Lise Petrauskas's Reviews > In Our Time

In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
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it was amazing
bookshelves: short-stories, bloom-western-canon, aint-that-america

Wow. I am surprised by how much I enjoyed this. My favorite stories are the two Big-hearted River stories at the end.

Since I wrote that, I have been trying to understand why this book has such meaning for me and I still don't have words. Hemingway gets me, I think. Or, his getting himself down on paper, the way his characters feel and react to both extreme and mundane circumstances, is fundamental to humanity, so fundamental that it's difficult articulate and seeing any approach to such articulation feels like a sudden intimacy between us, as though he really does get me. The feeling of interior similarity I get, especially in the last two stories, to Nick, is like a friendship. It makes me happy. To be happy in the circumstances in our time, after having experienced the extremities of what there is to experience in our time, is pretty freaking special and beautiful and rare and to be cherished. I think that's why I love this so much. Somehow the simplicity and accuracy of the language and the honesty of emotion without much extra cerebral interference has created a perhaps unlikely friendship between Hem and me.

Also, I really dig mountains and streams and trees and earth and Hem does too, so that helps.
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Reading Progress

September 11, 2013 – Shelved as: to-read
September 11, 2013 – Shelved
October 4, 2013 – Started Reading
October 4, 2013 – Shelved as: short-stories
October 4, 2013 –
page 54
34.62%
October 5, 2013 –
page 91
58.33%
October 5, 2013 – Shelved as: bloom-western-canon
October 6, 2013 –
page 133
85.26%
October 18, 2013 – Shelved as: aint-that-america
October 18, 2013 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)

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Sera Those two stories were my favorite, too, Lise. Outstanding!


message 2: by Jen (new)

Jen I'm a huge fan of his short stories, glad you enjoyed!


Sharon You express my feelings well.


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