To Have and Have Not

Just as Hemingway himself, the protagonist, Harry Morgan, is an intelligent, but broken man. Within a paragraph you'll recognize Hemingway's unmistakeable newspaperman's style. I felt his voice in every word. After being in Key West, I needed a Hemingway fix. This was one I hadn't read.

This is nowhere as good as Islands in the Stream. The story is in the first 123 pages. Racist labelings apart, the prose is quite gripping up to that point. Then the protagonist Cap'n Harry Morgan gets forgotten and some drunk and not very interesting characters squabble in the bar and in the bedroom, who really have very little to do with the plot, except to justify the title (these are the Have's). Harry Morgan is basically a good, hard-livin' guy who likes to drink and fish (like Hemingway), but it's as though the author ran out of steam with him. A deeper plot, with less time gaps and jumping about between characters might have made this a much better novel, but you'll find trademark H. understatement and great descriptions of the sea, especially of a marlin jumping out of the water.

I have been so engaged with biographies about Hemmingway I expected a lot more from his writing. As a previous reviewer stated it seems as if perhaps Hemmingway was drunk when he wrote this. His biographs are written more cohesively. I did take note many of his books were not well received at first, now I can see why. I'm sorry I feel this way about a cherished and glorified author.

really a series of three separate stories strong together and most of the time it does not even read the way Hemingway did another box of this.. And anyone looking for the slightest resemblance to the movie made from the book will be utterly confused and disappointed

Disconnected
Rambling
Not the prose expected from Papa.
He does describe the desperation at lands end during the depression.
You couldn't get any farther south geographically or psychologically.

I just finished reading Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not.
There isn't a lot of love out there for this book, but I think it was OK. It wasn't great; it was good. I'd put it on the same shelf (get it) with Islands in the Stream.
To Have and Have Not is really a series of short, interwoven tales set in Key West in the 1930s. Some of the dialogue is hokey and drags on for pages, but I don't know that it's much different from most of Hemingway's dialogue.
I love Hemingway, but to me, his dialogue exchanges are many times excruciating to read. I love his descriptions of places and events. I can almost imagine Hemingway sitting at the bar at Sloppy Joe's, listening to stories, people watching, and then heading home to write To Have and Have Not.

This novel is an outstanding achievement and its unique qualities may not fit every reader’s taste. The novel is about an anti-hero, a man of courage and prowess, a murderer and family man, a man who has seen the worst of human nature and does not plan to be a victim. The blurb on the back of the book is nonsense. In some regards Hemingway evokes Ulysses and Penelope in the husband and wife pair that are central to the story. It is extremely difficult to say what the novel is about since it is about class and the wearing away of the lower class. It is about veterans realizing too late that they were tools of the upper class in wars that only benefited corporations. It is about revolution and the use of murderers and thugs to bring about idealistic ends. It is about the cheapness of human life, the way alcohol numbs and destroys a life, and the way wealth and privilege invite soul destroying indulgence. It is a dark novel; there are no heroes, only predator and prey, murderer and victim. The novel catches the underworld between Key West and Havana in a time of revolution and exploitation.

The structure of the novel would now be called post-modern but Hemingway and Faulkner excelled in this style before the post-modern period. There are multiple narrators in the novel. Sometimes it is narrated by the all knowing observer. Sometimes it is narrated in first person. Sometime it is a stream of consciousness. Men are usually shown in action scenes and women in reflective thought. The violent action scenes, especially aboard one of fishing boats, is some of the best concise clear action writing I have ever read. The dialogue between men is hard, reminding me of Ben Traven’s Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Rough men talk very rough to each other. They constantly threaten each other while simultaneously conducting clandestine business. It is fascinating to read. It is chilling in its minimalism that still exudes violence and threat.

There are many thugs, brainless and dangerous. There are many drunks, all revealing the dark underbelly of their lives and emotions when intoxicated. Drunk veterans fight like crazy every night and reveal the compacted anger they harbor as well as the fact that life has destroyed them and now they revel in their own self destruction.

Description is minimal, dialogue is sharp and to the point, the storyline follows the desperation of bad times and bad men making bad decisions. The plot is erratic and characters enter and exit with little cohesion, yet it all feels real, like the reality of life’s relentless wearing away of any dreams or hopes. I found the book to be outstanding.

In TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, which published in 1937, Hem seems to be seeking his spot in the economic controversies of the 1930s.

In this novel, there are "haves", who live on enormous luxurious yachts docked at a marina in Key West. These "haves", who are more stereotype than character, are unscrupulous money grubbers, lonely, pampered and sexually frustrated wives, or bitchy men who mistreat the servants. These "haves" appear in a single long chapter near the end of the novel and are part of the fictional mix so that Hem can layer his text.

In contrast, the lives of the "have-nots" are represented by the difficulties of Harry Morgan, the owner of a charter boat based in Key West, whose marginal business is destroyed when a gormless and feckless client skips town without paying his huge bill. Thereafter, Harry, to make money to support his family, charters his boat to move contraband or to provide a getaway to politically-motivated criminals. Hem, obviously, is sympathetic to the taciturn Harry, who seems comfortable with manly things like fishing and operates in a zone where other manly men intuit and honor Harry's code of behavior.

Connecting the world of "haves" and "have-nots" is the unsympathetic and dipsomaniacal novelist Richard Gordon, who has marital problems and senses that his novels, which are about labor unrest, are inauthentic. When Gordon is arguing with his wife, he seems to inhabit the empty ranting life of the "haves", where no one is happy. But when he goes drinking, Gordon can mix in bars with "have-nots", who use alcohol and pointless violence to avoid their problems, as well as not to think about structural inequality in America. Gordon is able to observe these "have-nots" and shares their self-destructiveness. But he is nowhere near the transcendent Harry Morgan, who has all the disadvantages of the "have-nots" but retains a certain nobility. This is because Richard Gordon lacks Harry Morgan's obscure but honorable personal code, Hem seems to be saying.

