An award-winning historian and author, Paul Hendrickson here turns his attention to one of America's most cherished literary icons, Ernest Hemingway. Drawing on previously unpublished material, Hendrickson focuses on Hemingway's life in its twilight, just prior to his suicide, and the seemingly singular constant in the man's life: his boat, Pilar. On this vessel, Hemingway would entertain and travel, but it would also be the scene of some of his greatest tragedies.
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"Caveat here is that I don't give 5 stars easily--otherwise, this is a tour-de-force. Not written by a Hemingway scholar, but a very talented (and dogged) veteran journalist. This is 'creative non-fiction' at the top of the game. Hendrickson won the National Book Critics Circle award for his effort." — Joseph (4 out of 5 stars)
"Caveat here is that I don't give 5 stars easily--otherwise, this is a tour-de-force. Not written by a Hemingway scholar, but a very talented (and dogged) veteran journalist. This is 'creative non-fiction' at the top of the game. Hendrickson won the National Book Critics Circle award for his effort."
“Heartbreaking…Hemingway’s Boat includes some of the most moving, beautiful pieces of biography I have ever read.”
“An admirably absorbing, important, and moving interpretation of Hemingway’s ambitions, passions, and tragedies…Acutely sensitive to his subject’s volatile, ‘gratuitously mean’ personality, Hendrickson offers fascinating details and sheds new light on Hemingway’s kinder, more generous side from interviews with people befriended by Hemingway in his prime.”
“Hemingway’s Book is a book written with the virtuosity of a novelist, hagiographic in the right way, sympathetic, assiduous, and imaginative. It does not rival the biographies but rather stands brilliantly beside them—the sea, Key West, Cuba, all the places, the life he had and gloried in. His commanding personality comes to life again in these pages, his great charm and warmth as well as his egotism and aggression.”
“Hendrickson peer[s] into the intersection of melancholy and history…Less a biography than a deeply reported, achingly considered meditative essay, Hemingway’s Boat covers a vast amount of territory in the life of the mythic, difficult-to-understand Papa, all of it coming back in some way to Hemingway’s beloved thirty-eight-foot, two-engine, ocean-plying Pilar.”
“Henderson is a miraculously lovely writer. He twists and turns through time, moving sensitively between the books and life.”
“Featuring spry writing and clever insight…Hendrickson brings fresh meat to the table, delivering one of the most satisfying Hemingway assessments in many years.”
“Splendid…Drawing on interviews, documents (including thirty-four Pilar logs) and secondary sources, the author succeeds in restoring a sense of Hemingway the man, seen as a flawed, self-sabotaging individual whose kindness and gentleness have been overlooked in accounts of his cruel and boorish side…Seven years in the making, this vivid portrait allows us to see Hemingway on the Pilar once again, standing on the flying bridge and guiding her out of the harbor at sunrise.”
" Enjoyable despite some embarrassingly overblown writing and the fact that the author attempts to wring far more than possible out of the boat metaphor. "
" Very well written and engaging. It puts out a few different speculations at the end. It did feel like it lost focus and wandered in the last 25% of the book. Enjoyable all the same. "
" Too long, to many sad family member stories. More fun to just see the boat, at his house in Cuba. "
" An new take on the life of EH. I was particularly interested in the sections describing the lives of Hemingway's grown sons. At times the writing was a bit bloated. "
" I liked a lot of the research he did into the history of the boat, but the writing style wasn't my cup of tea. "
" Masterful job by Paul Hendrickson. He uses the decades that Hemingway owned his boat, Pilar, to frame the narrative. Difficult to consider Hemingway as just another macho man writer after reading this. "
" First read Hemingway's Girl, then saw this in airport book shop. This is a bio but not a standard one. It is more than the chronology of his life. More of a psychoanalysis - really insightful. Makes me want to go back and read an old text of his! "
" Interesting book that focuses on details surrounding his boat - the one constant in his life. "
" Quite simply the best book I have ever read about Ernest Hemingway. "
" Some parts of this one dragged a bit (unless you love details about boats) but on the whole a really good read for anyone interested in Hemingway's turbulent life. This story has been told before (at least parts of it), but Hendrickson frames it in a unique way. Worth the read for fans of Papa. "
" Started good and then got a bit monotonous "
" If you kinda like Hemingway and REALLY like boats...this book is for you. If not, not so much. "
" Absolutely must read if you're interested in understand Hemingway "
Paul Hendrickson has been on the faculty of the creative writing program at the University of Pennsylvania since 1998. For two decades before that he was a staff writer at the Washington Post. Many of his books have won National Book Critics Awards and National Book Awards, and he received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lyndhurst Foundation, and the Alicia Patterson Foundation. In 2009 he was a joint visiting professor of documentary practice at Duke and of American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives with his wife near Philadelphia.
Jonathan Davis has been inducted into the Audible Narrator Hall of Fame. A three-time recipient and fourteen-time nominee of the Audie Award, he has earned accolades for his narration from the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, the American Library Association, Booklist, the Audio Publishers Association, AudioFile magazine, and USA Today. He has narrated a variety of bestsellers and award-winners for top publishing houses. He also narrated over forty titles of the Star Wars franchise for Lucasfilm Ltd./PRH Audio, including several iconic movie tie-ins, has participated with Star Wars Celebration, and has built a significant fan base. His work as a narrator includes films and programming for National Geographic Television, NOVA, PBS, VH1, and Francis Ford Coppola. He grew up in Puerto Rico and speaks Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew.
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