Green Hills of Africa

Book Description

His second major venture into nonfiction (after Death in the Afternoon, 1932), Green Hills of Africa is Ernest Hemingway's lyrical journal of a month on safari in the great game country of East Africa, where he and his wife Pauline journeyed in December of 1933. Hemingway's well-known interest in -- and fascination with -- big-game hunting is magnificently captured in this evocative account of his trip. In examining the poetic grace of the chase, and the ferocity of the kill, Hemingway also looks inward, seeking to explain the lure of the hunt and the primal undercurrent that comes alive on the plains of Africa. Yet Green Hills of Africa is also an impassioned portrait of the glory of the African landscape, and of the beauty of a wilderness that was, even then, being threatened by the incursions of man.

Hemingway's rich description of the beauty and strangeness of the land and his passion for the sport of hunting combine to give Green Hills of Africa the freshness and immediacy of a deeply felt personal experience that is the hallmark of the greatest travel writing.

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"There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their acquiring. They are the very simplest things, and because it takes a man's life to know them the little new that each man gets from life is very costly and the only heritage he has to leave." - ERNEST HEMINGWAY In the winter of 1933, Ernest Hemingway and his wife Pauline set out on a two-month safari in the big-game country of East Africa, camping out on the great Serengeti Plain at the foot of magnificent Mount Kilimanjaro. "I had quite a trip," the author told his friend Philip Percival, with characteristic understatement. Green Hills of Africa is Hemingway's account of that expedition, of what it taught him about Africa and himself. Richly evocative of the region's natural beauty, tremendously alive to its character, culture, and customs, and pregnant with a hard-won wisdom gained from the extraordinary situations it describes, it is widely held to be one of the twentieth century's classic travelogues.

Customer Reviews:

my least favorite hemmingway book........2007-06-22

this book is annoying. hemmingway's ego is out of control as he tries to make a big man of himself by shooting his way through an array of animals that of course mean him no harm at all. though i love much of his early work, this book makes him seem a truly horrible person. no wonder he had a long string of failed relationships and ultimatley killed himself. who could live with a jackass like this. in the end, he couldn't even stand to live with himself. this is an almost worthless book.

Hemingway's writing.......2007-05-12

I found this writing less interesting than Rossevelt or Rourk work purchased at the same time. Perhaps the critics opinions are not always the best way to judge a work.

He shoots everything including the Bull .......2007-01-29

Hemingway once said that a writer needs a built-in- B.S. detector. He forgot to take it along on this safari, though he is willing to stand corrected occasionally by his then- wife Pauline for errors of 'diarrhea of the mouth'. In any case the old Hem style is truly at work here, and it supplies us with some truly beautiful and moving passages. It also supplies us with a capsule survey of American Literature as provided by the great Hem in which he finds Emerson, Thoreau and Whittier all mind and no body, Melville all rhetoric and and an imagined mystery not really there, and only Crane, Twain and James worth keeping. His most famous riff is of course the one in which he says all American Literature derives from a book called Huckleberry Finn which he then says is great to a certain point only. Old Hem in a wonderfully snobbish way tells us that America really has no literature and that we need someone with the discipline of Flaubert and the something else of Stendhal if we are to have one. No doubt he is the one who intends to supply the product.
With all the posturing and the big - game hunting shtantz and the bull which accompanies it( And with it too the morally objectionable chest- beating at cutting down unarmed rhinos, lions, kudu etc. Hemingway is at times here at the top of his game. He was young and strong and relatively happy and had already made it as a writer though perhaps not in the way he ultimately wanted to.
The dialogue between him and the other hunters is to my mind over-mannered stylized pretentious crap.
But there are passages in the book which remind you that this is one of the truly great American writers, and one of , in my judgment, the best short story writers of them all.
I want to cite a passage just to give the feeling of how good old Hem could be when he was good.

" What I had to do was work. I did not care, particularly , how it all came out. I did not take my own life seriously anymore, any one else's life , yes, but not mine. They all wanted something that I did not want and I would get it without wanting it, if I worked. To work was the only thing , it was the one thing that always made you feel good , and in the meantime it was my own damned life and I would lead it where and how I pleased. And where I led it now pleased me very much. This was a better sky than Italy. The hell, it was. The best sky was in Italy and Spain and Northern Michigan and in the fall in the Gulf off Cuba. You could beat this sky; but not the country."

lacks luster.......2007-01-17

Hemingway would have been better served by including more narratives than the ramblings of his characters. He seems to believe that it is important to capture what they actually said since they are real characters and not imaginary, but how realistic is that? Obviously, he couldn't write while hunting so undoubtedly he paraphrased their conversations when he was able to write - possibly days or weeks later. So if he's going to paraphrase then he should polish up the dialogue. And, perhaps exclude much of the pointless dribble. Some of which might not have been pointless if he had done a better job of developing the characters.