There's some terrific action writing in TO HAVE AND TO HAVE NOT. Early in the book, for example, Harry takes his deadbeat client fishing and you-are-there as this arrogant but bumbling jerk, despite Harry's willingness to share manly knowledge, fails to catch a tarpon. Likewise, the writing is first-rate when the cagey Harry captains a boat carrying violent revolutionaries to Cuba. Finally, the writing is memorable when the drunken Gordon goes bar-hopping and mixes with the hoi polloi. But otherwise, Hem's terse style doesn't usually reverberate with allusion and the interactions and internal monologues of the "haves" can be dreadful.

This is definitely mediocre Hemingway. Still, it has an interesting structure, since it shows Hem trying to reach beyond the manly values of fishing and supporting the family and to find something more complex and modern to say.

To Have and Have Not, 1944 film

The film begins in 1940 Martinique after the Fall of France. Captain Morgan gets permission to leave port for fishing at sea. Eddie is his helper, he likes his beer. Mr. Johnson is angry after losing the fishing tackle. Will he pay the $825 fee? The Secret Police listen to talk on the streer. Frenchy wants to hire his boat for a trip at night. "Anybody got a match?" Morgan looks out for Johnson, he is a client. Slim hands it over, and Morgan learns more about his client. Then he gets some visitors, but he rejects their business offer. Outside the police shoot at the four men. Johnson won't sign any checks now. "There is no cause for alarm." Morgan explains the conflict between the Free French and Vichy. Slim knows here way with men in a bar.

Steve talks to her about her life. She'll get back home. [Their witty talk seems unrealistic.] `You're good." "You know how to whistle, don't you?" Steve decides to take that job, he needs money now. [Will all that smoking cause future health problems?] Eddie knows when Steve is in trouble. Steve is armed with a pistol and a rifle at sea. Eddie knows how to handle a gun. They rendezvous at night to pick up the passengers, a man and his wife. The patrol boat finds them and fires on them but they escape in the dark. Back at the saloon Morgan finds a new job waiting for him in the cellar. Will he succeed? Slim sees no strings attached to Steve. Eddie is told to keep out of sight, but Morgan can't find him. The plan was to rescue a patriot from Devil's Island. Steve plans to leave Martinique for good at night. Reynard visits Steve to ask more questions. Steve resolves this problem with his pistol. Reynard gives orders and signs the passes to leave port. [Does it seem too easy?] There is a happy ending for the good guys.

I never read Ernest Hemingway's novel "To Have and Have Not" but I know he would never echo the plot of "Casablanca". Hollywood almost always changes the book to simplify and condense the story for a movie. This creates an audience from those who already read the book, and omits characters and scenes that would lengthen the movie past the usual two-hour running time. Before the 1950s the educational system taught about the conflicts between the "Haves' and the "Have Nots" as an explanation for politics and wars. I wonder what was the reason for a character like "Eddie" in this movie?

One day when Howard Hawks and Hemingway were on a fishing trip, Hawks said that To Have And Have Not was a piece of junk, but still thought he could turn it into a good film. I've seen the film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall repeatedly and it is great. What about its original literary source?

Hemingway's novel is bleaker; it follows Harry Morgan's downward spiral as he tries to support his wife, Marie, and two young daughters. After a rich fisherman charters his boat and takes off without paying, Harry is forced to accept dangerous and illegal jobs. As a result, his boat is confiscated and (symbolically) his arm amputated. Eventually, Harry dies from a gunshot wound during a botched bank robbery escape realizing on his deathbed that you can't survive by being a loner. Marie is tragically left to fend for herself and her children. The novel digresses to follow other characters across the class spectrum as a way to comment on the "haves" and "have-nots" in this world. The digressions, although written well, are the weakest part of the novel. It's almost as if Hemingway lost interest and energy in the work and wrapped it up quickly.

Among many changes, Hawks and his scriptwriters (including William Faulkner!) chose to expand and add characters while leaving out others. Harry Morgan is still a loner, but is given a motivation for it in the film. He's also more likable as he shares a deeper relationship with Eddie, his rummy first mate. In the novel, Eddie disappears halfway through and Harry even considers killing him to get rid of witnesses. Hawks also focuses on the relationship between Marie and Harry and how they met. Unlike the novel's end, Harry's transformation from a loner who minds his own business is gradually developed as he and Marie (and Eddie) go on to help the French resistance. It is a happier, hopeful, and believable ending.

It's unfair to say Hawks turned Hemingway's lead into gold; the novel is written well only in the way Papa can. True, it is thin on both character and plot, which Hawks corrects, changes and amplifies into a masterpiece, but Papa's work still has shades of greatness in it.

Summary

Harry Morgan is a policeman-turned-fisherman down on his luck like so many others in the Depression-struck Florida Keys. To make ends meet, Harry begins engaging in increasingly dangerous illegal activities in the waters between the Keys and Cuba.

The book opens on Harry and several Cuban revolutionaries who want to pay Harry an exorbitant fee to transport them to the United States. Harry refuses, preferring to use his boat for legal activities, and as the revolutionaries leave, they are gunned down in the street.

However, after being tricked by a customer who charters the boat for three weeks and then vanishes without settling his account, Harry agrees to smuggle Chinese immigrants from Cuba to the mainland. Next, Harry begins running alcohol between the two countries, and a confrontation with Cuban customs lost Harry his arm and his boat. Undeterred, he signs to the next scheme he runs across: stealing a boat and ferrying Cubans involved in a bank robbery back to their homeland.

As he descends ever-deeper into desperation, Harry meets old friends and new faces. He has little patience for those who have not remained as resilient to the times as himself, and he has no patience for outsiders. Tensions mount between this hardscrabble jack-of-all-trades and several tourists who frequent his local bars.

One pair of tourists take special prominence in the book: Arthur, an unexceptional writer, and his beautiful, unhappy wife. When Arthur comes home one day after sleeping with yet another woman, his wife decides to leave him for another man, an alcoholic who has been seen sloshing around the bars as well.

