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From the Publisher
Strange Tribe is a fascinating memoir revealing the peculiar family dynamics between Ernest Hemingway and his youngest son Gregory. Gregory, the author's father, tried to live up to Ernest's "macho" reputation throughout his life. But as a cross-dresser and (eventually) a transsexual, Gregory was obsessed with androgyny and his "female half," and he struggled with personal demons up until his death in the Women's Correctional Facility of the Miami Dade County Jail in 2001. In this wonderfully crafted narrative, John reveals how Ernest and Gregory (who both suffered from bipolar illness and were both fascinated by androgyny) were "two sides of the same coin." Featuring several unpublished correspondences between Ernest and Gregory, Strange Tribe is the story of these two men and the surprising similarities between the two.
This is also John's story--about what it was like growing up in Miami and Montana with his father and his schizophrenic mother, and of how it took him years to deal with the pain their illnesses caused him. He also shows how the persona of Ernest Hemingway, the most important literary icon of the past 100 years, continues to loom darkly over the often-troubled lives of his descendants.
Synopsis
A family memoir revealing the fascinating dynamics between Ernest Hemingway and his youngest son, Gregory, written by John Hemingway (grandson of Ernest and son of Gregory).
From The Critics
Publishers Weekly
The author, grandson of Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway, and son of his youngest child, Gregory, investigates the similarities between these two paternal figures and seeks to find his place in their "strange tribe" with a "famous last name." Sure to excite fans and Hemingway scholars, the book does much to complicate Ernest's image as a macho man, cataloguing both his dependence on women and his gender-bending proclivities. However, the true heart of the book is in exploring the Hemingways' failure as parents and how the familial disposition toward manic-depression created a genetic "Hemingway curse." The author, having escaped the disease, paints his father and grandfather in blunt strokes as loving and generous men who had little understanding of their psychological disorder; the most endearing and comprehensive portrait is of his father's struggles as a transvestite son of a "pillar of American manhood." When describing his own parents' early neglect (his mother was schizophrenic) and, later, his partial reconciliation with his father, the book focuses on the author's generation of Hemingwaysbut mostly the book is intent upon setting the record straight about Ernest, his youngest son and their similarities. John Hemingway writes honestly and is a sympathetic scrutinizer of this complicated and famous man, the family he parented and the myths to which his writing has given birth. (May)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Library Journal - Jan Brue Enright
The myth of Ernest Hemingway is so large, so outrageous, so macho, so wild, that it is no wonder there is a great deal of interest in the writer's life and family almost 50 years after his death. Ernest's grandson John (child of Ernest's youngest son, Gregory) shares his own perspective on the family. Although he never knew his grandfather, he uses previously unpublished letters between Ernest and his father to explore the pair's tumultuous love/hate relationship. Gregory struggled with gender identity (it has been theorized that Ernest had a similar struggle) and ended his life a cross-dresser. John spent his childhood shuffling between his schizophrenic mother and his bipolar father. Add alcohol, infidelity, and money problems to the mix, and imagine the ensuing mayhem. While the younger Hemingway shows a talent for holding readers' interest, his story is an old one. And while his examination of his relationship with his father holds up well, his speculation about his father's relationship with his grandfather resonates a bit less authentically. Recommended for public libraries with strong Hemingway interest.
Strange Tribe is a fascinating memoir revealing the peculiar family dynamics between Ernest Hemingway and his youngest son Gregory. Gregory, the author's father, tried to live up to Ernest's "macho" reputation throughout his life. But as a cross-dresser and (eventually) a transsexual, Gregory was obsessed with androgyny and his "female half," and he struggled with personal demons up until his death in the Women's Correctional Facility of the Miami Dade County Jail in 2001. In this wonderfully crafted narrative, John reveals how Ernest and Gregory (who both suffered from bipolar illness and were both fascinated by androgyny) were "two sides of the same coin." Featuring several unpublished correspondences between Ernest and Gregory, Strange Tribe is the story of these two men and the surprising similarities between the two.
This is also John's story--about what it was like growing up in Miami and Montana with his father and his schizophrenic mother, and of how it took him years to deal with the pain their illnesses caused him. He also shows how the persona of Ernest Hemingway, the most important literary icon of the past 100 years, continues to loom darkly over the often-troubled lives of his descendants.
Synopsis
A family memoir revealing the fascinating dynamics between Ernest Hemingway and his youngest son, Gregory, written by John Hemingway (grandson of Ernest and son of Gregory).
From The Critics
Publishers Weekly
The author, grandson of Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway, and son of his youngest child, Gregory, investigates the similarities between these two paternal figures and seeks to find his place in their "strange tribe" with a "famous last name." Sure to excite fans and Hemingway scholars, the book does much to complicate Ernest's image as a macho man, cataloguing both his dependence on women and his gender-bending proclivities. However, the true heart of the book is in exploring the Hemingways' failure as parents and how the familial disposition toward manic-depression created a genetic "Hemingway curse." The author, having escaped the disease, paints his father and grandfather in blunt strokes as loving and generous men who had little understanding of their psychological disorder; the most endearing and comprehensive portrait is of his father's struggles as a transvestite son of a "pillar of American manhood." When describing his own parents' early neglect (his mother was schizophrenic) and, later, his partial reconciliation with his father, the book focuses on the author's generation of Hemingwaysbut mostly the book is intent upon setting the record straight about Ernest, his youngest son and their similarities. John Hemingway writes honestly and is a sympathetic scrutinizer of this complicated and famous man, the family he parented and the myths to which his writing has given birth. (May)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Library Journal - Jan Brue Enright
The myth of Ernest Hemingway is so large, so outrageous, so macho, so wild, that it is no wonder there is a great deal of interest in the writer's life and family almost 50 years after his death. Ernest's grandson John (child of Ernest's youngest son, Gregory) shares his own perspective on the family. Although he never knew his grandfather, he uses previously unpublished letters between Ernest and his father to explore the pair's tumultuous love/hate relationship. Gregory struggled with gender identity (it has been theorized that Ernest had a similar struggle) and ended his life a cross-dresser. John spent his childhood shuffling between his schizophrenic mother and his bipolar father. Add alcohol, infidelity, and money problems to the mix, and imagine the ensuing mayhem. While the younger Hemingway shows a talent for holding readers' interest, his story is an old one. And while his examination of his relationship with his father holds up well, his speculation about his father's relationship with his grandfather resonates a bit less authentically. Recommended for public libraries with strong Hemingway interest.
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