Unpopular opinion: I read my first Hemingway book last month and was thoroughly underwhelmed. Very little about his memoir ‘A Moveable Feast’, moved me.
I found his writing to be almost childish. It felt unrefined, like someone rambling, and more than a handful of times, I had to reread a sentence to find sense. It was as though I was reading his stream of consciousness, rather than any analysis or ideas.
You might know of his iceberg theory which is the belief that there is more meaning in omission, than in description. Writing in that style, your work seems simplistic on the surface, but is multilayered.
The concept is that Hemingway got to the heart of the story faster, by writing in a direct, realistic manner. However, for me, the point of storytelling isn’t to ‘get to the point’. I also didn’t find that he got to the heart of the story faster at all. His sentences and paragraphs weren’t direct but superfluous. His vocabulary was direct, so much so that it was uninspiring.
As a reader, I chose this book because I wanted to be transported back to a Paris of the 20s. Besides the street and place names, there was very little of Paris that came through his writing. I whipped through the book in a matter of days and one of the reasons was that there was minimal rich, evocative imagery – so there was nothing to hang onto, to linger on. There were no layers to be felt.
But at this point, I want to highlight something Malcolm Gladwell teaches in his Masterclass and it’s to judge a book by the writer’s intention and not by your own literary taste. I guess that by Hemingway’s intention, his work smashes it out of the court. I also acknowledge that it wasn’t a Hemingway novel that I read, but a memoir.
What I did enjoy were his literary portraits of his peers and fellow writers. Their demeanour comes alive through Hemingway’s accounts and the dynamic of his relationship with them is tangible.
I also appreciated gaining insight into his process and passion as a writer. A recurring sentiment he expresses is how very happy he was despite being very poor. These days, we’re past glorifying the “starving artist” but reading Hemingway, the glory is almost reignited.
What I love about reading is how it informs writing. I am drawn to a writing style that is emotive and illustrative, because I believe in the power (and importance) of words to take people to places, times and feelings; both ones that are outside of their experience and ones that feel comforting and affirming.
When I write about challenges, I want readers to find relief and a sense of being understood. When I write about family history and themes that may be more jarring, I’m hoping to widen their perspectives and stoke their compassion. When I write about my joys and wins, I want to fuel the fire for my readers to strive in their own lives. And this is because I’ve read books that did the same for me.
Although Hemingway won’t be my literary idol, I learnt a lot from reading ‘A Moveable Feast’. In fact, I proceeded to write this on LinkedIn (which has been viewed 1.5k times), inspired by his style. If you have a Hemingway favourite to recommend, please let me know and feel free to challenge my unpopular opinion in the comments.
By Thuc @ Fiction (who is now currently reading Ocean Vuong’s, ‘On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous’ and having very mixed feelings about it…)
3 lines brimming with feeling from ‘On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous’
I’ll get to why I’m having mixed feelings about this book later but although I am not loving it, I truly appreciate his artistry. There are points where his crafting of language is so exquisite that it’s a little painful. I found the 3 lines below particularly moving.
“He is turning the air around his words into weather.”
I see someone talking furiously, fervently – and yet there’s no mention of ‘talking’ or ‘speaking’.
“I studied him like a new word.”
I love how this simultaneously conveys intrigue and puzzlement – as well as an image, for me, of a young boy poring over a book.
“On the highway, the October trees blur by, branches raking purple sky.”
If this isn’t motion and vivid colour in words, then I don’t know what is! I love how just naming the month evokes so much as well; it takes me straight back to a Northern Hemisphere autumn with crisp air and muted light.
I’m looking forward to diving deep into the last 33 pages of this book.
What I recently (professionally) wrote
Peep Fiction’s newest client, The Gathering Bungendore.
The Gathering is a café that values community, connection and nourishing food. The owners, Telisha and Nathan, wanted to create a place for locals to meet, relax and linger; to be free from the rush and take time for ourselves and for loved ones.
The café itself is beautiful, located in an old, renovated building. The textures and colours inside are earthy and grounding, there are lots of intimate, comfortable spaces and scattered throughout are relics and artistic knick-knacks.
The social copy we write for The Gathering is warm but succinct, grounded in themes of connection and nurture.
And by the way, if you think Facebook Pages are dead, you’ll be shocked at the level of engagement The Gathering gets!
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