Meanwhile, you are given a peek into the intimate details of Harry's relationship with his wife, Marie. The quiet desperation with which they cling to each other is meant as a justification for Harry's illegal maritime activity. Unfortunately, Harry does not return home after his trip with the Cuban bank-robbers, and Marie becomes yet another Depression-era woman left wringing her apron in desperation and rage.

Analysis

I'll be the first to admit that I have a bit of a Hemingway obsession. One of my literary goals is to read all of his books, and I'm not too far from the finish line. However, To Have and Have Not is my least favorite Hemingway book so far. Though Hemingway attempts to dissect grand social issues, such as troubled economic times and the relationship that exists between husband and wife, the entangled sub-plots and the erratic activities of the characters serve to distract from whatever statement Hemingway is trying to make.

The unexpected changes in viewpoints are disorienting, and the stories of other characters either stop abruptly or trail off seemingly without resolution. Harry remains the driving force of the novel, if there is one, even when the narrative meanders through the viewpoints of those who interact with him. Though his motivations inspire pity, his actions encourage judgment. Ultimately, I felt indifference toward him.

One aspect of the novel that I did enjoy, however, was the marine setting. I liked the descriptions of Harry's boat and the protective feelings that he felt for her. However, if you want good writing by Hemingway about the nautical life, read The Old Man and the Sea. In fact, skip this book and read Old Man anyway.

Hemingway's strength's are displayed throughout this short novel about a fisherman turned smuggler during hard times. He had an incredible ability to build characters in sketches with an economy of words and yet these people come alive in his work. Here Harry Morgan ,a tough guy ,shuffles in scenes between Havana and the Florida Keys and while it's his story that drives the narrative, several other diverse and equally interesting subplots are included in a novel of only 180 pages ( in my arrow books edition). Few writers could successfully texture a story to this degree in such a short and compact work without losing either the thread of the plot or drawing shallow characters. Hemingway did neither and this book remains a very good read. There is a passage where he describes the different methods of suicide, and specifically the merits of using a gun on oneself which I found rather fascinating given the suicide of the author years later.

Just the name Hemingway conjures up images of writing that will leave a reader astounded by its brilliance. Sadly, my first Hemingway novel, left me a little flat. "To have and have not" is a somewhat disjointed account of a scallywag named Harry Morgan. Harry owns a charter ship based in Cuba and, is also not averse to running Cubans between Key West and Cuba.

That's pretty much the premise for the book. There's a lot of conversational prose that flows over many pages of which the outcome doesn't seem to be ... anything? Morgan doesn't mince his words and, due to this, we never get to know him well enough to root for him. There's little, if any, internal dialogue where can get inside his head and figure him out. In some ways, this book is two or three short stories bound together.

Towards the end of the book, I got a sense of Hemingway's brilliance as he takes us inside a number of boats docked in a small port of Cuba. Here he glows as he paints a picture of the people's lives and how they ended up at the point they are now. He uses words so well and, due to this chapter in particular, I'll delve deeper into Hemingway's work. Without this chapter I might have decided against further time spent reading Hemingway's work.

"To have and Have Not", in summary, is a disjointed, tepid and tired tale about a man we know as little about by the end as we did at the beginning. Strikes me that Hemingway was under contract and churned this one out in between his better novels.

Like so many readers, I'm familiar with the entertaining film of the same title that took quite a lot of liberties with the characters and plot that Hemingway developed. (And by the way, William Faulkner wrote the screenplay for the movie!) I assumed the book would be similar to the movie -- and it's not.

The Harry Morgan in the film is a hero, a sort of amoral hero in some sense, but definitely someone who is working on behalf of the greater good. The Harry Morgan of the book is a true anti-hero, one of the seminal anti-heroes in literature. But I loved the book nonetheless. It's a powerful book, full of death and failure and frustration, as well as the classic Hemingway machismo.

The book is a series of stories about life in the Florida Keys and Cuba during a period when the Great Depression had torpedoed opportunities for many Americans, and life was becoming unliveable in corrupt, violence Cuba. The main character, Harry Morgan, is able to move between those worlds, and carve out an existence. Quite literally, he moves between the two countries as a boat captain. He offers fishing charters in the Gulf, and, when the Depression kills the charter trade, he is willing to run guns, liquor, and illegal immigrants from Cuban to the States. Anything for money.

All of of his life begins in bars, where he seems to spend most of his time. He cuts deals, catches up on the news, and drinks endlessly. He just goes from one event to another, with little thought of the future or a grander plan. Sadly, his bravery -- of which there's a great deal -- has no greater purpose. He's amoral, but also fearless.

Through a series of vignettes, we see the key moments in Morgan's life. In the first vignette, Morgan escapes a political hit that results in deaths of three men seeking to escape Cuba. Then he gets stiffed on nearly $1,000 for a fishing charter, and so he accepts an offer to smuggle a dozen Chinese men into Florida. But he double-crosses the dealmaker. In the next vignette, we see Morgan at the tail end of a liquor run that has gone horribly, violently bad; ultimately, he loses his arm. Then, in the last extended vignette, we see Morgan taking yet another chance because he's in dire need of money, when he agrees to take political operatives back to Cuba, against his better judgment. This goes horribly wrong, too.

Through these stories, we get a deep character sketch of a man we want to like and admire, but who I find ultimately to be distateful. Morgan breaks the law over and over again. He's mean to friends and people who are loyal to him. He antagonizes strangers, just to show that he can't be pushed around. You want to think he's the Humphrey Bogart character in the movie -- a fearless man who breaks the law in order to serve a higher good -- but in the novel, Morgan isn't serving a higher good, except perhaps in the sense of being the little guy against "the man." That's what makes Harry Morgan an anti-hero, and that is one of the great achievements of this book. It should be said that Morgan loves his wife, a former prostitute with whom he's had three daughters. Morgan just wants his little piece of life, but he only knows how to get it in the world he inhabits of bars, boats, broads.

