My friend David Beckwith is the author of the nonfiction book A New Day in the Delta, released earlier this year by The University of Alabama Press. He and his wife Nancy live in Florida — Vero Beach and Key West — and one of the many things I like about them is that they seem to enjoy books and movies at least as much as I do. They are currently marketing a novel that they co-wrote called The Hurricane Conspiracy.

This review appeared recently at an online news site called keynews.com.

— John Floyd

REVISITING HEMINGWAY’S ONLY KEY WEST NOVEL

by David and Nancy Beckwith

When we were contemplating doing a book review on To Have And Have Not, issues emerged that made us pause. We would be reviewing a book published in 1937 by Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway, an icon of Key West. We would be reviewing a book that had directly been the subject of at least three motion pictures and indirectly several more. We asked each other how many times this book had been reviewed over the last 72-year period. We also wondered just how well the book had stood the test of time. In short, we were a little reluctant to tackle the project.

As if a sign from providence, the very night we were discussing how, and if, to tackle the review, Turner Classic Movies ran the Howard Hawks’ 1944 version of “To Have And Have Not” with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Walter Brennan. This coincidental occurrence made the project a mandate. We were entranced as Humphrey Bogart played the Hemingway tough-guy fishing captain; Walter Brennan as Eddy, the rummy mate, hippety-hopped drunkenly through the show; and pickpocket Lauren Bacall (Slim) exuded sex appeal as she said her now famous lines, “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and . . . blow.” When we heard that line, we knew we were ready to take the challenge. It was time to read this Hemingway book again and write this review.

When we actually started to read the book, which neither of us had read in years, we were shocked at the liberties Hollywood had taken with Hemingway’s story. The movie was set in Fort de France, Martinique; the book was set in Key West. The movie took place during the midst of World War II; the book was written about the depths of the depression. Harry “Steve” Morgan was a world-weary single fishing boat captain in the movie; he was a poor married Conch with a wife and three children in the book. We were also shocked to find out that Hemingway did not write the screenplay; it was written by a group of writers who included Hemingway’s arch rival, William Faulkner.

Hemingway’s story has been both maligned and lauded. It is said that Hemingway himself told Howard Hawks that it was the worst book he had ever written and called it a “bunch of junk.” Legend has it that Hemingway only wrote the book as part of a contractual obligation while living at the Compleat Angler Hotel on Bimini.

Whatever Hemingway thought of it, we found it to be a very engaging story. After Harry Morgan has been stiffed by a charter of his boat following a three-week billfishing experience, he is broke and desperate for money to support his family. He agrees to smuggle illegal Chinese immigrants into Key West. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and when the mission is over Harry is in worse financial shape than before the escapade. As the book progresses, Harry’s life spirals out of control because he continues to take more and more risks, hoping just one time the breaks will go his way. Unlike the movie, however, there is no glorious happy ending with Slim and Eddy in which all sail into the sunset as they seek more adventure.

Hemingway’s writing style is very modern and holds up very well all these years after its publication. Many people attempting to become serious writers have read William Strunk’s 1919 classic The Elements Of Style, the universal go-to guide when a writer is trying to grasp modern style, make a phrase clearer, or try to enliven his work. We thought continually of some of Strunk’s maxims while reading Hemingway’s prose — write in a way that comes naturally; do not explain too much; be clear; avoid fancy words; do not overwrite; write with nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs. Hemingway appears to have followed the style of Professor Strunk with his short declarative sentences and terse, straight-ahead style. The wisdom of Strunk’s rules of style and the writing style of Hemingway have made this book read as if it were written today.

Most of the slang terms used in the book are also still used today — words like “snotty” and “cojones.” There were a few out-dated phrases that brought a smile, for example “plugged,” as when Eddy says to Harry, “You’re just plugged (i.e. upset),” or one of the ladies says “Nerts to you.” But we all know slang is fluid.

The structure of To Have And Have Not is also interesting, although at points Hemingway needs to help the reader by identifying the narrator. The early chapters of the novel consist of two of Hemingway’s short stories. He then weaves in a novella he had previously written. The story is told from multiple viewpoints at different times by different characters. The book begins from Harry’s point of view, then goes into third person omniscient, then back to the first person with another character, Al, narrating, then with Harry being the first person, and finally finishes with the rest of the book in the third person.

It is a quick read. The paperback edition we bought had 262 pages. Do not, however, expect to read the story in the Humphrey Bogart film. About all they have in common is the title. There is no sultry romantic Lauren Bacall softly crooning “How Little We Know” to a single piano. Instead there’s the struggling, hard-bitten but loving wife, Marie, whom Hemingway calls more often than not simply “Old Woman.” Marie’s comment at the end of the book about Harry says it all: “And he was so goddamned good to me and reliable too, and he always made money some way and I never had to worry about money, only about him . . .”

One should take the opportunity to read the only novel Papa ever wrote about Key West, despite being a resident for nine years; and the only novel he ever wrote that took place in the United States. You will recognize a lot of the Keys that we still know and love today.