there's something about an author's last uncompleted novel.

there was a lot of good old-fashioned cleverness to this book, of the kind that reminds you of 9th grade english class discussions at 7:35 am that were like pulling teeth. the adam and eve motif, the slow transition from nameless characters to named and back. but then there's also weird stuff.

it's a little strange to read this story, which is about gender dysphoria and polyamory and sexuality, in 2024, when all of that is stuff we know about now. reading hemingway writing about it is almost like when your grandpa describes a character he likes in a tv show using extremely outdated language and you're like, "aw, pop pop! it's nice that you're trying but also please never say that again."

except for hundreds of pages.

bottom line: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

(3.5 / thanks to the publisher for the copy)