Hard to follow but good in the middle

I like Hemingway, simple as that

داستان قوی‌ای داشت نسبتا، یکی از نکات جالب توش این بود که بچ‌ساید تقریبا تمام زن‌های توش قوی‌ه؛ درعین‌حال زن خود هری پاک‌ترین شخصیت کل داستانه. دوست داشتم نحوه‌ای که نشون داد هری برای خانواده‌ش حاضر بود هرکاری بکنه و از یه‌نقطه‌ای به بعد به‌نظر می‌اومد که خودشم بدش نمی‌آد کارای غیرقانونی انجام بده. (مثل والتر وایت توی برکینگ بد) اون قسمت زن آلبرت بی‌نظیره! :))))))))) "Losht my teeth" reminded me of "Shteve wash shexy" :))))))))) درکل، اولین کتابی بود که از همینگوی می‌خوندم و از نحوه‌ی نوشتنش راضی‌ام. توصیف‌هاش خوبن و‌ شخصیت‌پردازی تمیزی داره، فقط زیادی اصطلاحات و توصیفات ماهی‌گیری به‌کار برده که خیلی خرده نمی‌گیرم ازش. :)) + "You know, the heaviest thing in the world is a dead man."

“good men are scarce”

My annual entry in reading Hemingway's bibliography. While To Have and Have Not was better than the last Hemingway book I read, Green Hills of Africa, I still wouldn't say I enjoyed it that much. The main character, Harry Morgan, is a despicable man with very little redeeming about him. He gets annoyed with everyone, is highly aggravated, and operates better alone. He is the protagonist you are stuck with in this book but he is still the most interesting character of the book. Every secondary and tertiary character is just a caricature or stereotype with very little depth to them. This makes any story line focused on these characters incredibly boring. The vulgar and outdated language really shows the rough and intense world of 1930's fishing. That being said, I found it more distracting than anything as a modern reader. Overall, I liked the setting and premise. When I come to a Hemingway novel I look for a story of 20th century, international, adventure. To Have and To Have Not definitely is that but it is also weighed down by boring, limited characters. There are some chapters where it's some of Hemingway's best but most of the book is boring surface level subject matter. If you are someone who is highly critical of Hemingway for his writing style and traits of toxic masculinity, this is definitely not the book for you. Reading this was the most aware I was of these criticism and felt like many of those points were valid criticisms for this book.

This is an ugly book - I'm usually a Hemingway fan, but other than the descriptions of the sea, I liked nothing about this book. Stories are disjointed, characters are mean, language is vile. Not a fan.