I do not recommend this book. Instead, I would rather point a potential reader of African safari stories to the works of Peter Capstick.

A must read for any hunter.......2006-10-08

In this rare non-fiction work from Ernest Hemingway he brings to life a month long hunting expedition that he spent with his wife Pauline in Africa in nineteen-thirty-three, but he writes it in the true Hemingway tradition. Rather than having it read like a documentary he writes it in the form of a novel.

Both entertaining and exciting it makes the reader hungry for the hunt. At times there is a bit of embellishment, such as making a clean kill on a Rhino at three-hundred yards with a Springfield rifle, (probably with open sights) in chapter four. Such probable exaggerations can be overlooked when we read his descriptions of the land and of the Masai and feel the remorse in his heart after wounding and losing a magnificent Sable Antelope to the jackals.

It's my opinion that Green Hills of Africa is one of the finest hunting stories that has ever been written. Not for the sheer content of the story itself, but for the style, for Hemingway's style, ... and for the way that he recounts a true life adventure in the style of prose that has always proven so riveting in his fiction.

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Green Hills of Africa

Manufacturer: Charles Scribner's Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Green Hills of Africa
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Perma: NY 1954.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Green Hills of Africa
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Scribners
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Green Hills of Africa
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Charles Scribner's Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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I like this book!

Over the Green Hills

Manufacturer: Greenwillow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0688105092

Book Description

Zolani and his mother are going to visit Grandma Zindzi. Zolani loads a wet sack of mussels, a present for his grandmother, on a sturdy young goat. His mother settles little Noma comfortably on her own back and balances a box of dried fish and a basket of mielies on her head. They will walk many miles across the Transkei countryside before they reach Grandma Zindzi's.

As she did in At the Crossroads, Rachel Isadora gives us an authentic glimpse of life in yet another area of South Africa. Eloquent words and pictures tell the story of their journey and make it a journey to remember.

Customer Reviews:

I like this book!.......2001-08-26

The watercolor illustrations are the best part of this book--they really enhance the simple story of a boy and his mother and baby sister going to visit his grandmother.

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Green Hills of Africa

Manufacturer: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Barron's Simplified Approach to Hemingway; Detail Analyses and Interpretations: The Short Stories, the Sun Also Rises, for Whom the Bell Tolls, the Old Man and the Sea, a Farewell to Arms, Death in the Afternoon, Green Hills of Africa, & Other Major Works

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Barron's Simplified Approach to Hemingway; Detail Analyses and Interpretations: The Short Stories, the Sun Also Rises, for Whom the Bell Tolls, the Old Man and the Sea, a Farewell to Arms, Death in the Afternoon, Green Hills of Africa, & Other Major Works
Donald Heiney
Manufacturer: Barron's Educational Series
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NIERUS

Best in Books: The Squire, Quiet Under the Sun, A High Wind in Jamaica, The Captives, Paris, Green Hills of Africa, Vagrant Viking, and You've Got Me in Stitches

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Best in Books: The Squire, Quiet Under the Sun, A High Wind in Jamaica, The Captives, Paris, Green Hills of Africa, Vagrant Viking, and You've Got Me in Stitches

Manufacturer: Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Product Description

Eight complete novels in one volume.

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GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Scribners New York.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Amazon.com

Aubrey and Maturin return to the choppy Mediterranean waters where they first served together, enforcing the Royal Navy's blockade of Toulon. Then the two companions are sent to the Greek Islands, where another series of maritime cliff-hangers awaits them. O'Brian performs his peculiar narrative magic as adeptly as ever, putting (as The Observer would have it) the "spark of character into the sawdust of time."

Book Description

The 8th installment in the Aubrey/Maturin Series.

Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, veterans now of many battles, return in this novel to the seas where they first sailed as shipmates. But Jack is now senior captain commanding a line-of-battleship in the Royal Navy's blockage of toulon, and this is a longer, harder, colder war than the dashing frigate action of his early days. A sudden turn of events takes him and Stephen off on a hazardous mission to the Greek Islands, where all his old skills of seamanship and his proverbial luck when fighting against all odds come triumphantly into their own.

Customer Reviews:

Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Brien.......2007-03-09

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire series of books, I just wish the author had had time to write more of them.

Another solid entry into this wonderful series.......2007-02-23

"The Ionian Mission" is the eighth book in Patrick O'Brian's colossal Aubrey-Maturin series, and it is a solid entry . . . had it been written by another author, I'd probably give it five stars. To be fair, my expectations for this series are probably impossibly high.