The book also does a wonderful job of sketching the side characters -- the rummies who seek small jobs from Morgan, the political schemers who are fomenting revolution in Cuba, the rich folk and intellectuals who come down from New York for a frolic in the Florida Keys. It also shows the understated way that the bartenders and workers of a place like the Keys set up the atmosphere for the casual visitor, and the contempt with which the workers hold most of the visitors. It's not a pretty sight.

The book is over 50 years old, but it has the power to shock. The comments about sex between Morgan and his wife are blunt and more than a little "dirty." Morgan also calls Blacks and Chinese people by less-enlightened terms, and he shows contempt for the folks living in Cuba. As I said, he's not likeable, dignified, or noble -- despite his obvious skills as a boat captain and his great bravery.

Conclusion. It's definitely worth reading if you want to inhabit a tough world of down-and-out people. Hemingway builds a romantic world while not making it pretty, safe, or even fun. It's gritty, dirty, dangerous -- and you wish you had the cojones to live there, too.

Harry Morgan made good money chartering his boat out for sport fishing,but times are hard; the depression is in full swing, only the ugliest survive and Harry makes money anyway he can-shipping Chinamen from Cuba to Florida to running liquer. Then he gets involved with a revolutionary gang from Cuba who heist a bank in Key west and get Harry to run them to Havana...
This is a truly brilliant book and so much more than the outline story. Hemingway inserts chapters and characters that all strongly underline the titled theme; 'To Have and Have Not'
The depression has caused political and social uncertainty; dishonesty seems to be the only thing that pays. Honest Albert Tracy is starving with his family as he works for lousy money on relief and what he can earn from Harry, but respects the law.The rich are rich because they're ruthless but are always one step away from having someone do to them what they have done to others, and the taxman is calling. In Cuba they want revolution but the replacements are every bit as brutal as the incumbants. This follows up-or underlines- Hemingway's theme in 'To Whom the Bell Tolls' where the internationalists are every bit as murderous and brutal as the fascists; what's in a name? Where is civilization?
Hemingway strips humanity down to its most animal instincts of survival and poses the same questions as Steinbeck in 'Grapes of Wrath' all in 180 pages. A really brilliant book, a really brilliant writer.

Many people classify this novel as a "minor" Ernest Hemingway novel, but after reading it,I have come to appreciate this book more and more. We spent a day in Key West as part of a cruise and my wife purchased this work at the Hemingway House. After she finished, I read it more to see how the author treated the people of Key West in the book since we had been there nd learned of the Conch Republic secession from the United States in the 1970s.

This book features Harry Morgan, one of the "conches" in Key West, who ekes out a living operating a fishing boat out of Key West and Cuba in 1937. Times are hard for harry and when he gets stiffed by his charter, he is faced with the economic necessity of performing some illegal activities with his boat (activities to he is not a stranger).

On the surface, the "have nots" are the poor "conches" of Key West who are battling to lift themselves out of the depression and are willing to commit illegal activity to feed their families.

That is the surface plot. Yet underneath, there is a series of disparate characters who demonstrate that, despite their high level of social and economic status, have aspects of their lives in which they "have not". These vignettes are vividly displayed, as the master must have intended.

Howard Hawks' adaptation of Hemingway's TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT is, despite its popularity, a flawed work.

For one, teenaged fashion model Lauren Bacall had NO training to be an actress. She's called upon in her screen debut to sing a few times and does so in a weak, wavery low alto. And the woman had an odd face. If she was a bit younger, Bogie might've gotten arrested for pedophilia-- which is another problem the film has: their disparity in age.

The SLOW-moving story is interrupted for songs by Hoagy Carmichael; a talented composer who is ALSO unable to sing. His bar room piano player scenes seem a desperate attempt to recapture the magic of CASABLANCA-- but here, the rabbit died in the magician's hat.

Walter Brennan's drunken sidekick role is unpleasant to watch; he takes Bogie's abuse and comes back for more, like a desperate dog. Sheldon Leonard as the evil police lieutenant is uninteresting without his famous "racetrack tout" voice ("Hey!... c'mereeee...").

I love Bogart-- own 25 of his best films. This is my least favorite of all, however. The picture's one saving grace is Dolores Moran, who is a true beauty in every sense of the word: great legs, a perfect face, and excellent screen presence. If I ever watch this one again, it will only be to see her. A real disappointment overall!

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT is also available on DVD.
Bogart does a delightful comic turn in ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT (1941), his follow-up to "The Maltese Falcon." Also in the cast are Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt Judith Anderson, Bill Demerest and Barton MacLane. (VHS edition) (DVD edition)

Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(8.1) To Have and Have Not (1944) - Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall/Dolores Moran/Walter Brennan/Hoagy Carmichael/Sheldon Leonard

Update 2013

Those of us who have been spoon-fed on the film adaptation (and with a screenplay written by William Faulkner) To Have Or To Have Not starring Humphrey Bogart and a fresh young Lauren Bacall will be somewhat taken aback on reading Ernest Hemingway's original story. Other than the title and a few names of characters they are two totally different animals. No crusty, no-nonsense, world wary, world weary, everybody looks out for themselves, but in the end unabashedly heroic sea captain Humphrey who succumbs to the charms of Lauren and is lured in by her "you know how whistle, don't you?" all to the sway of seen it all piano player Hoagie Carmichael" s Am I Blue and How Little We Know. No more Humphrey getting off the dime and aiding the angels in the struggle that was blowing over Europe at the time of World War II as translated into Carib time just because he didn't like some fat quisling doing Vichy's dirty work out in the colonies. Or maybe, just maybe he didn't like that third degree Lauren was put through by that quisling because she was down or her upper. And we will see no more mussing up the bad guys just because he didn't like the cut of their jibe, and didn't mind chasing a few windmills if a slender brunette came with it. So mainly we will see no more romantic haze in the night.

