[.uk] The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories (Scribner ... (ISBN 0684862212)

Amazon.com Review:
Returning from a Kenyan safari in 1932, Ernest Hemingway quickly devised a literary trophy to add to his stash of buffalo hides and rhino horns. To this day, Green Hills of Africa seems an almost perverse paean to the thrills of bloodshed, in which the author cuts one notch after another in his gun barrel and declares, "I did not mind killing anything." Four years later, however, Hemingway came up with a more accomplished spin on his African experiences--a pair of them, in fact, which he collected with eight other tales in The Snows of Kilimanjaro. The title story is a meditation on corruption and mortality, two subjects that were already beginning to preoccupy the 37-year-old author. As the protagonist perishes of gangrene out in the bush, he recognizes his own failure of nerve as a writer: Now he would never write the things that he had saved to write until he knew enough to write them well. Well, he would not have to fail at trying to write them either. Maybe you could never write them, and that was why you put them off and delayed the starting. Well he would never know, now. In the story, at least, the hero gets some points for stoic acceptance, as well as an epiphanic vision of Kilimanjaro's summit, "wide as all the world, great, high, and unbelievably white in the sun." (The movie version is another matter: Gregory Peck makes it back to the hospital, loses a leg, and is a better person for it.) But Hemingway's other great white hunter, in "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," is granted a less dignified exit. This time the issue is cowardice, another of Papa's bugaboos: poor Francis is too wimpy to face down a wounded lion, let alone satisfy his treacherous wife in bed. Yet he does manage a last-minute triumph before dying--an absolute assertion of courage--which makes the title a hair less ironic than it initially seems. No wonder these are two of the highest-caliber (so to speak) tales in the Hemingway canon. --Bob Brandeis

Hemingway at his best and otherwise:
There are two exceptional stories in this volume: The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Short Happy Life of Francis Mccomber. Both of these stories satisfied my need for other places and experiences while exploring the familiar ground of long term, mildly satisfactory relationships. The other stories are hit and miss, but still they are Hemingway's and so, if you like his work as I do, they hit the mark more often than they fall short.

Papa's Life Shines through his Work:
If, ever, you have wanted to travel along with Papa (Hemingway) along his many travels and adventures, this collection of stories is the ideal way to rest your soles in his footsteps. "Kilimanjaro" in particular, transports you to a bygone era of safaris not with telephoto lenses, but with long rifle barrels. Primarily, though, it is an introspective look at one's life and the worth that one ascribes to his experiences while he is ready to close his eyes for the final time. Hemingway captures the moment when a dying man's recollections either turn into regrets or points of pride and self actualization.

With stories left untold . . .:
Between the first story about dealing with life in the context of death and the last story about dealing with death in the context of life, the stories between the two in this anthology follow suit thematically. As a topical collection, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories serves as a good overview of the more dreary side of Hemingway's standard subject matter: unspoken dissatisfaction, the absence of emotion in the midst of war, and decent men in the midst of bad lives. In the title story, Harry turns into the expectation of death towards the end of his life after realizing that he, like us all, will die with stories untold. The monologue where he talks about saving the best stories for too long is surely one of the most terse and accurate statements on the creation of and co-existence with art. The oft-anthologized "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" retrogrades and shifts the viewpoint of the people who surround misery as opposed to misery itself. Of course, in fitting with the feel of the rest of the stories, there exists the inescapable unity within the brotherhood of melancholy. "A Day's Wait" seems tossed of, and fails at the short form that "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" succeeds with. The next story is the ridiculously-titled (and perhaps misplaced) "The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio," and even if the ending reveals too much with its final exchange of dialogue, the story is good and occasionally funny (on purpose, which is rare for Hemingway). Two Nick Adams stories--the odd "Fathers and Sons" and the solid-yet-anticlimactic "The Killers"--are all right, but leave me wondering why he has become a reoccurring character in Hemingway's work. Between them is "In Another Country," where the style makes what is important either unsaid or trivialized, thereby perfecting the concept of a dead and unsettled center in the middle of a chaotic swirl of feelings. A third Nick Adams story ("A Way You'll Never Be") seemed like a poorly done "In Another Country." The collection closes with "Fifty Grand" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," two tales of realization and redemption. This is a very nice introduction to Hemingway's short fiction, with a little bit of sadness soot available for everyone.

Mediocre:
I gave a brief try to Hemingway two or three years ago that didn't stick, though I don't remember the volume. Then, the other day, with full-on earnestness, I grabbed up this book. I thought it was pretty simple stuff. He seems to be write absolutely from the gut. Short sentences, bland sentences. Nothing that is deeply thoughtful or even conscious. He is well-known as a macho writer who nonetheless delivered a genius to mass and critical audiences. But I'm not sure I understand how or why. I ought to try one on his famous novels before haranguing the icon, but there is almost no temptation after reading this collection. I give him credit for conjuring up thick clouds of weird, dark emotion over seemingly fleeting events (one story in this collection, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, does this particularly well), but the balance was a disappointment.

Great Stories:
This is a good collection of some of Hemmingway's short stories. They are all brilliant. It is Hemmingway though so you wouldn't expect any less. Excellent reading.