Islands in the Stream discussion

In reading the classic Islands In The Stream, I was overall disappointed by the full rendering of this work.

Similarly to The Nick Adams Stories collections ( an earlier collection of Hemmingway's work), the strength in his writing really does deserve much credit to the rich visual tapestry he is able to provide, for instance in The Nick Adams Stories- when telling about the trout stream that Nick camps along and the underlying emotion that one feels in nature and its refreshment to human spirit when experienced in an unspoiled manner such as this, or after surviving something like a war, which the character Nick is returning from, and the understood appreciation then renewed of the purity of it then. The imagery here of the beauty and the simplistic joy in experiencing some of the most pure pleasures of life- fishing a trout stream in this case, are so finely described and able to be felt by the reader here. However, as in Islands in The Stream, this chord, this purpose of thought and weight to the book is not sustained throughout Hemingway's writings in a novel.

In Islands in The Stream, Hemmingway has a magnificent chapter, no doubt, in his telling of his sons' attempted catch of a giant swordfish, even to the point of feeling for you the point of view of the fish himself! This putting you into the mind's eye of every part of the emotions of the characters involved- from the empathy of the father to the boy's goal of catching the fish, the empathy of the brothers in their fellow brother's effort to land him and even the house worker who is more like family and the friend also on board the boat who wants to be able to take on any of the boy's pain that he can for him, but cannot is very good. Hemmingway, many times is quite versed and capable beyond many other writers at getting into the mind of a person and being able to express those innermost feelings, be they basic or more complex in print.

I guess, that said, you can't have it all! He "drops" you in his books, or seems to get tired and leave the book devoid of plot for all of it's wonderful smaller sections about feelings or even the attempt of men to avoid feelings and explain them through another source, in their avoidance,- whatever it is, it is often disjointed to a plot line as it's focus.

This said, aside from wanting to go deep into the introspect of human thought, which we are able to do on our own perhaps far too much as it is( overthinking things as we often do), I feel Hemmingway is overrated as an author and lists on the error of tediousness. Before I make a final judgement call, I will read " Of Human Bondage", knowing a bit, based on the movie I have seen with Leslie Howard, to be very good and seek what was the inspiration for such a telling look at the condition of human misery that gets inflicted upon others instead of the choice to promote kinder nobler aspects of human life- as I do understand is a theme to it.
( this movie)

Nora