BOOK REVIEW

AYUSH AGARWAL
18P1652
1 CAME ‘L’

ACROSS THE RIVER AND INTO THE TREES

-By Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was a journalist, novelist and short story writer. He produced most of his
work between the mid-1920s and mid-1950s. His works are considered classics of American
literature.

The book begins with an elderly Colonel Richard Cantwell, on a duck hunt in Trieste, Italy.
A flashback begins recalling the life of the colonel. Cantwell thinks about Renata, who was a
young Venetian woman and the things he went through during the World War I. The
narrative tells of Cantwell and Renata’s romantic times together. Colonel Cantwell is driven
to his meeting with Renata by a man named Jackson. Cantwell speaks of things that go back
to, and long before, his service in the Italian army during World War I. Following the long
conversation, and to Jackson, boring, they arrive in Venice and Cantwell meets with the
countess, Renata. She is almost nineteen years old, while Cantwell is middle aged. She
apparently does not mind him referring to her as “daughter” nor does his being older than her
father seem to concern to her. After spending three days in Venice enjoying meals, beverages
and making love to Renata, Cantwell, indicating his own death, quotes the final words of
Stonewall Jackson. He then makes his way to the backseat of the staff car and dies of a heart
attack.

I found the book to be very boring soon after I began reading. By the time I reached chapter
8, all I could think of was “what’s the point of this?”. It was getting very slow and nothing
interesting was happening. The characters were just talking with each other, not to mention
sometimes with themselves which made the book a dread to read. I just didn’t understand
why on earth people would want to read this book. It did not have much of a plot. We
meander through a very spongy middle between a solid beginning and a solid end.
One thing that drove me insane was that Cantwell kept referring to Renata as “daughter”,
when she was actually his love interest. Cantwell also kept commenting on how beautiful she
is and objectified her by comparing her to a well-bred horse. Renata did not seem to have a
problem or be tired of all this, I did. She came across as a very flat character. It was also
never made clear what is that Renata finds attractive about Cantwell. It completely ignored
her perspective. Cantwell’s arrogant bitterness towards people, at times, exploded into
inappropriate violence.

However, the book did become interesting towards the end. The last few chapters were a
pleasure to read. When I realised that Cantwell was going to die, I got a new appreciation for
the book. I did not like the book, I feel that Ernest Hemingway’s writing style is not for me
but I do appreciate the book and the attention to detail. I would not read it again now, because
I cannot relate to the story but I would like to read it in the future with a new perspective.