A true gem
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A must for any fan of short prose fiction. At times sparse, at times sprawling, Hemingway was one of the best all-time writers. He could convey such deep emotions without the use of many adjectives or adverbs. It didn't matter to him. His at times laconic style spoke more in ten words than most writers could say in 100.
A MUST!
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Gems from the master
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The Complete Short Stories is a wonderful read. It has the fullest collection of Hemingway's short prose available. However I dispute the validity of some of the publisher's selections - which, it turns out, is what this book really is. "One Trip Across" and "The Tradesman's Return" are interesting but are actually part of To Have and Have Not. "The Last Good Country" is not a short story but an uncompleted novel. "A Train Trip" and "The Porter" are not stories at all but six chapters from an uncompleted novel called A New Slain Knight that he wrote in 1928. "The Strange Country" is also not a story but deleted chapters from Islands in the Stream. Others of his stories were also omitted: many of his early stories from the 1910s and early '20s, the fable "A Divine Gesture," a bullfight story "A Lack of Passion," and several World War II stories, including "A Room on the Garden Side," "The Monument," "Indian County and the White Army," "The Bubble Reputation" and others. Most of these stories have never been published before and it would be nice if a book would come out with all of them. Until then read this one. But still, this is a wonderful read. The only collection I enjoyed more was the stellar "Children's Corner" by Jackson McCrae with its insight into the human heart and its wonderful balance between humor and sadness.
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Surprised
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What so surprised me after I started reading this wonderful collection, was that many of the stories were familiar to me. I had evidently read them in school at one time and remembered them fondly. But I had forgotten exactly WHO had written them. My two favorites are "A Clean Well-lighted space" and "Train Trip," although I can honestly say there isn't a bad on in the bunch. I so much prefer Hemingway's short stories to his novels and I can't believe he isn't given more credit as a writer of these marvelous little gems. Also recommended: "The Bark of the Dogwood."
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Hemingway at His Best
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Ernest Hemingway was a master of the short story. Many of them (e.g. Hills Like White Elephants, A Clean Well Lighted Place, My Old Man) show him at his best. They are like prose poems, with every word appropriately placed, and with memorable characters, dialogue, irony, atmosphere and plot. His terse, simple style fit the short story beautifully. His novels suffer at times, but his best short stories are true masterpieces. Highly recommended.
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Hemingway Holds His Own In The Short Story Form
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Hemingway is best known for his novels, like "A farewell to Arms", "For Whom The Bell Tolls", and "The Old Man and the Sea", but he also wrote a handful of true masterpieces in the short story form, most notably "The Snows of Kilimamjaro." And he wrote many competent stories still worth reading today. What is most pleasing is his use of short sentences and simple syntax, simple style. There's nothing pretentious or wordy about Hemingway's fiction, and it is this uncluttered naturalness of his writing style that has so influenced succeeding generations of novelists and storytellers. As a writer of novels and stories, he helped make the clear, modern fiction style of writing popular, avoiding "cheap meaningless words and stylistic embellishments." Most of his short fiction is set in Italy and Spain, like the story "Hills Like White Elephants." David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes"
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