Unlike many authors who write multiple novels about beloved characters, Patrick O'Brian allows his characters to age. This is a wonderful touch in "The Ionian Mission." Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin, intelligence agent, surgeon and naturalist, have been through many scrapes and adventures, and O'Brian allows the scars to show. Both Aubrey and Maturin are having some difficulties with their beloved musical duets on the violin and cello, thanks to their numerous wonds over the years. And Aubrey especially is beginning to resemble Frankenstein's monster, what with all his scars and gashes. In other words, these guys aren't James Bond, who emerges for each new story looking like a GQ cover model.

It is also delightful that O'Brian, for the all the successes he has granted both Aubrey and Maturin, leaves both characters at the mercy of their superiors. "The Ionian Mission" is more Aubrey's tale than Maturin's, and so we have several scenes where Aubrey worries about how the Navy - especially his nemesis, Admiral Harte - seems to want him to fail. This is in addition to Aubrey's legal woes, as lawyers descend like locusts to steal his hard-won fortune.

"The Ionian Mission" has a sprawling plot that veers from a tedious blockade of a French port to an aborted espionage mission for Maturin to the Byzantine diplomacy of Turkish politics. Culminating in a titanic naval battle as Aubrey leads his beloved ship Surprise against two Turkish warships - outnumbered by almost 200 men and dozens of cannon - "The Ionian Mission" is a completely original and fresh installment in this wonderful series of books.

As per usual, O'Brian offers his usual pitch-perfect throwaway lines, such as when Aubrey reflects that he "never was a hypocrite until he became a father" when telling a youngster to behave in a very un-Aubrey-like way. While O'Brian offers great battle scenes and vivid descriptions of life at sea, this little gems are what make these books so much darn fun to read.

If you haven't read any of these books yet, go grab "Master and Commander," apologize to the friends and family you are going to snub over the next few weeks, and dive right in. You'll be glad you did.

Blockade Tension and Byzantine Intrigue.......2006-05-09

Patrick O'Brian's "The Ionian Mission" is a solid entry in the Aubrey/Maturin novels- it could be read as a stand alone, but I do not recommend that. As is often the case, the story opens with Jack Aubrey on shore after a long series of adventures that have taken him to the far reaches of the globe. And equally unsurprising to those familiar with the series, he has quickly had his fill of domestic tranquility (or lack thereof) and is hounded by his creditors and a cabal of lawyers who threaten to undo his fortunes. So when an old Ship of the Line, the Worcester- named one of the `forty thieves' due to the corruption that riddled its construction some years before, becomes available to command Jack Aubrey jumps at the opportunity to escape and return to his natural environment. The mission is far from the dashing Frigate actions and independent journeys familiar to readers, however; Jack and Stephen are ordered to the Mediterranean to join the blockade of the French fleet.

The blockade duty is harsh and unforgiving, and Jack discovers that his old nemesis, Admiral Harte is the second in command of the fleet, and has forged an `unholy alliance' with Jack's political enemies ashore (one Andrew Wray). With little room for error, he conducts a series of political and intelligence missions with his ship's surgeon and naval intelligence officer, Stephen Maturin. Unfortunately, although the missions are not failures, they are far from successes, and offer little battle to distinguish the ship's officers and crew. With morale falling, Jack finds that Admiral Harte has taken command during the transition between Commander's in Chief, and he is given a sensitive mission in the Greek Isles that offers far more opportunity for failure than for distinction. Jack and Stephen plunge in to the twisted Byzantine politics of the Ottoman Empire's hinterland and the final climax is intense and explosive.

"The Ionian Mission" introduces Professor Graham, an interesting counterpart to Stephen Maturin, who provides some awkward conversations as well as humor. The chapter describing the `neutral' Barbary port of Medina is very exciting, and as the disappointments mount you'll wince with Jack Aubrey as he is berated before Admiral Thronton. Admiral Harte returns as the man we love to hate, and the political alliance with Andrew Wray sets up events in the novels to come. As usual, O'Brian's writing brings the characters to life, the dialogue is excellent, and you'll be longing for the next installment as soon as you conclude this one.

If this is your first look at a Patrick O'Brian novel, please start with "Master and Commander"- you'll find the whole series much more enjoyable if read in sequence.

Still giggling...........2005-05-18

I admit, I picked up Master and Commander after seeing Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany play Aubrey and Maturin in the movie, so my entire experience of reading these has been colored by their very specific performances. I've been working my way thru the series since then, spacing them out over time, knowing that there are only 20 (well, 20 and a draft) of them, and that I have to ration them to make them last...finding the tiny bits and pieces of it in each book has been a particular delight, with so much of the adaptation taken from the series as a whole and not just the 2 primary sources.

