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Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways Audiobook
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(3.04) - 173 listener ratings
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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 Movable 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. 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.
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"This was a very good novel. It was a bit different than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be a bio about Hemingway, instead it was about Valerie, who marries Hemingways astranged son. It focuses on the last few years of Hemingways life, which was interesting. "
— Kel (5 out of 5 stars)
Running with the Bulls Listener Reviews
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" This book is about a woman who was the secretary for Ernest Hemingway for a little while. She also married his youngest son about Ernest Hemingway's death. That family is bizarro! It was an interesting read, but weird too. "
— Nicci, 2/8/2014 -
" This was a very good novel. It was a bit different than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be a bio about Hemingway, instead it was about Valerie, who marries Hemingways astranged son. It focuses on the last few years of Hemingways life, which was interesting. "
— Kel, 1/21/2014 -
" Too much machismo and love of bull fighting for this animal lover. "
— Kathy, 1/20/2014 -
" A super read for anyone curious about the Hemingway mystique. Written by Ernest's last secretary and companion while he was enjoying the corridas in Spain with his "posse". Valerie later winds up marrying Ernest's son, Patrick, who becomes a woman. What a life story! "
— Keith, 12/29/2013 -
" Read this Memoir for Library Discussion Group. "
— Melinda, 6/16/2013 -
" 4.5 stars. prose clear as a bell, story entertaining thruout, alternatingly beautiful and heartbreaking. incredible inside story of valerie's relationship with EH, his decline into madness, and then her subsequent, hellish marriage to his son, greg. "
— Joe, 6/2/2013 -
" Fun insightful insider look into part of Ernest Hemingway's life. "
— Stacy, 5/10/2013 -
" For someone who really doesn't enjoy Hemingway's work, I have no idea why I've read three of his books and one book about him. With that said, the book that's about him is by far the most interesting. "
— Mac, 8/13/2012 -
" Kind of boring. Too much about the author, not nearly enough about the Hemingways. "
— Robin, 7/22/2012 -
" Great history from another perspective. "
— Jason, 6/9/2012 -
" Valerie Danby-Smith was Hemingway's secretary, later marrying his son. For Hemingway fans only. "
— Valerie, 6/6/2012 -
" Read one chapter and put it down, reminded of why I hate memoirs. Unfortunately it is a bookclub book so I will have to read it anyway, but first I will read the other annoying about-Hemingway bookclub book. "
— Celeste, 12/25/2011 -
" Will be talking about this book in a library One Book discussion, so developing my thoughts for that, still. "
— Dee, 11/7/2011 -
" If you want to know what Papa (and his youngest son) went through in their final days, this is the book for you. They battled depression and much more, but this is not a literary classic. "
— Robert, 11/1/2011 -
" this months book club selection. It was interesting, but just okay. I really felt that it was telling the history but without a lot of the emotion, that I would have thought would have been there. I don't think I have ever read anything by Hemingway, but now I want to. "
— Sondra, 8/4/2011 -
" Fascinating; made me feel intrusive, like a peeping Tom prying into Hemmingway's private life. I sometimes felt that Valerie's concept of Ernest's feelings toward her were very speculative and exaggerated. Worth reading. "
— Kelly, 6/9/2011 -
" Valerie had a very unique opportunity and realized it and hung onto it. This book is a valuable tool to those who wish to study the life of Hemmingway. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. "
— Biosyd, 3/18/2011 -
" Kind of boring. Too much about the author, not nearly enough about the Hemingways. "
— Robin, 2/20/2011 -
" For someone who really doesn't enjoy Hemingway's work, I have no idea why I've read three of his books and one book about him. With that said, the book that's about him is by far the most interesting. "
— Mac, 7/10/2009 -
" Valerie had a very unique opportunity and realized it and hung onto it. This book is a valuable tool to those who wish to study the life of Hemmingway. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. "
— Biosyd, 1/12/2009 -
" This book is about a woman who was the secretary for Ernest Hemingway for a little while. She also married his youngest son about Ernest Hemingway's death. That family is bizarro! It was an interesting read, but weird too. "
— Nicci, 11/4/2008 -
" Fun insightful insider look into part of Ernest Hemingway's life. "
— Stacy, 10/31/2008 -
" Valerie Danby-Smith was Hemingway's secretary, later marrying his son. For Hemingway fans only. "
— Valerie, 7/19/2008 -
" A super read for anyone curious about the Hemingway mystique. Written by Ernest's last secretary and companion while he was enjoying the corridas in Spain with his "posse". Valerie later winds up marrying Ernest's son, Patrick, who becomes a woman. What a life story! "
— Keith, 4/21/2008 -
" 4.5 stars. prose clear as a bell, story entertaining thruout, alternatingly beautiful and heartbreaking. incredible inside story of valerie's relationship with EH, his decline into madness, and then her subsequent, hellish marriage to his son, greg. "
— Joe, 11/29/2007 -
" If you want to know what Papa (and his youngest son) went through in their final days, this is the book for you. They battled depression and much more, but this is not a literary classic. "
— Robert, 11/18/2007
About Valerie Hemingway
Valerie Hemingway is a freelance writer and editor. She lives in Bozeman, Montana.
About Anne Flosnik
Anne Flosnik, a seasoned audiobook narrator, has over four hundred titles to her credit and several awards and distinctions, including AudioFile Earphones Awards, a USA Today Recommended Listening selection, an AudioFile “Best Narration of the Year” selection in 2009, and the American Library Association’s Special Services to Children Award. She has also been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She is an award-winning British actress with lead credits on stage, on television, and in commercials and voice-overs.