who followed Gregory's mother Pauline. It's a quick, pleasurable read and well worth the time of anyone interested in "Papa."

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have even a passing interest in Ernest Hemingway, I highly recommend this slim book by his youngest son. It is filled with fascinating and outragous ancedotes about E.H. and is also a very moving and insightful story about the relationship between a father and son.

[Bayneeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast, one-sitting read. The author of Hemingway's Boat spoke very highly of this memoir, and I enjoyed it. Gregory, Hemingway's youngest son, speaks lovingly of childhood times with his father though as an adult their relationship was troubled.