A review by bupdaddy
Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway

3.0

The book is good. It's good but it's sad. It's a good, sad book about a good, sad man, and that's what Hemingway intended. He knew that writing a good book is a fine thing, because people will enjoy reading it.

I tell myself that he's right: reading a good book is a good thing. You can be glad that the book is good, and you can be glad that you are not a character in the book, because Hemingway books are sad books, and characters in Hemingway books do not have an easy time of it. But it's a good, fine thing to enjoy as a good read.

Lots of books you are not reading, because you are reading this one right now, may be better - hell, some must be - but do not dwell on that. No, do not dwell on that, but read the good book you have, because you know it is good and is nothing to complain about. You've got a good book and it's a pleasure to read, and it's a damned sight better to read than it is to be one of the characters in the book.

If you are a character in a Hemingway book you will probably get shot. You'll get shot and it will hurt like hell and there will be blood and you might die. If you do not die, you may get shot again, later in the book. That will hurt like hell, too, and if you get shot a second time you might as well die because Hemingway has it in for you.

So be glad that you are reading the book, you bastard, and that you aren't one of the bastards in the book.