Book Review: A Farewell to Arms (1929)

Hemingwayby Ernest Hemingway
Review by Brian Wright

It’s been awhile since I’ve reviewed a new book, so I thought I’d break the ice with an old one—by the literary icon Ernest Hemingway. I remember reading Old Man and the Sea in high school and appreciating it, but not realizing of course why Hemingway was/is one of the greats. I just remember the essence of that grueling story: that perseverance is its own reward, that just because the external trappings of success are not present doesn’t mean a man doesn’t have what it takes. Continue reading

Book Review: Max Perkins: Editor of genius (1978)

by A. Scott Berg
Review by Brian Wright


“The more a man is, the less he wants.” — Max Perkins

Having recently been overwhelmed by Woody Allen’s masterpiece of Francophilia, Midnight in Paris, I was excited to know more about the several leading authors brought to the center of the world stage there. Particularly, Ernest Hemingway, whom the actor Corey Stoll absolutely nails… well, at least in writer/director Allen’s eyes; as a man, I cannot help feeling a little surge of surrogate courage when the character talks so forthrightly yet kindly about love, bravery, honor, and death. [Come to think of it, Woody Allen’s Play it Again, Sam offers a similar sendup of an inspiringly masculine and creative force in the cinematic community: Humphrey Bogart.] Sorry, this dalliance with hero-worship isn’t to the point. The point is realization of literature and grand world literary figures of the 1920s and 30s. Continue reading