HEMINGWAY'S BOAT Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961

It seems like everything that can be written on Ernest Hemingway has been. Nonetheless, Paul Hendrickson adds to the list of biographical titles. While professing not to be a definitive biography, this profile masquerades as one at times. Its strength lies in revelations about Hemingway’s children and those who cast their lines aboard his boat, Pilar. Jonathan Davis narrates with the tone of someone reading to a friend, a style that is appropriate because passages are culled from books and letters from Hemingway and others. Davis’s Spanish and French accents roll out beautifully. He seems to embrace the many stories—of Pilar’s genesis, of fishing expeditions, of the troubled times of the author’s son Greg. But this tome’s meandering ways are best reserved for those who consider themselves Papa scholars. M.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2012]