The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway

his is a very special book. It’s neither an ordinary novel,  nor a collection of short stories. The book contains several very short reflections, each about five to ten pages long. There are many different topics in the book. There are however few that Hemingway touches more frequently. One is death. He talks about death in many different ways. The death of animals, suicide and fear of growing old. The thing that the different scenes has in common is the way that they are described. Hemingway doesn’t want to glorify anything. He wants to narrate the truth as realistically as possible. Sometimes it is the most horrible scenes, but he still writes with tenderness and compassion. That fact makes the description realistic and it feels like Hemingway has been there himself. It could have gone to sweet but Hemingway got the sense not to reveal everything. He lets the reader understand things without writing them.
There is no real protagonist though the short stories describe different people and different environments. One character, Nick Adams, emerges rather often in different places. I think that he might be Hemingway himself.                   
The first story - and the story which has given the book its name - is about a dying author who looks back on his life. What he could have done differently and what he regrets. He does it under the African sun looking upon the snow covered top of Kilimanjaro. He wonders about what the hyena thinks of the snow. The white, cold snow and the dark, athletic hyena. The text swarms of metaphors and you have to read some sentences and lines several times before you understand their meaning. Hemingway writes often short sentences without subordinate clauses. That gives the text a little journalistic style. In addition to that Hemingway was once a journalist. He was positioned as a journalist in Europe during the First world war and the Spanish civil war. During that time he met many of the characters in his stories. He made a lot of friends and become fascinated by bullfighting,  whiskey and hunting, things a typical “man” should like. He got a reputation of being a “macho man”. After reading this book I can not claim him from being one. I actually find him sensitive and that he always believed that the love would conquer all. For him true love was all love, it does not matter if it is between man and wife or the wife and her cat or if the love was male friendship put under big pressure.
This book is rather difficult to read due to the plentiful number of metaphors. You have to reflect and se different parallels. It takes some time but you get much satisfaction. Both because of the fact that you have figured out something by your self and that the meanings of the metaphors often are worth considering.
I can truly recommend this book. The stories are interesting and told in a very beautiful way. The themes are eternal and timeless which make them up to date even 60 years after they’ve been written. It will probably make you interested in other of Hemingway’s work. Read it and reflect. It will take some time, but it is worth it.

Enskilda Gymnasiet HT-2001