About this title: Set on the Cote d'Azur in the 1920's, this is the story of a young American writer, David Bourne, his glamorous wife, Catherine, and the dangerous erotic game they play when they fall in love with the same woman.
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
Date Published: 1986
ISBN-13:9780684186931ISBN:0684186934
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket may have chips and close tears. Book of the Month Club Edition. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Good. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Dust Cover Missing. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: Book Club (BCE/BOMC)
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner's, Old Tappan, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1986
ISBN-13:9780684186931ISBN:0684186934
Description: Good in Good jacket. Ex-Library HC Book Club ed, w/stitched binding, ex-lib. w/stamp, w/owner book plate front board, w/DJ w/light wear, one edge tear repaired w/clear tape; Good/Good. read more
"I'd never read Hemingway before this book. In fact, I haven't read him since (though it has only been a couple of months, at present, since I read "Garden"). Truth be told, while the book is on my "Read" shelf, I didn't get around to finishing it. No, actually, I actively *stopped* reading it, only a few chapters in.
I picked the book up thinking to read one of the classic masters of literature. Indeed, Hemmingway is a very skilled author, in my estimation. His attention to detail is stunning, and almost a fault (please, I really don't need to know everything this young couple had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner).
The dialogue was simple, but elegant--almost like a good stage play, as it were, and definitely a contrast to Orson Scott Card's more "here and now" speech. That made it easy to get lost in the world of the book, because it really did have the feel of a place to escape to. And isn't that often the point of reading fiction?
In any case, I stopped reading "Garden of Eden" not because the writing was poor (though I never got far enough to discern any real plot)--quite the contrary, the writing was excellent. No, I stopped reading because to me, this was literary porn.
The story is about newlyweds who are honeymooning in Southern Europe. The wife (most frequently referred to as "The Girl," at least in the chapters I got through) has some very left-field ideas about romantic love. She, essentially, wants to take the male role in the marriage--or at least in bed--and tries persuading her new husband to play the female. She straight out tells him, "No, *you* are Kate. I am Peter." (at least, I think she said Peter; I've forgotten.) Though Hemingway doesn't get hard-core graphic, he leaves little to the imagination at times (yes, Kate has breasts; thank you for reminding us that adult women are thus equipped). By the time I quit, things really looked to be taking a rather kinky bent, as the husband, willing to please his wife, despite the inherent strangeness of her behaviour, begins surrendering his manhood (the back cover actually speak of him trying to recover it; I'm sure that figures into plot tension later on). Kate, "The Girl" really seemed eager to explore the role reversal, and Hemingway didn't seem too shy about filling the reader in on how she planned to go about doing that.
I'm sure the book makes some very interesting social commentary on gender roles, but I guess I'll never know.
Perhaps my judgment is hasty, because I only got three or four chapters into the book? But then, I'm reading it with my set of morals, and the book offended them enough that I'd rather just not finish it, and recognise that I have, more or less, judged a book by its cover."
"Another brilliancy by Hemingway. The book was rich. I sensed the author's insights into his own psyche was the basis for his deep insight into his characters. I felt as if he had bared his soul in this. Around the story of the man and the women there were so many pretty touches--as he draws closer to Marita he fixes her auto, reflecting the burgeoning relationship; the dedication of man and wife in the beginning and at the end as he gets close to Marita I cannot help but reflect how this has been before, will it be different this time; the author's revelations on his writing technique through the work of the writer character; the story the writer writes that serves not only as a plot mechanism for the later shock but serves to define a main character; the question of the elephant and the question of Catherine--I felt some relationship and wondered whether David's rejection of his fathers life might have been reconsidered if there were more story. I love the way Hemingway is able to show without telling and puts that ethic into David's character when David faces his tragedy. The story is incomplete so perhaps this is why we find a main character not left in death and misery as often occurs in a Hemingway work. Compared to the Master, almost all others lose a point on the rating scale of 1-5. MAGNIFICENT."
"I read this book for a college course and was dreading it. I thought - here we go - another book with manly hunter Hemingway about war and bullfighting and all things manly. Ugh! Oh but it was not to be. This book turned me around on Hemingway and made me see the genius that he is. Sadly the book is published posthumously and it is questionable how much Hemingway is in this book - but when I read this I did not know there was a lot of controversy surrounding this and just enjoyed it for what it was.
The story is of five months in the lives of David Bourne, an American writer, and his wife, Catherine. It starts out on their honeymoon in the French Riviera where they both meet - and both fall in love - with a young woman named Marita. The story is basically about how they balance the triangle - and how the triangle falls apart.
On a side note, there is a sex scene in the beginning of this book where Catherine uses a bottle on David. When I went to class after reading that section our professor brought it up and wanted to talk about that scene. Uncomfortable as it was I got her point. It was very shocking and very interesting that in the beginning of the novel and the beginning of their married life - that during a sex act the female would be so dominate over the male - especially in the period this was set and in a Hemmingway novel. I think it's kind of easy to skim over this part of the book (it's brief and it's not written so graphically that it makes you drop the book) but our Prof wouldn't let us skim that uncomfortable passage - she forced us to see how much it means to both the story as a whole and the significance of Hemingway including it in his book."
"audiobook read by Patrick Wilson - This book was published, unfinished, after Hemingway's death. As such, it would be unfair to criticize it as a finished novel. It's more like a third or fourth draft - still full of holes in some parts, over written in other places. The story follows a recently married couple through their several honeymoon in Europe, while at the same time the husband attempts to work as a novelist. The character of the husband voices what must have been some of Hemingway's thoughts about the writing process (and his thoughts on drinking while you write, as well), while the young wife explores her sexuality through gender switching and a first time lesbian affair. The husband falls in love with the wife's lover as well, but that may have been more out of self preservation than attraction, in my opinion. The real benefit of reading this book is to fellow writers. It's reassuring to know that someone like Hemingway sometimes wrote very badly on his way to writing the great stuff. As for the audio version - Patrick Wilson should not attempt feminine French accents. It took this listener right of of the story and had me thinking I was listening to a parody or comedy routine."
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