In Our Time

By: Ernest Hemingway

Narrated by: Stacy Keach

A strikingly original collection of short stories and accompanying vignettes that marked Ernest Hemingway’s American debut.

When In Our Time was first published in 1925, it was widely praised for its simple and precise use of language to convey a wide range of complex emotions, and earned Hemingway a place among the most promising American writers of that period. In Our Time contains several early Hemingway classics, including the famous Nick Adams stories “Indian Camp” and “The Three Day Blow,” and introduces readers to the hallmarks of the Hemingway style: a lean, tough prose, enlivened by an ear for the colloquial and an eye for the realistic. His writing suggests, through the simplest of statements, a sense of moral value and a clarity of vision.

Now recognized as one of the most important short story collections of twentieth-century literature, In Our Time provides key insights into Hemingway’s later works.(P) Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Weird Music through Experimental Cutouts

In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway was written around 1925. The story is told in an experimental, interloping style that combines different periods of the protagonist’s life, interspersed with vignettes of post-war Europe, bullfighting, and political events.

I don’t think this approach works well for Hemingway. He is not, in my view, an experimental writer. The shifting timeline felt confusing and worked against his natural strengths. Hemingway is at his best when he grounds the reader in a place—when he describes setting and nature so vividly that you feel present. I didn’t get that here.

His iceberg theory also doesn’t land in this work. There weren’t enough clues about the protagonist for me to connect with him or care about his journey. Instead of depth beneath the surface, it felt like there simply wasn’t enough there.

The book came across as rushed and incomplete.

That said, there were moments I really enjoyed—especially his descriptions of fishing. That familiar sense of calm and symbolism is alive here, and it reminded me of what he later does so well in The Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises.

Interestingly, he actually describes scenes and details more than usual in this work, which felt unusual and slightly off for his style. While I was able to follow the structure, it never became compelling.

I am a big Hemingway fan, but this one fell flat for me.

Ranking: Last among Hemingway works I’ve read
Overall Canon Rank: #86

Great but...

I have always loved this collection and Mr. Keach is perfect for this. The music interludes were a bit out of place, I thought, but by the end I was used to them.

FANTASTIC!

I've always love the outdoors, because of stories Hemingway wrote of the Nick Adams stories. Good work Mr. Keach.

Simpler Times

Detail, flow, pace, word selection and usage, character development, scene descriptions — everything was magnificent — as we have come to expect from Mr. Hemingway — and ENJOY!!

Excellent pairing of author and narrator

Hemingway has always seemed to me a writer whose subjects appeal more to men than women, yet no one can describe death in such moving yet sparse sentences.