Picked this up on a visit to Key West. This was a quick read — it covers the 12 years that Hemingway lived in Key West, with wife #2 Pauline. Best appreciated if you‘ve been to Key West, as a lot of local landmarks (i.e. his old stomping grounds) are discussed. Author was definitely Team Pauline and dissed Martha (wife #3). ( )

An informative and well researched book on Ernest Hemingway's years spent at Key West. This was the place Hemingway set upon coming back from his early years in Europe, primarily France and Spain. The off the beaten path as well as off beat characters he encountered here matched up pretty well with his persona and image creation.

His then wife Pauline and the boys settled her in a settled and unsettled way as it played out. The author reveals much on the authors associations and lifestyle that melded its way into the Hemingway legend and mythology. He wrote "The Green Hills of Africa", "To Have and Have Not" (based in Key West and his only such American based novel),and part of "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

Hemingway was quite conscious of the image he portrayed and worked to portray and Key West did its part to lend to this novel way of life. To this day it is a major part of the attraction there and lends itself to become what the tourists and seekers wish to find. ( )