Strange Tribe: A Family Memoir

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While vacationing in Key West, Florida, I was pleasantly surprised to discover John Hemingway, the grandson of Ernest Hemingway, sitting in front of the bookstore at the Hemingway home. To discover he had written further insights about his family background was even more thrilling. Of course, I bought an autographed copy of his soul. The same evening, I began reading, STRANGE TRIBE. This page turner kept me spellbound until I finished the book in the early morning hours. Because secrets became public knowledge, and John, candidly, revealed how the Hemingways were human. They, too, fell in love, were divorced, and children suffered due to parental shortcomings. On the other hand, for each thumbs up for an achievement far greater than the average American, there was another thumbs down. Apparently, John felt like he was on a roller coaster ride throughout his entire life, yet in spite of the obstacles and stupid mistakes, like stealing the car that he admitted to doing himself, this young man excelled at UCLA, married, and promised his children a normal life. But a question remained in my own mind. What would be considered normal in 2007, and what will children being born now face in their futures? Certainly, if the movie industry producers read this book, I believe John will receive a contract right away for a screenplay, and we'll be buying a ticket to seeing the movie next. Furthermore, this author's talents revealed that his knowledge and wisdom should help other families rethink some of their decisions. Because of his experiences, John Hemingway had compassion. STRANGE TRIBE may help adults understand how the roles they model can affect their children's lives in ways that were never intended. Even the best parents can save lives in their work and fall out of love or in love. Then, a little fun on the side can lead to one disaster after another. All human beings should read this book, and next, each one should ask, Would I want my child to write a book about me whenever he or she becomes an adult? John's message may bring love, peace, and happiness to more families who read and think about STRANGE TRIBE.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

There will always be a Hemingway.......

Every generation from the 1920s to the 2000s has had it's Hemingway, beginning with the original 'macho' Ernest. Each succeeding branch of the family tree feels compelled to look back and tell it 'like it was.' John Hemingway pulls no punches in his excellent biographical analysis of his forebears. Highly recommended, especially for the Hemingway aficionados.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A gem of a memoir

I've read several books about Ernest and the Hemingway clan, and John Hemingway's book adds new and untold dimensions to the saga. STRANGE TRIBE is an intimate and poignant story written with a skillful, understated grace. Ernest would be proud!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

growing up in the shadow of the image of Ernest Hemingway

Grandson of Ernest Hemingway, the author delves into the disturbing effects this major author's macho persona had on the author's father and thus inevitably on himself. Ernest Hemingway committed suicide. The author's father, Ernest's youngest son Gregory, struggled with gender identification his whole life, and died in the Women's Correctional Facility of the Miami Dade County Jail in 2001. The author was spared the worst of the traumas of his grandfather and father. But for the longest time, he lived a rootless, vagabond life exacerbated by concerns about his helplessly irresponsible and unpredictable father and trying to fill in gaps in his life his father had suppressed or ignored in his own life. John Hemingway does not emerge from the cloying shadows cast over him by his father and grandfather until the birth of a son with his wife Ornella in Italy in the Fall 2006, so he ends the memoir. The reader is not assured, however, that his turmoils are behind him for good. Hemingway's tale is told mostly in illustrative vignettes, not an in-depth or intricate narrative searching for the roots of the gender abnormalities of the characters. The style is honest, genuine, and engaging. Hemingway does not strive for the luridness, sensationalism, confessional slant of so many contemporary memoirs. Undoubtedly, the memoir was purgative in some respects for him. But he wrote it as much to present his unique contribution on the Hemingway legend and its reverberations in succeeding generations of his family.