The Short Stories

Kliatt, March, 2003 by Sunnie Grant

Ernest Hemingway. Vol. 1. Read by Stacy Keach. 4 tapes. 5 hrs. Simon & Schuster Audio, 0-7435-2631-7. $28.00. Cardboard, plastic; content notes. SA*

With an economy of words, Hemingway clearly and effortlessly transmits thoughts and emotions throughout this realistic collection. Utilizing full-voice characterization, Keach brings an additional dimension to the lives of Hemingway's bullfighters, big game hunters, soldiers, wives, drunkards, companions, peasants, and patriots. The collection also provides insights into the man behind the legend: an ambulance driver during WW I, a safari hunter, an acclaimed writer, and yet sufficiently depressed enough to take his own life in 1961.

In "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" we experience a seamless transition of emotions, from overwhelming fright to exhilaration to newfound strength to desperation. Feelings ranging from angst to anguish, anger, and all the way to zealotry are clearly defined in the everyday lives of the characters in such stories as "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," "A Very Short Story," "Mr. and Mrs. Elliot." and "Cat in the Rain." Some adult content. Sunnie Grant, Bus. Mrg., Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Ipswich, MA