The book, conforming more to Hemingway's interest in how men (and it was mainly men, and first half of the 20th century manly endeavors liking bull-fighting, soldier fighting, seadog ocean night fighting, hunting men or animals, stuff like that, he was interested in exploring with his pen, centers rather on a small time been around the block sea captain, Harry Morgan, same as in the book, and his struggle, well, his struggle to just make ends meet in 1930s Carib time. And just making ends meet for an uneducated, where is the next buck coming from,non-nonsense guy with limited (and specialized) skills is what drives the bulk of the book. In short, a "to have not" guy. Or better, a guy with cojones (and if you don't know the word's meaning or can't figure it out Google the word and presto you will be in the know).What drives Harry is simply making the next dime to feed the wife and kids, and maybe some time for a drink or seven with the boys down at some gin mill by the docks where a stand-up guy like him could put things on the cuff.

By the way making that next dime legally if possible, but making it. But as the story unfolds old Harry's life is filled with rough turns and so he is forced, there is no other way to say it, to put himself and his boat at the service of whoever will pay the freight. No reasonable, hell, no unreasonable offer refused out of hand. Bootleggers, drug smugglers, bank robbers and an off-hand revolutionary are in need of his services to either flee Key West or flee some place to get to Key West hi sport of call. And things were going, well, okay until the other shoe dropped on that last voyage, after that last great kiss-off. First a busted deal where he lost his own boat and one arm and then the losing of his small-scale life in another ill-advised caper. Oh yeah, and this story is told, as in the best of Hemingway in that sparse, functional, no-nonsense style that made him a stellar modernist writer in the days when flowery prose was the order of the day in order to sell books. Oh yeah, still see the movie if for no other reason than to see what it was like, in black and white in the 1940s, to see the steamiest sexual foreplay by two people with their clothes on you will ever see.

Original Review

If, like me, your first experience with Hemingway's classic sea tale To Have or To Have Not was the steamy (for the times) Bogie/Bacall movie version where the main character, Captain Morgan, is the put upon object of the local French Resistance in World War II then this the original will surprise you. Actually the only similarity between the two works is the captain's name. That said, this tale is really about a gritty, hard-bitten, down at the heels sea-going man who will try everything to keep his family and himself above water (no pun intended). Starting out with a little illegal, just a little, activity he winds up.... well you can read the rest. Is this a major Hemingway production? I think not but it is also not the `throwaway' that Hemingway in his lifetime considered it. Face it if you want to get an approximation of the life on the sea, the real sea, and the language of the waterfront Hemingway is one of your sources.

Howard Hawks' adaptation of Hemingway's TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT is, despite its popularity, a flawed work.

For one, teenaged fashion model Lauren Bacall had NO training to be an actress. She's called upon in her screen debut to sing a few times and does so in a weak, wavery low alto. And the woman had an odd face. If she was a bit younger, Bogie might've gotten arrested for pedophilia-- which is another problem the film has: their disparity in age.

The SLOW-moving story is interrupted for songs by Hoagy Carmichael; a talented composer who is ALSO unable to sing. His bar room piano player scenes seem a desperate attempt to recapture the magic of CASABLANCA-- but here, the rabbit died in the magician's hat.

Walter Brennan's drunken sidekick role is unpleasant to watch; he takes Bogie's abuse and comes back for more, like a desperate dog. Sheldon Leonard as the evil police lieutenant is uninteresting without his famous "racetrack tout" voice ("Hey!... c'mereeee...").

I love Bogart-- own 25 of his best films. This is my least favorite of all, however. The picture's one saving grace is Dolores Moran, who is a true beauty in every sense of the word: great legs, a perfect face, and excellent screen presence. If I ever watch this one again, it will only be to see her. A real disappointment overall!

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT is also available on DVD.
Bogart does a delightful comic turn in ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT (1941), his follow-up to "The Maltese Falcon." Also in the cast are Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt Judith Anderson, Bill Demerest and Barton MacLane. (VHS edition) (DVD edition)

Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(8.1) To Have and Have Not (1944) - Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall/Dolores Moran/Walter Brennan/Hoagy Carmichael/Sheldon Leonard

Update 2013

Those of us who have been spoon-fed on the film adaptation (and with a screenplay written by William Faulkner) To Have Or To Have Not starring Humphrey Bogart and a fresh young Lauren Bacall will be somewhat taken aback on reading Ernest Hemingway's original story. Other than the title and a few names of characters they are two totally different animals. No crusty, no-nonsense, world wary, world weary, everybody looks out for themselves, but in the end unabashedly heroic sea captain Humphrey who succumbs to the charms of Lauren and is lured in by her "you know how whistle, don't you?" all to the sway of seen it all piano player Hoagie Carmichael" s Am I Blue and How Little We Know. No more Humphrey getting off the dime and aiding the angels in the struggle that was blowing over Europe at the time of World War II as translated into Carib time just because he didn't like some fat quisling doing Vichy's dirty work out in the colonies. Or maybe, just maybe he didn't like that third degree Lauren was put through by that quisling because she was down or her upper. And we will see no more mussing up the bad guys just because he didn't like the cut of their jibe, and didn't mind chasing a few windmills if a slender brunette came with it. So mainly we will see no more romantic haze in the night.

The book, conforming more to Hemingway's interest in how men (and it was mainly men, and first half of the 20th century manly endeavors liking bull-fighting, soldier fighting, seadog ocean night fighting, hunting men or animals, stuff like that, he was interested in exploring with his pen, centers rather on a small time been around the block sea captain, Harry Morgan, same as in the book, and his struggle, well, his struggle to just make ends meet in 1930s Carib time. And just making ends meet for an uneducated, where is the next buck coming from,non-nonsense guy with limited (and specialized) skills is what drives the bulk of the book. In short, a "to have not" guy. Or better, a guy with cojones (and if you don't know the word's meaning or can't figure it out Google the word and presto you will be in the know).What drives Harry is simply making the next dime to feed the wife and kids, and maybe some time for a drink or seven with the boys down at some gin mill by the docks where a stand-up guy like him could put things on the cuff.

