Hemingway’s Saint Louis: How St. Louisans Shaped His Life and Legacy

Hemingway’s Saint Louis: How St. Louisans Shaped His Life and Legacy by Andrew J. Theising 158 pages

Readers and scholars are aware of Ernest Hemingway’s connection to St. Louis. He was great friend with the Smiths, a high-profile St. Louis family and three of his four wives hailed from the Gateway City. This book is not about St. Louis’ connection to the writer but about those people who influenced him. If anyone is looking for a guide to visit Hemingway attractions, well, there aren’t any.

I lied. There is probably one: The house at 4748 Westminster Place. That was the home of Laura Charles, the woman who raised Katy Smith, Hadley Richardson’s friend, who introduced the two. There’s nothing to see except the house’s exterior.

The chapter on the Smith Family is confusing and seems to be all over the place. I kept having to reread paragraphs to really know who author Theising was discussing.

The rest of the book was a little better. Each chapter focused on an important St. Louis family who touched Hemingway in some remote way. However, this scholarly work is written in the style that I don’t like about reading some biographies---it’s a list of what happened when, and sometimes not in chronological order. I was never able to get to know these people. They are abstract versions of anyone, anywhere.

The most interesting part of the book is the list of “Untimely Ends.”  I knew that Ernest’s father had committed suicide, but I was unaware that his brother and sister also met the same fate. In addition, there were many (12 in all) people in Ernest’s wide circle who died before the age of 70. That could make an interesting book, how all those young deaths attributed to his suicide.

I learned of this book when the author did a segment of KETC’s “Living St. Louis” show.  It was much more fascinating hearing Andrew Theising talk about the Hemingway’s St. Louis connection than it was to read the book. Therefore, “Hemingway’s Saint Louis: How St. Louisans Shaped His Life and Legacy,” receives 2 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.