I completed reading To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway over the weekend. The book is a tad uneven, but I liked it just the same.
There was this one sentence that stood out for me, and I thought I’d share it with you here.
Some made the long drop from the apartment or the office window; some took it quietly in two-car garages with the motor running; some used the native tradition of the Colt or Smith and Wesson; those well-constructed implements that end insomnia, terminate remorse, cure cancer, avoid bankruptcy, and blast an exit from intolerable positions by the pressure of a finger; those admirable American instruments so easily carried, so sure of effect, so well designed to end the American dream when it becomes a nightmare, their only drawback the mess they leave for relatives to clean up.
~ To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
I couldn’t help noting the irony of Hemingway commenting on people who killed themselves during the Great Depression. It feels really odd to read this sentence knowing that the author went on to kill himself with a double-barreled shotgun almost 30 years later.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
