Post by King John on Apr 22, 2008 11:11:36 GMT -6
I didn't much care for the first week's stories, "A Very Short Story" and "Soldier's Home", for reasons I tried to explain, mainly that I thought the author was posing falsely. "Hills Like White Elephants" I liked — its symbolism, which failed dismally (for me) on at least one point (the "white elephant"), succeeded brilliantly on others, notably the sunlight/shadow and dry/lush sides of the valley; and "Cat in the Rain" I thought, while small, was very good at what it tried to do, expressing a helpless frustrating inability to communicate.
But oh damn, who expected this week's pieces? "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is spectacular! My gosh, I feel like I've read a whole novel in half an hour. There's enough to think about there in 25 pages to last for years. What a magnificent piece of work; I had no clue Hemingway could be this good. If I'd run into this story in college, I'd have read all of Hemingway by now.
And I'd say more about "The Undefeated", but I won't finish it till lunch time. :-)
— John R
But oh damn, who expected this week's pieces? "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is spectacular! My gosh, I feel like I've read a whole novel in half an hour. There's enough to think about there in 25 pages to last for years. What a magnificent piece of work; I had no clue Hemingway could be this good. If I'd run into this story in college, I'd have read all of Hemingway by now.
And I'd say more about "The Undefeated", but I won't finish it till lunch time. :-)
— John R
