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Title: True at First Light
Subtitle: A Fictional Memoir
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Narrator: Brian Dennehy
Format: Unabridged
Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
Language: English
Release date: 01-22-07
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 64 votes
Genres: Fiction, Literary
Publisher's Summary:
A blend of autobiography and fiction, the book opens on the day his close friend, Pop, a celebrated hunter, leaves Ernest in charge of the safari camp and news arrives of a potential attack from a hostile tribe. Drama continues to build as his wife, Mary, pursues the great black-maned lion that has become her obsession. Spicing his depictions of human longings with sharp humor, Hemingway captures the excitement of big-game hunting and the unparalleled beauty of the scenery: the green plains covered with gray mist, zebra and gazelle traversing the horizon, cool dark nights broken by the sounds of the hyena's cry.
Critic Reviews:
"Twentieth-century American literature could not end on a brighter note than the publication of this book." (Library Journal)
"Amusing, moving, and of treasurable importance to an understanding of this massive, however flawed, genius of our literature." (Kirkus Reviews) "A major literary event. In addition to the book's intrinsic pleasures, it provides a new window into the tantalizing, unsettling, oceanic world of his experimental, unfinished late work." (Newsweek)
Members Reviews:
Not good for audible
This provided way more in written form. The story itself is decent, but just does not make for a good audible.
Good match of author and narrator
A serious Hemingway fan, I have been unable to read this book from beginning to end. Dennehy's flat voice is a perfect match to the often self-parody prose of the novel. As a captive audience of one as I commute each day, I have found that the audiobook has made it possible to enjoy this book in a way that the novel itself does not.
(None of the foreign words Hemingway employs really make or break any plot points, but it's worth checking the glossary at the end of the print edition for a fuller understanding of his pidgin-Swahili.)
Something Missing
Hemingway always leaves you wanting more, but this book does not seem to close in the same fashion. Would have been 4 or 5 stars without the last section.
Sad last book
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
Maybe if Hemingway had written it when he was younger, before booze and adulation had addled his brain. Or perhaps if he had time to edit and rewrite it himself.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
I would never presume to 'change' Hemingway.
What about Brian Dennehys performance did you like?
Mellow, precise, deep voice. As you would imagine Hemingway to speak.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Poor old Papa's reputation would have done better without the publication of this book. When you take yourself this seriously, it is really hard to be humerous. Hem's 'kitten talk' with Miss Mary (also full of herself) is pathetic. His 'snappy repartie' with GC is devoid of wit. The hunting scenes are good but he has done them many times before and they have a recycled feel. The best of the book comes when he reads a critical letter and a newspaper clipping from one of his readers and shortly afterwards reflects on an old flame who became rich.
