First published in 1970, nine years after Hemingway’s death, this is the story of an artist and adventurer—a man much like Hemingway himself. Beginning in the 1930s, Islands in the Stream follows the fortunes of Thomas Hudson, from his experiences as a painter on the Gulf Stream island of Bimini through his antisubmarine activities off the coast of Cuba during World War II. Hemingway is at his mature best in this beguiling tale.
With a variety of themes and moods, dynamic action scenes and—unexpectedly—a rich and ribald sense of humor, ISLANDS IN THE STREAM tells a story closely resembling Hemingway’s life.
Thomas Hudson is “a good painter.” His solitary life of artistic self-discipline on the lush Caribbean island of Bimini is interrupted by a visit from his three lively sons. In a thrilling descriptive scene, David, the middle boy, shows his courage when attacked by a shark and his endurance while fighting a thousand-pound swordfish. It is an initiation into manhood.
Years later, Hudson is in Cuba mourning the death of his oldest son. A chance encounter with his first wife renews their passionate commitment to each other.
In the final episode, a masterpiece of action and adventure, Hudson captains an improvised Q-boat hunting down the survivors of a German submarine. This assignment requires a kind of discipline wholly different from his creative life as a painter—but no less important to his integrity. It is Thomas Hudson’s most important battle.
“I don’t have to be proud of it. I only have to do it well.—Thomas Hudson
“A complete, well-rounded novel, a contender with his very best … It is 100-proof Old Ernest!”
“There are brilliant descriptions in the famous Hemingway style … When he describes the close bonds of love and hate between a group of men who are engaged in a tight and dangerous adventure with death as the ultimate stake, he remains unbeatable in his craft.”
“Remarkably alive with voice and muscle … Hemingway never displayed a brawnier wit … There are memories of Paris as pungent and vivid as anything in A Moveable Feast. And the fishing episode … is only slightly less dazzling than Santiago’s struggle in The Old Man and the Sea.”
“Incredibly moving and powerful.”
“This book contains some of the best of Hemingway’s descriptions of nature: the waves breaking white and green on the reef off the coast of Cuba; the beauty of the morning on the deep water; the hermit crabs and land crabs and ghost crabs; a big barracuda stalking mullet; a heron flying with his white wings over the green water; the ibis and flamingoes and spoonbills, the last of these beautiful with the sharp rose of their color; the mosquitoes in clouds from the marshes; the water that curled and blew under the lash of the wind; the sculpture that the wind and sand had made of a piece of driftwood, gray and sanded and embedded in white, floury sand.”
“Many of the episodes contain the most exciting and effective writing Hemingway has ever done.”
“Marvelously alive, moving quickly and showing glimmers of joy and humor that you might never have noticed in his work before.”