That said, I had read thru the whole first seven books of this series without a single real, true belly laugh until I reached the inevitable first gun practice of the new crew with our cannon-mad captain. Jack says of the results of that most un-Navy-like display (pun intended, oh, yes, pun intended!) that they will make of the Worcester a happy ship; I know I was certainly happy to be aboard her! Even after putting down the book at the end of my lunch hour, I found myself giggling all afternoon at the result of the widow's powder in battle conditions. In fact, I'm giggling as I type this :)

I haven't finished the series, obviously, but I have to say, that from the description on the back cover of "...that lion in action and ass ashore, Jack Aubrey" right thru to the end, I found the humor in this book irresistible-some of it truly sophomoric, admittedly, but accessible in a way that some of the earlier books haven't been. A horrible job to do, no battle, etc., could have made for a really dreadful scenario-instead, it's the most endearing portrait of all the crew so far. Plus my favorite character from the movie, dear Mr. Calamy, finally arrives, and is as adorable as I suspected he would be. I love him, and his bull calf.

I just wish that gun practice had been in the movie...what a trailer it would have made! I'll bet if they'd included it in the movie, more people would have gone and we'd have gotten a sequel or two out of it. Peter Weir, what were you thinking?!

Skip this one.......2004-11-05

I have read all of the books up until this one, and this one is definitely the worst so far. In fact, it makes me wonder whether I will continue to read the series.

The book is misnamed. The Ionian mission is only the last fourth of the book. The first three-fourths is a very boring description of two battles that came close to happening but never did.

The Ionian mission itself is fairly confusing with all of the personal names and place names bandied about. Jack Aubrey, as in most of the other books, is burdened with an extremely difficult mission. He must decide who to support in some kind of three-way civil war. He makes the wrong choice, but then is called away to fight another party who has seized some British vessels. Talk about deus ex machina!

There is nothing of much interest that happens in this book. Stephen Maturin doesn't really do anything interesting in the espionage line, and Professor Graham is a bore. The final battle scene is as predictable as most of the others--Jack Aubrey wins against all odds because he is a good captain. I recommend skipping this one if you are reading through the series. I would bet that Patrick O'Brian did not spend very much time writing this. In fact, it seemed like bits and pieces patched together to form a "novel."

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Ionian Mission Audio Cd Rom
Patrick, O'Brian
Manufacturer: Recorded Books LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

The Surgeon's Mate Audio Cd Rom

ASIN: 140256287X

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly This entry in the Aubrey/Maturin series (see above review of The Surgeon's Mate) finds Captain Jack Aubrey "shoved into a temporary command in that rotten old Worcester ," a poorly built ship. Worse, he's off to the Mediterranean to join the Royal Navy's endless blockade of the French port of Toulon. Aside from a chance encounter with a French man-of-war that triggers a brief but extremely colorful battle, there is little excitement as HMS Worcester settles in with the other blockading ships, some with crews showing signs of strain from remaining constantly alert but inactive. Second in command at Toulon is Admiral Harte, no friend of Aubrey's (who cuckolded the admiral years ago). Harte dispatches Aubrey on a delicate mission to the politically volatile Ionian coast. Although he has the succor of Stephen Maturin, a seasoned intelligence agent, and Professor Graham, an expert on the region's customs, Aubrey is caught in a complex net of Turkish politics and rivalries. And while Harte seems to offer all reasonable backing for the mission, Aubrey knows that should he fail, the admiral would like nothing better than to throw him to the dogs. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

The Ionian Mission (Master/ Commander) [UNABRIDGED] (Master/ Commander)

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The Ionian Mission (Master/ Commander) [UNABRIDGED] (Master/ Commander)
Patrick O'Brian
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0786177837
Release Date: 2005-10-15

Product Description

Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, veterans now of many battles, return in this novel to the seas where they first sailed as shipmates. But Jack is now a senior captain commanding a line-of-battle ship in the Royal Navys blockade of Toulon, and this is a longer, harder, colder war than the dashing frigate actions of his early days. A sudden turn of events takes him and Stephen off on a hazardous mission to the Greek Islands, where all his old skills of seamanship and his proverbial luck when fighting against odds come triumphantly into their own.

The Ionian Mission: Library Edition (Master/ Commander)

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The Ionian Mission: Library Edition (Master/ Commander)
Patrick O'Brian
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: MP3 CD

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ASIN: 0786181095

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IONIAN MISSION
PATRICK O'BRIAN
Manufacturer: NORTON, W.W. & COMPANY, INC.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KUSCIW

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The Ionian Mission
Patrick O'Brian
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IN77DM

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The Ionian Mission
Patrick O'Brian
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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The Ionian Mission

Manufacturer: Recorded Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 1556909853

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THE IONIAN MISSION

Manufacturer: W.W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H2E5DY

The Ionian Mission (Master and Commander Series)

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The Ionian Mission (Master and Commander Series)
Patrick O'Brian
Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000KW2NNU

Product Description

Brand new! LEATHER BOUND book accented in 22kt gold!

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