He spent most of his life living in Cuxton. There was a time where Ren and his ex-girlfriend lived in a in Strood and he stopped in New Zealand for several months after Sinead and Vaughan’s wedding.

Other biographies repeat that ‘fact’ unquestioningly and it has become part of the ‘Hemingway story’, but is it true? We don’t know. And on the debit side Hemingway played fast and loose with ’the truth’ and the ‘facts’ about his life. He did not lead a battalion of famous Italian Arditi troops up Monte Grappa in World War I as he claimed. His sole wartime experience was driving a Red Cross ambulance for two weeks well behind enemy lines, then running an R&R unit closer to the fighting, handing out cigarettes and chocolate to the frontline troops when they arrived. Because he craved ‘more excitement, he took to delivering the ciggies and chocs to the front line and got himself blown up. Over time, the earthships incorporated features designed to make them comfortable to inhabit while existing off-the-grid. Solar panels and geothermal cooling were added. The unusual homes caught the attention of celebrities and environmental activists. Actors Dennis Weaver and Keith Carradine each commissioned Reynolds to build high-end Earthships for them. [3] Why did he lie? No one knows. But he had told tall stories about himself since he was young. He did not take part in the mass execution by Loyalists of Spanish falangists as he claimed. He did not take part in the D Day invasion as he claimed. (He observed it from one of the landing craft, then returned to Britain with that craft.) And on it went, from fib to lie, from lie to fib. Some people are like that. ‘Papa’ Hemingway certainly was.

Hemingway's life is much the same itself. Blustering, macho, and conspicuously masculine, Hemingway became the image of global manhood, almost to the degree of becoming a caricature, such as The Most Interesting Man in the World commercials. I have a pet theory that Hemingway's lifestyle was a facade to hide deep hurt and sensitivity, perhaps even conflicted sexuality (see the life of his son, who spectacularly and flamboyantly transgressed gender lines). That evidence is here, as his mother was described as "androgynous" by Ernest himself, with his father playing a stern but subsidiary role in his life. Ernest was a rebel, and he fought his parents and his Oak Park upbringing at every turn, transgressing boundaries at every turn as described in this book. I’ve now read Michael Reynolds second volume of his five-volume biography if Hemingway three times, and I have to say that it stands out among the biographies of the old fraud (not a verdict I’m suggesting was shared by Reynolds), although it does have its flaws.

Reynolds, Michael (1991). Earthship: System and Components. Vol.2. Solar Survival. ISBN 978-0-9626767-1-0. Reynolds had long known that Hemingway used characters, settings or events from real life in subsequent fictional stories. As one example taken from that Canadian newspaper trove, Reynolds said, Hemingway wrote a story for the Star about a man named Red Ryan who escaped from a Canadian prison. Later, Reynolds said, Hemingway made notes for a projected novel about a convict named Red Ryan, although the novel was apparently never written. I read somewhere of other (not in one of these volumes) that Reynolds’s interest is in (what I think he called) the archaeology of biography, that is the snippets and nuggets of facts he can dig up. These, he said, were what were important to build up a comprehensive picture of the subject. Reynolds served on the editorial board of the Hemingway Review. He also helped establish the Hemingway Society, which presents the annual Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award for the best first work of fiction published in the U.S., and organized its biannual conferences for Hemingway scholars. The professor was particularly delighted with the 1996 conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, one of Hemingway’s familiar stomping grounds, which was attended by five friends of the late author. Unfortunately, Ren suffered from mental health issues for many years and had addictions to drink and drugs.Among those works (which, I have to add, are all interesting and worth your time) Reynolds’s contribution does stand out. If you are considering buying it, go for it. And I agree it is very much a 4.5/5 read. In later years Ren was a bit of an odd job man, cleaning windows, cutting grass, painting, etc. No job was too big or too small. He was involved in the construction of a swimming pool and he was able to go for a swim after work. There is an immense amount of references to how this real event appears later in this form in this novel, a fictionalizing of his own experiences. I didn't like this, but many others may. Hemingway was clearly influenced by other writers. How he was influenced by these writers is thoroughly explained. What he read year by year is covered. Authors must learn from each other; they even copy a particular style. So this is all an explanation of how he came to be the author he became. I wanted to know more of what HE thought HE had to write. I learned an awful lot about what he copied..... Do you see what I mean when I say I didn't get into his head? Sometimes the author would interpret a given action or quote and tell us what it had to mean, and I didn't always agree.