Reef, Catherine. Ernest Hemingway.

Reef, Catherine. Ernest Hemingway.
Houghton Mifflin/Clarion/Graphia/Kingfisher 2009 181p 20.00
978-0-618-98705-4 ms/hs
Hemingway’s life, lifestyle, and connections to his writing will intrigue students. A very readable text coupled with numerous photographs make this book a visual treat. Extensive chapter notes, bibliography, picture credits and index. Grades 7-12. Reef researched Hemingway’s life and pulled together numerous photographs to illustrate the events and people in Ernest Hemingway’s life. A very readable text shows Hemingway to be a man attracted to violence from an early age. As he grew to manhood, he showed a risk taking attitude that led him into combat situations even when he did not need to be close. His competitiveness led to failed relationships with other men and his love interests changed with the wind. Reef shows him to be self-centered yet brilliant in his writing style. Extensive chapter notes, bibliography and picture credits will lead students to other resources. An exhaustive index will help the student researching particular writings of Hemingway. Students will feel they really understand the man and what drove him to write about the topics he did. His interest in bull fighting and his love of adventure come through in his novels and short stories. He seemed more at home in foreign countries than in the Untied States. His mental health issues are revealed from an early time when he shot animals and thought about shooting his father. His father’s suicide foreshadowed Ernest Hemingway’s own. Family dynamics show that Ernest was not an easy person to be around, although a few of his sisters formed a close bond with him. Recommended for grades 7-12. McNicol,Lois