Niece Hilary Hemingway (Hunting with Hemingway) and Hemingway scholar Brennan gather anecdotes and photographs of Hemingway's Cuban years (1928–1954). There's the well-known procession of wives and lovers—Pauline, Jane Mason, Martha Gellhorn, Mary Welsh, Adriana Ivancich—complete with snapshots and bedroom speculation. The authors recite incidents that may have inspired passages in Hemingway's books and follow them with highlighted sentences from the novels. Still, the love stories and writing stories are sidelined by fishing tales, as Hemingway hooks, gaffs and weighs a seemingly endless stream of tuna, marlin and sharks. The testosterone positively sizzles, until the narrative reaches 1954, when Hemingway becomes the first Cubano Sato
("garden-variety Cuban") to win the Nobel Prize. The whys and hows of Hemingway's subsequent departure from Cuba are apparently too cloudy for this sunny volume, so the remaining chapters simply detail the research facilities at his estate, Finca Vigía, hypothesize on the relationship between Castro and Hemingway, and review Hemingway sites in modern Havana. But even if the text's uneven, there's no arguing with the gorgeous layout and illustrations. Thanks to the 160 sepia-toned photographs of the man, his friends and his Cuba, this volume earns its place on any Hemingway fan's shelf. (June)
Forecast:A perfect gift for the fishing dad, this book should do well in bookstores in and around Hemingway hot spots, including Key West, Fla.; Oak Park, Ill.; and Sun Valley, Idaho.
