BOOK REVIEW: "The Garden of Eden"

The Garden of Eden

By Ernest Hemingway

Copyright 1986

Scribner Publishing

Classic Literature

3 Bookmarks

Ernest Hemingway, author of the classics "A Moveable Feast," "The Old Man and the Sea", and "A Farewell to Arms," among others, penned a number of novels he never quite completed. After his death, some of these unfinished works were published by members of his family. And so we arrive at "The Garden of Eden".

Ahhhh...young love. David and Catherine are newlyweds, honeymooning at a beach resort while David works on a new novel that he's been writing. His last novel has received positive reviews and things are looking up for David on a professional level. On a personal level, the couple's days are filled with leisure and lovemaking. Life is good.

But one day, something changes. It starts as a small, erotic journey David is led on by Catherine. But it soon turns dark and sinister. Catherine becomes someone that David doesn't know. He accepts the change with hesitation, as what else is there to do? But then when the darkness spirals into something even more erotically dangerous, David finds himself unable to control the world around him, not even the novel that is finding it's way onto the pages of his notebook.

A good author is able to challenge the reader to open their minds and look at life through a different set of eyes. Hemingway succeeds, but at a price. Although the novel was never completed, the story does have an ending, just not one the reader might have hoped for. If you're looking for a book to give you warm, fuzzy feelings after reading it, this is not the book for you. But it does make you think.