Hemingway Deadlights

by Michael Atkinson

Book Overview

It's 1956 and Hemingway has spent much of the year at his home in Key West, hiding from tourists and autograph hunters. But a friend's sudden death rouses Papa from his idyll. To say the cuase of death is suspicious is to put it lightly. It's not every day that a part-time smuggler is impailed on a harpoon.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312379714
• ISBN13: 9780312379711
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Hemingway, the character!

Reviewed by Enid Grabiner for RebeccasReads This is an uproariously funny spoof of the larger than life author, Ernest Hemingway, who becomes enmeshed in solving the mystery of a Key West drinking buddy who is inexplicably found harpooned to death near the docks. Quickly realizing he knows nothing more about the man but his preference for liquor, sets upon his own investigation of his death. The man's name is an alias and he appears to have no family and few friends, so Hemingway feels obliged to pay for the funeral and discover the circumstances surrounding his death. Stumbling ahead he becomes drawn into an intricate plot more threatening than he ever imagined, involving smuggling, the mob, CIA, FBI, Castro and Che and Batista fighting off the Communists. At a time in his life when his ideas and words have gone dry, he whets his palate with booze, womanizes and ventures on an escapade that draws him home to Cuba. Because of his reputation as a famous author, he takes advantage of his status presuming it gives him immunity from danger. He heads into a wild and irresponsible foray into the underbelly of politics and comes face to face with its treacherous characters, soon realizing he may just be putting himself at risk. The more he tries to become the confrontational detective of his imagination, the more he becomes aware of his own vulnerability. Michael Atkinson describes Papa Hemingway just as one might imagine -a larger than life booming personality steamrolling over all he encounters. He does however humanize him, exposing a compassionate moral fiber so often hidden from his readers. References to his wives and prize winning novels round out the impression we get of this fat, alcoholic, loud, tough character who underneath has a sense of loyalty and compassion. I wanted to whack him and other times hug him. The portrayal of the Key West and Cuban settings in the 1950's time frame appear to have been well researched and are colorfully descriptive. They enhance the story by giving the reader a good sense of time and locale.

What the Hell Are Deadlights?

The questions most readers of this historical fictionalized mystery about the famous writer will concern how much of this book is true or at least based on actual events, and are these characters who really peopled Hemingway's life in Key West and Cuba? Obviously Michael Atkinson meticulously researched the life and work of the Nobel Prize winning American author whose novels included For Whom the Bells Toll, The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea. It's hard to believe that Hemingway was usually as drunk as he is portrayed in this book. It's equally difficult to believe that his mind could actually function, reason and remember anything that happened to him when he was pickled from the time he awoke in the morning until he passed out cold at night. This book is fascinating both because of the portrait it paints of Ernest "Papa" Hemingway and the tropical sun drenched world he mostly hid from in a fog bank of alcoholism and the skill of the writer. The book's author also manages to mimic some of Hemingway's writing style. Samples of this include the following: "...where tourists swarm like an invading species, bursting the seams of cartoonized taverns, curio shops and the nearby aquarium. For a local poobah with international face recognition, Is was the most dangerous spot in town. "The buses were parked in rows like sunning alligators; the people, innocent as individuals but, as a milling horde, ravenous and stupid as termites, bustled about in their striped shirts, straw hats, knee-high socks and sunglasses, wallets in hand...Holy crap, you're... "No, I'm not. I'm just a look-alike." "...OMIGOD, it's Him! Sign My Bell Tolls, Mr. Hemingway!..." In the book one of Hemingway's long-time drinking buddies turns up in the surf near the docks with an ancient 60 pound whaling harpoon through his chest. Since Hemingway knows the local police and FBI won't spend more than a few hours filling out paperwork about the murder of this nobody, sometimes smuggler, with no relatives and a real name nobody knew, he decides it is up to him, Ernest Hemingway, to both pay for the burial of this mysterious drinking companion as well as find out who and why he was killed. Thus begins this mystery adventure. According to the author Hemingway was almost a Demi-God in the Key West area as well as in Cuba where he also lived. Because he was so famous he was almost untouchable as well as bullet proof. None of mysterious characters inhabiting these two lawless areas wanted to attract any publicity by harming or killing "Papa" even if it was still a frontier area in the mid 1950s and prairie justice was the norm. Hemingway really only feared the mobsters because unlike the local arms smugglers, drug dealers, foreign dictators in exile, FBI and CIA agents as well as Castro and Batista's men, the mobsters had no fear of making even their local hard-drinking and constantly brawling Nobel Prize celebrity disappear from the planet. Fortun

Get this book!

You needn't be a fan of Papa the novelist to enjoy the blustering, mercurial, dipsomaniacal rake at the center of Michael Atkinson's hilariously hard-boiled debut mystery. But Hemingway enthusiasts will surely delight as the famous author navigates the seediest corners of Key West and Havana, all the while dispensing his opinions of other writers (Wallace Stevens is not among his favorites), and enduring the taunts of those who think he ought to get a better Spanish translator.

Grab your drink and your chez lounge

What a great escape! This is a wonderful book to throw in your beach bag. Make sure you pack a cold cocktail (or three) and maybe a platter of shrimp. It was great to get out of day to day reality and jump into the past, with a great blend of a real time and place, wrapped around both true and fictional events and that enshroud the real, but fictionalized character of Ernest Hemingway. This bridged the gaps between summer escape novel, historical fiction and mystery. A sordid, sexy, steamy romp. Atkinson paints a rich tapestry to be savored. A page-turner, that keeps you glued till the end. -Susan B. New York

Must read great fun!!!

Hemingway Deadlights did what I love an Author to do - inspire me and entertain me!!! It is a must read!! I laughed throughout the book. I just couldn't put the book down once I started reading. After reading the book I found myself googling about Hemingway. I felt there was also great film references from that era which was great fun - very entertaining. I am now inspired and am trying to plan a trip to Key West to visit this place where Hemingway lived. Once I get to Key West I'm sure to have a drink and toast to Hemingway Deadlights. Cheers.