By the way making that next dime legally if possible, but making it. But as the story unfolds old Harry's life is filled with rough turns and so he is forced, there is no other way to say it, to put himself and his boat at the service of whoever will pay the freight. No reasonable, hell, no unreasonable offer refused out of hand. Bootleggers, drug smugglers, bank robbers and an off-hand revolutionary are in need of his services to either flee Key West or flee some place to get to Key West hi sport of call. And things were going, well, okay until the other shoe dropped on that last voyage, after that last great kiss-off. First a busted deal where he lost his own boat and one arm and then the losing of his small-scale life in another ill-advised caper. Oh yeah, and this story is told, as in the best of Hemingway in that sparse, functional, no-nonsense style that made him a stellar modernist writer in the days when flowery prose was the order of the day in order to sell books. Oh yeah, still see the movie if for no other reason than to see what it was like, in black and white in the 1940s, to see the steamiest sexual foreplay by two people with their clothes on you will ever see.

Original Review

If, like me, your first experience with Hemingway's classic sea tale To Have or To Have Not was the steamy (for the times) Bogie/Bacall movie version where the main character, Captain Morgan, is the put upon object of the local French Resistance in World War II then this the original will surprise you. Actually the only similarity between the two works is the captain's name. That said, this tale is really about a gritty, hard-bitten, down at the heels sea-going man who will try everything to keep his family and himself above water (no pun intended). Starting out with a little illegal, just a little, activity he winds up.... well you can read the rest. Is this a major Hemingway production? I think not but it is also not the `throwaway' that Hemingway in his lifetime considered it. Face it if you want to get an approximation of the life on the sea, the real sea, and the language of the waterfront Hemingway is one of your sources.

I love Ernest Hemingway and am strangely finding myself on a path to reading everything the man ever wrote. I picked this book not only because of the author but also because of its connection to the movie of the same title. Well, a warning to those who might do the same: there is very little outside of the title and the first section that compares between the book and movie!

In this novel, Hemingway seems a bit lost, a bit muddled. It seemed to me that what he had was more of a short story that he somehow needed to flesh out into a novel. And it doesn't quite work. Oh, there are scenes in the book that are very well written, yes. The opening scene alone is great! And other action scenes throughout the novel are also very well put together. Hemingway also does quite well with characters in this one. Harry Morgan - our protagonist - is easily envisioned (and so easily encapsulated as Bogie!). The diaglog is well done and very typical Hemingway. However, there is so much extra in this novel, that I wasn't quite sure exactly what was going on or even where the story was taking place. And the entire of chapter 24 - all 20 pages - is completely unnecessary!

I found the later half of this book easier to read than the first half (though, I wish I had had the sense to skip chapter 24!). There were more action scenes and it just seemed to flow. While this certainly isn't as well written as some of Hemingway's other novels, it is certainly better than others. Well, at least to a fan of Papa!

I would not recommend this book if one has never read Hemingway before. He has much finer works. But if one is a fan who feels they need to read everything Hemingway has written, you probably won't find this a total waste of time.

This is an excellent Hemingway! Action packed from the opening, it is a real adventure story, filled with fight, fury and fishing.
Harry Morgan is led into a desperate situation by a customer who doesn't pay up after a long fishing expidition in Harrys boat. This results in Harrys involvement in the smuggling trade between Cuba and the Florida Keys. He transforms into a uncaring, brusque and to-the-point man who only wants to reap the monetary benefits to support his wife and daughters.
As the story unfolds, we witness Harrys involvment in various smuggles that lead to him losing an arm and to his eventual demise. Along the way we are introduced to a series of characters; some involved with Harry and some not, delving briefly into their personal stories, angsts and relashionships.
The way the book was written was reflective of the times, where lower class races were called derogatory names and performed menial, servantry tasks. Hemingways usual use of descriptively simple language paints glorious pictures of the events that transpire. A great chapter is the one involving the vets getting drunk and fighting in the local bar. It depicts a manic scene of uncertainty for any fellow in the bar willing to pick a fight. Hemingways brilliance comes through further as he takes an aside from the main story (the main character returning home) to focus on the lives and situations of the people aboard the fancy yachts moored to the local pier. It shows the great divide between those the story has told about and those unknown floating in their impressive vessels.
"To Have and Have Not" is a story about surviving love and loss; about being a man and about fishing. I thought it was great and had moments of satire and grisly noir to go along with the adventurous plight of Harry Morgan. This book would be excellent for those new to Hemingway and a treat for those more familiar with his style and brilliance. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

`To Have and Have Not' follows Harry Morgan, one of Hemingway's harshest heroes, as he tries to earn a living from his boat between Key West and Cuba. He gets involved in a variety of exploits, from people trafficking and liquor smuggling, to aiding escapees from a bank robbery. He acts and lives in as hard a way as he has to, to survive the dangers these events put him in. This is one of Hemingway's better novels, with great descriptions of Cuba and Key West and has a story that moves at a steady and inescapable pace, except for the last 50 pages where the story drifts a touch and rambles in that way Hemingway books tend to do. You get great examples of his writing style, with terse, short sentences that evoke the era and events and shows how effective he could be when he was at his peak. The main character may not be the most likeable, but this book still manages to keep you turning the pages until you reach the inevitable conclusion. Well worth a try if you've enjoyed some of his other books.

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After publishing back-to-back two of the most celebrated American novels ever, Ernest Hemingway waited eight years before his next. For that alone, "To Have And Have Not" could not help but be a disappointment, a judgment that lingers today. Is it merited?

Ex-cop turned charter-fishing-boat captain Harry Morgan is having a run of bad luck. Thanks to the ineptitude of his latest customer, Morgan loses his expensive fishing tackle off the coast of Cuba. The customer then skips without paying for his two-week charter. Down to forty cents, Morgan must scramble to provide for his wife and three daughters in Key West, even if it means breaking the law a little. Or a lot. Morgan's bad luck is just beginning.

