Christine’s Comments (group member since Sep 24, 2012)

Christine’s comments from the The Importance of Reading Ernest group.

I love this story. There are so many points of view. Great white hunter mocking them all and Margo is . . . yes a major bitch. Hemingway could make you feel something in five words and that's why we still read him and he is never irrelevant. I hate hunting but that's beside the point. The story works. it's raw and paints such a picture of this evolving kaleidescope. You thought you had Francis figured out, but NO.

Oh, I think he loves her. He made sure she was leaving with Pilar's protection and would be okay. Then, maybe i'm romanticing the whole thing but I love their love story, tragic as it is.

Yes, good observation, Tracey. Thank you.

Fair comment. What did others think of Maria: Victim or survivor?

It's so funny because I didn't see Maria that way. She'd been badly abused and is quite young as i recall. I saw her as a survivor.

Agree, Lisa.

I agree, Gary. He has some strong women. PIlar, Catherine was a nurse; Brett was a floozy but knew what she wanted and was not to be denied. He always had strong balanced women in his life and preferred to marry them --and then divorce them!--for another strong, balanced and intelligent woman.

Agree!

Much foreboding! But I love the strength and clarity of the mission and I like Robert Jordan a lot. I sometimes have to remember that this is 1930's lingo and attitudes but I felt he was very nurturing to Maria. Pilar is Very cool.

I love her too. strong, honest, loyal. and yes, she tried to put robert and Maria together even though she knew fate was not good. she is one of my favorites.

I agree, Tracy. Robert Jordan had a lot to live for; dreamed of seeing Madrid with Maria; returning home--to the west, as I recall--but it was his turn and lot in life to give his all for this cause. The Bell tolled for him. This war far away had become his war and his end.

What did you think of Pilar?

I don't know the answer to that. I always read that Hemingway got the title for The Sun Also Rises from the biblical passage. He invested a lot of time in coming up with titles. Interesting article about the various titles that Fitzgerald tried on for The Great Gatsby. Funny to contemplate if it had been called one of those instead.

Gary: you didn't invite us?? I'm speechless. Whistles, Edith Piaf, train sounds?? Does it get any better? And for A Farewell to Arms we'll need bolognese, Sinatra, and war sounds.

I don't get that either. Maybe they felt that he didn't take enough care of Catherine but it was clear that his love was real and that her love changed him. What was "jerky" about him, in their minds?

I agree, Lisa. It's very moving.

I think Hemingway has written some great love stories. For Whom The Bell Tolls is an amazing love story and I, contrary to common opinion, think he does a pretty good job capturing women's feelings. I hate war and bullfighting and hunting but that doesn't take away from his magic and prose and stories.

Saw Silver Linings Playbook at laughed at that scene. Yup, the ending is sad as is For Whom the Bell Tolls (well all of them actually) but just amazing. I agree that the book of Silver Linings is so much better.

Not plugging my "stuff" but I have a blog called theblogalsorises where all is Hemingway all the time if you ever need a Hemingway fix.

I'm just happy people are still reading him.

I am always struck by how Hemingway creates a mood and image with 5 cent words. He doesn't need the flourish and yet you feel what he means intensely. I love the interation Frederic has with his army buddy.There is such a loneliness when Frederic leaves the hospital in the rain in the last scene. It packs a punch.

Hemingway handles women fairly well in For whom the Bell Tolls and some of the short stories. There just are few women--well no women--in the Old Man and the Sea. I'm kind of with Gary on that.

It is always interesting to see drafts and what Hem ended up using. Apparently he wrote the last sentence of The Sun Also Rises thirty ways. "Isn't it pretty to think so?" I like seeing the drafts.