although a good portion of this book seems to be disconnected vignettes, there is a clear narrative that structures it, and upon which other themes are hung. it leaves one much in thought. those themes bear relevance even in the 21st century, even if the structural narrative might read to some as romantically dated.

This is a fine collection of (exceedingly) short stories that deal with existential themes: nature, alienation, and death. In between the stories Hemingway includes even shorter vignettes of cruelty. Brief comments on the stories (with some plot spoilers) follow:

"On the Quai at Smyrna" - An American encounters casual cruelty among the Turks and Greeks during World War I.

"Indian Camp" - Nick Adams and his father, a scientific man who is quite detached from other people, visit an Indian camp where his father performs a Caesarian without anesthetic. While he performs the operation, the baby's father kills himself by cutting his throat with a straight razor.

"The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife" - Nick's mother is revealed to be weak willed and self-deceiving, and we are not too surprised to learn that Nick prefers his father's company.

"The End of Something" - The adolescent Nick ends a relationship with a girl. Before the end comes, Hemingway provides a typically economical but touching depiction of Marjorie, his girlfriend, as they row across a lake with their lines in the water: "She was intent on the rod all the time they trolled, even while she talked. She loved to fish. She loved to fish with Nick."

"The Three-Day Blow" - Nick and his friend Bill drink quietly in front of a fireplace during a storm - they are just learning to drink - and later disregard an important gun safety precaution.

"The Battler" - Nick encounters a damaged former prizefighter.

"A Very Short Story" - (Well, they almost all are.) An American develops an affection for an Italian nurse and expects to marry her, but she loses interest after the end of the war.

"Soldier's Home" - A young man returns home after World War I, disillusioned and alienated.

"The Revolutionist" - Not really a story at all but a very brief character sketch of a young communist traveling through Italy after World War I.

"Mr. And Mrs. Elliot" - A young poet supposes himself to be a superior sort of person but turns out to be ordinary.

"Cat in the Rain" An American wife tries to rescue a kitten from the rain.

"Out of Season" - A young man wants to go fishing but then decides not to.

"Cross-Country Snow" - Nick Adams and a friend go skiing in Switzerland and find it to be a very satisfying experience.

"My Old Man" - A man's father dies in an accident, tragically, since his son knows that he is crooked.

"Big Two-Hearted River: Part I" - Nick Adams returns to his home ground for a solitary camping trip.

"Big Two-Hearted River: Part II" - He goes fishing too.

One of the most powerful series of short vignettes on WWI ever written. Easy training for students having difficulty identifying literary devices and how they lead to a central idea. Hemingway does it often in one paragraph. A great pre read to The Great Gatsby

My first Hemingway book in a long time. Was taken aback by it's jumping around from the author's fiction work to descriptions of the war that the author was experiencing while writing. Kind of disconcerting but an escape from the reality of his situation on the part of the author.

I bought a collection of short stories (This is My Time) that made reference to Hemingway's In Our Time, when I realized I had somehow managed to wend my way through school never having encountered Hemingway.

I looked up the book, In Our Time, and after recovering from the initial shock of seeing Simon and Schuster's shameful price of $10.99 for a slim volume of short stories, bought the volume.

I read the first story, On the River Quai at Smyrna, and was a bit perplexed as the story begins abruptly without a clear setting, plot, or defined characters. It ends as it began. Next I found under the heading of Chapter 1 a sort of military vignette in but a single paragraph. Then a story titled Indian Camp began. This was an interesting story of a doctor and his young son coming to the aid of a pregnant Indian woman. This is more along the lines of what I had expected. I was pleased until the heading Chapter 2 appeared, yet again with another military vignette in a single paragraph.

Okay, now I knew the author was toying with me and this collection was purposeful and complex. I would need some help to understand the author's plan and methodology. To this end I bought a dead tree book (Hemingway's Short Stories (Cliffs Notes)) to help me. I also found an online site called SparkNotes. These were indispensable to fully appreciate this collection of stories.

The main insights gained were that the stories present the chaos and terror of World War I and that the character Nick Adams is partially autobiographical.

There is much to commend this small collection and I encourage others to dig in and discover Hemingway.

This was Hemingway's second published work, a collection of short stories, some of which relate to one another and some that don't. It seems disjointed, but the writing is good and although they often don't seem to have a point, the stories are sometimes beautiful, sometimes brutal and sometimes horrific. It is an early example of what Hemingway's writing was to become. I liked the last two, The Big Two Hearted River parts 1 and 2, best. They were different than I had remembered them.

An amazing read, some can get gruesome, but in way that portrays what life is really like.

Many of Hemingway's earliest short stories are in this volume. Some are little more than a few pages and seem only anecdotal, while others are more full-bodied and robust. We see the early iteration of Nick Adams here. One story beautifully shows a war veteran with what today would be labeled PTSD. All in all, early Hemingway when he was gaining his sea legs.

Mark Rubinstein