The Garden of Eden

Hemingway is primarily known for his works about hunting and bullfighting, but few seem to have read his novel published 25 years after his death. Eden tells the story of newlywed couple David Bourne, a young American writer, and his wife Catherine, honeymooning on the French Rivera in the 1920s. Catherine, hungry for a change, decides to cut her hair off like a man’s and asks David to call her the man in bed, while she refers to him as the woman. Soon, they spot an intriguing woman at a cafe and she quickly becomes entangled in their lives; Catherine talks David into starting a polyamorous relationship with Marita, where they take turns spending the day with her and sleeping with her. Intertwining with a short story David is writing which involves hunting elephants with his father, David and Marita ultimately have to decide how to deal with Catherine’s impulsive behavior. Unlike most of Hemingway’s hyper-masculine works, this gives a glimpse at his softer side.People seem to be really polarized about this book, but as a writer who's interested in the writing process, it's fabulous and insightful. The story is raw and very much Hemingway (whether or not it was all Ernest; I believe his son had a big hand in this one). Love the beach setting and gives me a little bit of Tender is the Night and Bonjour Tristesse. This one will be added to my favorites shelf!

Knowing this novel's troubled publication history and the story of its severe editing (one critic says it is not true to Hemingway's intentions) makes commentary on it somewhat of a risk. I approached with caution but immediately like many found myself under the spell of this work. Hemingway's sublime tersefulness is there as well as his rich if troubled humanjty. Relationships between men and women in love were always one of his most revisited themes and here they are captured in a dangerous swirl of shifting identities and loyalties. It is his most sexual book. The Garden of Eden is exactly that... The book makes you want to throw up everything and rush to the South of France.... to live and lie in the heart and arms of a wildly impassioned beautiful lover, or two.... But of course without the arguments, confusion, and suffering.... The novel is gripping, even entrancing. The meditation on the art of story-telling is just one of its engaging asides.

A long-narrative consummation of the ability of the simple but luminous style of Hemingway's early short stories to catch the present moment; a prime expression of the young Hemingway's gentleness; and a perhaps unequaled integration of the creative writing process into fictional narrative. It's better than all the great author's work than "The First 49 Stories," "The Sun Also Rises," and, somewhat equivocally, "Farewell to Arms" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls." (To hesitate to think "Farewell" great is mavarick, but I find its treatments of both love and war excessively sentimental; to include "Bell" among Hemingway's very best is unusual enough to practically mandate equivocation, but I am convinced by its treatments of cowardice and courage.) Ignore the fact that Hemingway didn't get to finish the work and that publication we have cannot be just what he would have provided. The proof is in the pudding.

I am an admirer of Hemingway's writing, but for years, was reluctant to pick up this book, certain that it was just a publisher's gimmick for squeezing money out of a dead writer's leftover scribblings.I was wrong. This book is vintage Hemingway, up there with his best work, written in a prose that has lyrical beauty and resonance. To my mind, critics have exaggerated the importance and nature of the sexual "anomalies." It's the story of a young couple trying to find themselves, be happy, and make each other happy. It's also a portrait of the artist as a young man. It takes a dark turn toward the end, but Hemingway's evocation of life and living it to the fullest transcends everything else.

Hemingway's work is always about Hemingway himself on some level, this time using as protagonist his idealized avatar, David Bourne, and revealing some interesting character points (gender issues).These people like so many others in Hemingway's writing drank constantly. Probably it had a lot to do with the times, overall. No judgement intended here; just an observation. Also, none of them that I can recall worked at "regular jobs," so guess they didn't have to be focused for the most part. For the most part he avoided he avoided working people (maybe too boring?). Reading Hemingway always makes me want a martini.Bourne's wife is portrayed as totally narcissistic; thereby annoying and unlikeable, as were many of H's other important females. The prime exception that I know of was his first wife, Hadley, whom he canonized in his head.My favorite by Hemingway is his memoir, A Moveable Feast. And I plan to retrace his steps this October in Paris.

This is a fascinating and provocative story especially given the time in which it occurs...way before a time when people were sexually liberated. Except that it occurs in the south of France. Worth a read but not one of Hemingway's best.

The text of the book is sideways. It is really strange and impossible to read.

it’s a great (unfinished but complete enough to stand alone) read, but the kindle version is only images of scanned pages as opposed to being interactive text. if you own an ipad, mac, or iphone big enough to read with i’d recommend their version.

A great novel, compulsive, absorbing, wonderful example of his style.

A simply stunning read. Magnificently poignant and tragically left unfinished. From the pieced together scraps that we have here, we can see what may well have been Hemingway's finest novel. A daring and insightful look into love, romance, sex and gender that Hemingway spent over a decade researching - he even crashed his brand new car so that he was better able to describe the experience (the original ending had the character of Catherine dying in a car crash).

I can go through life without having read The Great Gatsby and for that matte other books by the author, but to go through life without having read Hemingway would be a travesty. Another good read

One of his better ones - shame it wasnt finished but very well written - I keep thinking of the pepper at breakfast!

Pace, location and description of locations and details of characters created by the author allowed the reader to immerse oneself in the book. However subject matter, unfinished chapters and ending to the book proved difficult and did not fit well for the reader - weird topic matter