Okay, so we started this regular Book Of Da Week thing back in December, or something, and we’ve still not done a Hemingway. Shocking, right? The Literary God penned many books with a distinct writing style. It used concise sentences. A lack of big words. To make everything. So much more. Dramatic. Crap bags, it sure did work! Hemingway won The Nobel Prize in Literature, as well as Beard of the Decade (for the ‘50s).

We considered Old Man and the Sea, or some other predictable fable from the Hemingway library. Instead, we’ve gone for the Snows of Kilimanjaro, which is a big hill in Wales we believe. This one is, what ho, a collection of short stories, some of which are dramatic, haunting, emotive, and other words from the Hemingway world of literary description.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

In this collection, Indian Camp and the eponymous story are, arguably, the finest examples of the author’s grasp for drama. The former deals with a child contemplating life itself, whilst the latter has a long hard look at illness and certain death. There are 17 stories in total, though, and you’d no doubt have your own favourite as, you know, that’s how subjectivity works. Innit.

If fast paced, punchy fiction which doesn’t hold back on the nitty and gritty of life is your thing, then this book will be your thing, and Hemingway will also be your thing. It’s a thing you’ll be able to enjoy for the rest of your thing. Which is the joy of literature, huh?

Our only criticism is Hemingway seemed to have a real problem choosing leading character names for his stories. In almost every one he casts “Nick” as the central bloke. Who was this “Nick” and why is he in nearly every Hemingway short story?! I mean, come on man, with your imagination you could have spruced it up a bit with, like, Steve, Jeff, or Mr. Wapojif, huh? But, no, Nick it is! What a gifted weirdo.