Published in 1937, "To Have And Have Not" starts out reading like an Elmore Leonard novel before its time, in the conversational voice of the opening narrative and the long sections of crisp dialogue which follow. Other than the narrative's casual racism, there's nothing wrong with the first part of the book. Hemingway gets to a lot of action quickly, including a gun battle four pages in and a couple of savage marlin fights which show off his economical writing style to good effect.

If there's a problem with the first half of the book, actually two Hemingway short stories he stuck together and added a novella to form this novel, it's with the character of Morgan, an unsympathetic guy who carries a lot of issues but no backstory to help us understand him. He's simply dislikable and dangerous, becoming more so as the story progresses.

"You don't care what happens to a man," Morgan is told at one point by a gun-shot companion. "You ain't hardly human."

This might have worked if Hemingway kept the story on its pulp-fiction track. Instead, he goes for creative dissonance, widening the lens of his story to encompass multiple story arcs and contrasting Morgan's tale with unrelated ones featuring other Key West characters, jaded rich folk and poor World War I vets struggling to extract some pleasure and value from their variously blasted lives.

Hemingway seems to be making a contemporary point about the income gap, hence the title, but never ties it into Morgan's individual story beyond that he needs money and is struggling to earn it. Morgan is an offstage non-presence in the novel's two longest chapters, featuring a long parade of here-and-gone characters. Hemingway's lingering descriptions of each, along with some uncharacteristically long run-on sentences, suggest a misguided attempt at channeling William Faulkner rather than working in his own singular style.

Yet there are good things to say about "To Have And Have Not", like Hemingway's finding inspiration from the ocean, describing the smell of sea grape and the sight of passing ships hauling cargo across the horizon: "Brother, don't let anybody tell you there isn't plenty of water between Havana and Key West." It's a locale Hemingway returned to in two later novels, "The Old Man And The Sea" and "Islands In The Stream", and you get a feeling for why he liked it so.

Also good reading is some of the barroom dialogue, though Hemingway like many alcoholics doesn't know when to quit and keeps it coming for too long, until you feel like you are going to have the speaker's hangover the next morning.

Hemingway was too great a writer to write a worthless book. "To Have And Have Not" is not a must-have by any means, but it has its moments.

Like one of Hemingway's down-and-out characters, I picked up this copy literally off the street, coverless, where someone had left a box of paperbacks. (Apparently nobody has room in their houses for anything except a Kindle now.) Simplistically interpreted, here's a story about those who have money and good fortune, and those who don't. But the characters aren't so simple. The poor are neither bad, nor good, nor deserving. Same with the rich. All on a gray noise background of communism, capitalism, and revolution against revolution. You just have to root for Harry because he's the underdog, but not pathetic. And the end, well, realistic. If you didn't know this was Hemingway, and you saw it as a made-for-TV movie or series pilot today, you'd think it was a cut above.

This book tells about the story of a fisherman named Harry Morgan who has to do smuggling business to feed his family. The book does a good job of depicting many kinds of characters. All portrayling the negative aspects of a human being. Greed, violence, jealousy, and compeitition. From the naive "chink" Mr.Sing to the tragic Albert. The book brings out a lot in terms of people's lives during the Great Depression.

However, the book was also hard to get into. The actions seem to go on intermittently, sometimes the book becomes fast paced while suddenly it jumps into a sluggish form. Some depictions from the book simply do not make any sense. The action jumps from Harry and suddenly turns to a writer named Richard Gordon and talks about how his wife left him to have sex with another guy. The book does a poor job of tying a beautiful, and somewhat touching story together. And instead it gets people to scratch their heads and wonder what is going on.

However, all said and done, this book still remains valuable through its realistic depiction of a tough life from the perspective of Harry Morgan. Though not one of Hemingway's best works,(probably his worst) this book should still be read with serious thoughts.

I read this because I liked the Bogart movie. The movie used the very beginning of the book then goes on to follow a completely different story line. The book is darker and more violent than the "feel-good" themed movie. The novel centers around Harry Morgan, a charter boat captain who does some bad things to make ends meet in 1930's Cuba and Key West. It appears that the book may have started out as a short story that was fleshed out into a novel-length work. The copyright page indicates publication in a magazine in 1934, three years before the book's publication date. This may explain the confusing change in narrators that other reviewers have mentioned. It also seems to me that the have versus have-not theme has been tacked on to contrast the lives of rich holiday-makers in Key West to the lives of struggling Key West natives. The parts dealing with the wealthy aren't particulary interesting or believable. I suspect they were added to give a simple action story more social consciousness. This fault is more than made up for by the scenes with Harry Morgan. He is a tough man of action who wont stop at killing if necessary. It makes for an exciting read; I read it through in one night. I must diasagree with those critics that feel this novel is one of Hemingway's worst.

I am someone who came late to appreciating the literary genius of Hemingway, perhaps because like many in my generation I viewed his literary aura as overly slanted towards man's macho nature.

The story revolves around the doings of a rather shady ex-cop engaged in smuggling in and around Cuba and the southern Keys. Beneath his corrupt veneer, however, rests a loving family man seeking to support an adoring wife and three young daughters. Unfortunately for our protagonist, a band of Cuban Coast Guard officials catch up with him during one of his intrigues, resulting in him being shot and eventually having one of his arms amputated. In the face of bankruptcy, will he find economic salvation in that one last great heist?

This review is but a speck of what could be said in interpreting this fine piece of art. Above all else, upon reading "To Have and Have Not" I found someone, in Hemingway, who could instill an incredible sense of drama with a ringing clarity of purpose in his tersely woven prose.

