Rating: 4 stars
Is there anything that Hemingway can't write? Green Hills of Africa is Hemingway's second work of non-fiction, chronicling a month spent hunting in Africa with his second wife, Pauline. Somewhere along the narrative, Hemingway states that if were ever to attempt writing about Africa, he would write a "landscape painting." And that's exactly what he did. As always, Hemingway's language is not merely descriptive, but alive in such a way that makes the reader feel a true part of it. A part of the tall grasses and the salt licks that he hunts. Of the Masai as they, unused to visitors, chase the car into the forest. The reader is a part of the night, as the hunters take their baths, eat their dinners, drink their booze and talk of things in pure Hemingway style - direct, yet full of meaning. Understands Hemingway's need to hunt and his accord with nature, so long as he does it right, and how it all equates to his need to write - his need to do something as it ought to be done. Absolutely beautiful.
I think I've got a copy of this floating around the house somewhere. I'm not a big Hemingway fan, but I do like A Moveable Feast, so perhaps I should stick with his nonfiction.
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