Ernest Hemingway

A Biography

By: Mary V. Dearborn

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

A revelatory look into the life and work of Ernest Hemingway, considered in his time to be the greatest living American novelist and short story writer, winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

Mary Dearborn's new biography gives the richest and most nuanced portrait to date of this complex, enigmatically unique American artist, whose same uncontrollable demons that inspired and drove him throughout his life undid him at the end and whose seven novels and six short story collections informed - and are still informing - fiction writing generations after his death.

©2017 Mary V. Dearborn (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

A fine book undermined by performance

Would you consider the audio edition of Ernest Hemingway to be better than the print version?

In no way. The audio does the printed book a disservice.

Would you be willing to try another one of Tanya Eby’s performances?

Dearborn's work is very fine, as is her work on Mailer, Miller, etc. but unfortunately the spoken performance of this book has an almost patronizing tone: every aside or clause is overemphasized, and in several cases the inflection is just 'off' and doesn't sit well with the text. It sounds a little like Siri, or the flattened but forced affect of a computer reading. It's prim. Listening to Dearborn herself talk is lively, incisive. Not so with this performance, which I started to think was done by a 'bot'.

Deeply involved, An affront to privacy

With Hemingway’s life already full of adventure and interesting stories, a considerable section of this book is wasted on excessive detail of side characters and tabloid-esque narratives. While I appreciate the author’s commitment to presenting a full image of Ernest Hemingway, it frequently felt like I was hearing things that should not be shared, like his medications or the mental troubles of his son. Now, knowing more about the man, it feels as though the author meant to tell Hemingway’s tale as a series of pitfalls and shortcomings.

Hemingway the person with all his flaws and quirks!

The somewhat brief ending really let me down with this one. Good information about Hemingway and how he interacted with the world around him.

Real Story.

Very interesting. thought I knew Hemmingway pretty well. was very well done. a good listen.

Excellent Read

I always wanted to know more about Hemingway and this book, the narration, research and detail were fantastic. I got a glimpse into the life of the author of some of my favorite books.