Green Hills of Africa

A Life Well Lived

Hemingway's account of a Kudu hunting safari in Africa between the wars is not one of his better-known works. But his ability to let the reader experience events through Hemingway's own senses is as strong as ever. This is a mesmerising story. I found the narration a little brisk for my liking, and slowed it down with the iPod software.

It was good but not amazing

What made the experience of listening to Green Hills of Africa the most enjoyable?

Picturing the whole scene, the landscape, the experience of being there.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Green Hills of Africa?

When he shot a rhino

Which character – as performed by Josh Lucas – was your favorite?

Hemmingway

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No. It was good, slightly boring because it was all about one hunting trip but it is what it is and Im glad I listened to it. Its interesting.

Any additional comments?

If you like Hemmingway you will like it.

The Pleasures of Place, People, and Persuit

Where a man feels at home, outside of where he's born, is where he's meant to go."
- Ernest Hemingway

Once, when I was 11 or 12, I begged my father to take me Mule deer hunting in Utah. Growing up in the West, among a certain strata of boy, the October deer hunt was a sort of blood ritual. We would take off from school for a couple days, go into the mountains with our fathers, shoot at things, and come home.

At this time in my life, I had tremendous blood lust. I wanted to bring something down. To be at the top of the pyramid for a second. To conquer something. I wasn't at the stage where I could explore where these impulses came from. The desire to carry and shoot. The desire to kill and show off my trophy. It really was a deep thing. I think as a child, I can best explain it as some way of coming to grips with the discovery that you are no longer the center of the Universe. You have recently discovered you aren't a god. So, you act like a god. You seek to become Shiva the destroyer, the killer of groundhogs, of robins, the boy who pulls the stinger out of bees in the window.

Lucky for me, I discovered (much later in life) that my father, a veterinarian, used to steer me away from the deer. He was happy to hike, camp, and shoot with me. He understood better than I, the stage I was in. Perhaps, at 11 or 12, disappointment with not finding something to kill might serve me better than blood.

Even now as I've grown, as I read Hemingway's 'Green Hills of Africa' and I feel all of those early impulses again. After finishing this story, I did a Google search to see how much a Safari in South Africa and Zimbabwe costs now days. I know this is absurd. It is one of those things I mock and despise among the rich. Photos of the Trump boys displaying their trophies or the owner of Jimmy Johns standing under an Elephant he has recently killed makes me both angry and sad at the same time. But I STILL, emotionally, deep down find myself thinking about Hemingway and Roosevelt. Thinking about the big tests, the pursuit, the hunt, the blood. It sickens and attracts. It is visceral. I really think C. G. Poore captured it perfectly when he said this story was "about people in unacknowledged conflict and about the pleasures of travel and the pleasures of drinking and war and peace and writing."

papa

Classic Book a good read love listening to the old stories, makes me wish I were born 100 years earlier

Hemingway was as genius

Every word of his book you felt like you were there. To people who. Love nature and adventure this is your book

Not a Hemingway fan but this was magnificent tale.

If not opposed to hunting, this was a totally great mind melt with a true hunter.

Solid

Sometimes it was difficult to follow along but Lucas does a great job in capturing all the characters and once you catch on it’s a good story but not the best ever. 8/10

Outstanding all-around

I love this writing of Ernest Hemingway. It seems to me to be a very detailed story, intriguing and pleasure to listen to. Th

The narrator does a fantastic job the way he lays out the story I've listened to this at least three times and love the reading kudos to Lucas.

Best out ot doors and Africa book

A favorite. Brutally honest. Vivid descriptions. Reads like a poem. Read it 8 times listened twice.

simple story

no real cliff hangers, mostly about a guy on an African hunt. if you like or are in the mood for a slow easy going book this is great.