Quicklet on Ernest Hemingway's Islands in the Stream (CliffNotes-like Summary, Analysis, and Review‪)‬

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Published in 1970, Islands in the Stream is the first of Ernest Hemingways posthumous novels. The novel was lightly edited by his widow, Mary Hemingway, and his publisher, Charles Scribner, Jr. Mary carefully points out in a note that opens the book, Beyond the routine chores of correcting spelling and punctuation, we made some cuts in the manuscript, feeling that Ernest would have surely made them himself.

Hemingway began work on this massive project in 1945. The pages he wrote from then until his death in 1961 became several different novels, some posthumous, some published before his death. All are loosely connected in that they were worked on concurrently, and at times, part of the same work.

Pieces were cut here and there to provide material for other books, and when finished, he produced enough text for four novels: Old Man, Islands, Across the River and into the Trees, and The Garden of Eden.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Ben Mitchell-Lewis is a resident of New Hampshire, but tries to spend as much time as possible traveling around New England, the country, and the world. He is a graduate of Colby College and is slowly cracking into the freelance writing game. Ben likes to get outside in any capacity (but especially to rock climb or ski), and travel/adventure writing is his favorite genre, though classic American novels are hard to beat.

EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK

The novels protagonist is Thomas Hudson, a world famous painter. As the book opens with Part I: Bimini, the reader is introduced to Hudson and his house set on a hill in Bimini, an island in the Bahamas. The house is as much a character as Hudson, and the whole of Part I revolves around the house, with brief interludes at bars, docks, and aboard a cabin cruiser equipped for lengthy days of fishing and exploring.

After an initial introduction to Hudson, the reader is familiarized with his habits, his daily life, his routines, and his staff, especially Eddy a constant companion, a good fisherman, and very attentive to Hudsons needsl. Hudson has several others always at hand to cook, clean, and mix drinks, the same people that accompany him fishing and help take care of his children. For Bimini is really about Hudsons relationship with his children the three boys, Tom, David, and Andrew, arrive in Bimini for a vacation with their father shortly after the books opening.

Before they arrive, Roger Davis is brought in. He is an old, dear friend of Hudsons, a fellow expatriate, and plays a pivotal role in the rest of Part I. While Hudson and Davis drink and carouse in the days before the boys visit, Roger gets into a heated fight with a wealthy man from New York on the docks. The events of that evening are quite trying for Davis and Hudson, and they retreat to the hilltop house to sleep it off and wait for the boys.

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CHAPTER OUTLINE

Ernest Hemingway's Islands in the Stream

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