A word is warning is appropriate before going into the book. Most of the book speaks from the perspective of a person who uses highly prejorative terms about people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. This use of the terms is consistent with the story, and advances the story, but will not be welcomed by some readers. I found this aspect of the book offensive and graded it down one star as a result. If the use of such terms is very offensive to you, I suggest you skip this book. It will cause you pain to confront this prejudice in undiluted form.
This lesser-known novel by Hemingway looks at what the cost of false pride in status is. The book has some of the most eloquent statements of remorse that you will ever read, in the context of a love story about two happily married people.
Be sure to understand that the novel is quite different from the movie. If you liked the movie, you may not like the novel. The book is much more complex and darker emotionally.
Harry Morgan has his own fishing boat, and makes a living taking wealthy people fishing off Florida's Keys until the Depression knocks the skids out from under normal economic times.
The book opens with Morgan in Havana turning down three Cubans who want him to smuggle them into the United States illegally for a very substantial sum. The negotiations are quickly followed by a hail of gunfire, and one of the Cubans is killed. Morgan is warned to keep his mouth shut by the survivors.
Like most small businesspeople, he wants to provide for his family, be respected for his profession, and enjoy what he does. All of this is put at risk when he fails to collect from a wealthy customer who skips out on him. Morgan had avoided dunning Mr. Johnson, his customer, for the money, worried about upsetting the customer. That false pride in pretending that Morgan isn't concerned for the money is expensive. The result is temporary economic ruin. He's left in Havana without even enough money to refuel the boat to go back to the Florida Keys.
Now, he has to scramble to do anything, and quickly takes on a job of illegally transporting Chinese. Survival comes before ethics now. In the process, Morgan tries to keep his morality intact as best he can, and does an immoral act to avoid doing a worse one.
Soon, Morgan is taking other risks and routinely operating as a criminal. His ethical standards keep slipping in order to maintain financial appearances. This trade-off proves to be his undoing.
In each case of economic hardship, Morgan has avoided taking other actions that would have solved his problem, at least temporarily. He owns his boat, so he could have sold it or borrowed against it. He owns his home, and could have sold it and rented. He could have rented other peoples' boats when he could get a charter. The government has subsistence work available for the unemployed, but he prefers to maintain his life style and appearances as though he has no problems. He also has tried to keep from getting caught in breaking the law, but that hasn't worked either.
Morgan ends up taking on more than he can handle. He feels remorse as a result. He's tried to be too self-reliant, as a way to reduce his risk. That was the wrong route. Getting help was the right way to get the risk down.
His wife, Marie, captures the challenge of the modern world this way, "You just go dead inside and everything is easy. You just get dead like most people are most of the time." This suggests compromising your pride and principles to keep up appearances, which is what most people do.
Hemingway makes good use of the "haves," those who charter and own the yachts, to show that they have compromised with self respect. They have money, but they do not have honor and decency. Often, they lose other benefits that matter to them, such as the chance for close human connection.
His "have nots" are crushed by the intent and the carelessness of the "haves." The "have nots" are also undermined by their willingness to let the ends justify the means, and abuse of alcohol. Those weaknesses compromise them, and they are destroyed as a result.
So the lesson is that you should uphold what is important to you (not appearances) and make the necessary compromises to guard the important (such as your family, your health, and your survival). The worse the conditions are, the more important this lesson is.
After you finish contemplating what you would have done, I suggest you also think about where today we find similar compromises occuring because of prosperity. Where do we sacrifice what is important to have more prosperity or to appear to do so? I think Hemingway's tale still applies. How should you change, as a result?
Get the right life for those you love and yourself!

Typical of 1930's Hemingway, To Have and Have Not is a frustrating novel, equal parts exhilaration and disappointment. The main story involves the tragic life of Harry Morgan who shuttles back and forth between Key West, Florida and Havana, Cuba, taking odd-jobs so that he can support his family. No job is too dirty or too dangerous for Harry, and he quickly gets caught up in smuggling, kidnapping, and anything else that will make him decent money. Harry's sections of the novel are violent and grim, full of double-crosses and bloody shoot-outs. It may be a little bit shallow for Hemingway's talent, but all the action and adventure make for a fascinating read. Rounding out the story of Harry's exploits is the beautifully drawn character of Marie Morgan, his devoted wife. Nowhere else in Hemingway's fiction will you find a female character so lovingly rendered.

Unfortunately, this rousing tale gets derailed about halfway through the novel by an abstract social commentary artlessly forced into the text. Describing the lives of a number of well-off residents and visitors of Key West, Hemingway spends several interminable chapters contrasting the ennui and shenanigans of the wealthy yacht-owners and writers with the down-to-earth goodness of characters like Harry Morgan. Hemingway pokes fun at the sexual intrigues and pointless drama of the wealthy, while glorifying the ernestness and devotion of the Morgans and their peers. It is a simple and banal observation, completely overblown and out of place, and it almost ruins the entire novel.

But the book concludes with Marie's painful inner monologue, written in Faulknerian stream-of-consciousness, and a tender description of the boats and the water around the Keys, causing the reader to forget all that drivel that has passed before and reflect on the beauty and danger of the world that Hemingway has created.

To Have and Have Not would have been stunning as a novella about Harry Morgan with maybe a few minor asides about the idiocy of the wealthy (which Hemingway shows perfectly in an early incident where Harry tries to teach a clueless vacationer how to fish). Or it might even have worked as a long novel (around the size of For Whom the Bell Tolls), exploring the climates of Key West and Havana in vast detail. But as it stands, the novel Hemingway wrote is too disjointed and confused to qualify as a classic (though still worth reading for fans of the author).

Hemingway once said "A man can be destroyed, but not defeated... a man can be defeated, but not destroyed"
To Have and Have not is primarily a story about the destruction of a man... one of the 'have nots' (the conchs) of Key West. The central character, Harry Morgan, constantly struggles throughout the book defying the law, even killing those who stand in his way just trying to make a living. Hemingway peels back the skin of this entire society and shows the reader what lies beneath. This is the classic Hemingway tale of the central character encountering malevolent circumstances and fighting them one by one to the bitter end. I love this book! I wish the movie version had actually been about this book, instead of what it turned out to be. A "Howard Hawks" film with an "Ernest Hemingway" title.
Maybe the critics don't consider this to be his finest novel... but I've read most of his work now and I think its the best one in the bunch.