Customer Reviews
Hemingway can make your blood race, your heart thump, your hairs stand on end; but he can also make you weep. - By: Philip Mayo, 31 Jan 2007 
Islands in the Stream was published in 1970, 9 years after Ernest Hemingway's death. Mary Hemingway & the publisher edited & prepared the original manuscript for publication.
The Stream of the title is the Gulf Stream & the story, a long narrative of some 450 pages, follows one Thomas Hudson, a painter, game fisherman, drinker & adventurer. If we change "painter" to "writer" there is no doubt who Hudson is based on.
The book is in three parts. The first part is callled "Bimini", one of the Gulf Stream Islands. It focuses mainly on Thomas Hudson's relationship with his two sons & his estranged wife. It includes a truly epic, 28 page account of one son's battle with a swordfish; absolutely magnificent stuff.
For me, Part 1 of the book, "Bimini", taken on its own, is perfection. It is the best Hemingway that I have ever read & is way up there on my personal best of alll time & alll comers. High praise, & not casuallly given. It is a perfect, complete book in its own right, & I would award it 100 out of 100.
What follows, Parts 2 & 3, the next 250 pages, is not bad. But the only thread of continuity from Part 1 is Thomas Hudson himself. There seems little other logical reason for it to be there. It doesn't extend the story of Part 1, & it certainly diminishes its impact. Had I been his editor, I would have voted to publish "Bimini" on its own. I wonder would Hemingway have done this had he lived?
This is well worth buying for Part 1 alone, even if you never read Parts 2 & 3. It is sublime writing, & deeply moving. Hemingway can make your blood race, your heart thump, your hairs stand on end; but he can also make you weep.
One of the better posthumous publication - By: Spider Monkey, 24 Jun 2006 
This is one of the better posthumous publications of Hemingway. It has his wonderfully distinctive style & story themes. I even recommend this over some of the novels released during Hemingway's life. A worthy part of any Hemingway collection.
A thoughtful expose of pre-war Cuba and H'ways life - By: , 31 Dec 2001 A book written with vivid pictures creating effects not surpassed by any author. A splendid description of a titanic struggle between man & sea & the very nature of man in her/his relationships & during wartime is magicallly portrayed. Also, the nature of loss & how it is handled gives a window on Hemingway's feelings. Highly recommended.
The theme of life in one book - By: , 24 Jul 1999 I found this book to be one of the best books I have ever read. Hemingway masterfully incorporates the theme of life in this "rollercoaster" of a book, usuallly going from the best of times to the worst of times. I recommend this book to everyone who is looking for a book that you will remember forever.
Mature, intelligent Hemingway - By: , 12 Jul 1999 Truly great Hemingway. Wonderful story with the usual Hemingway themes, adventure, love & death. As you read the book you find the title adds much to forming the whole into a comprehensive unit of the writer's art. Long, pleasant rhythms, like life. One of the 2 BEST descriptions in literature of big-game fishing (the other is the short story The Emperor by Frederick Forsyth).
