The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
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Book Reviews of The Sun Also Rises
Book Review: The novel that made me love Hemingway
Summary: 5 Stars
Hemingway wrote like a man that knew he was going to be big. I absolutely enjoyed this novel cover to cover. Typically, I try to avoid 20th century American Literature (I read more British literature) but I tip my hat to Mr. Hemingway after reading this novel.
I have read that because this is his first novel there were multiple "flaws" throughout the novel. This may be true but in all honesty, as a struggling writer myself, I became enamored with the "lost generation" story as it unfolded. As the main synopsis indicates this is primarily a story about expatriates returned from the war and not knowing what to do with themselves. This is a story about loss. This is a story about addiction. This is a story about finding yourself in a torn apart society.
There are two beautifully written scenes. The first is a scene out in nature (Spanish wilderness) with the typical Hemingway fishing scene between two men that provides the most truthful dialogue of the entire novel. Since they are away from civilization the men are also somewhat free from the boxed-in feeling they felt in society. Absolutely beautifully written. Hemingway really knows how to tap into the human psyche.
The other scene takes place during the bullfighting season in Spain. Lady Ashley is like the bull with all the rest of the men around her as the steers. She becomes enamored with a spanish bullfighter and essentially leaves the other men she was somewhat dating for him. The scenes are well described and full of powerful emotions Hemingway is so good at describing.
All in all, what a fantastic novel. I gave this to my army boyfriend who absolutely loved it as well. It speaks volumes about the generation we are living in right now. Is generation X/Y a lost generation as well? Are we too inundated with problems that we cannot move forward as a society? READ IT. You will love it.
Book Review: After the party
Summary: 5 Stars
Ernest Hemingway's classic novel explores the dissipated lives of expatriates in Europe in the years following WWI, most notably the ill-fated pair of Jake Barnes, who suffers from an emasculating war wound, and Lady Brett Ashley, the beautiful woman who entrances every man she meets but shares emotional intimacy only with Jake.
We are treated to the café lifestyle of the Lost Generation in Paris, followed by a trip to Pamplona to witness the running of the bulls, all of it liberally lubricated by alcohol. But despite the nearly non-stop pleasure-seeking, there is very little joy for the characters in this book. It all has the feel of a party that has gone on too long; the party-goers become irritated with each other because they should have all gone back to their "real" lives long ago. Unfortunately, they are not sure what their real lives should consist of, so they grasp at temporary relationships that always end badly, leaving them ever more jaded and unsatisfied. This is dramatized powerfully by the cloud of men buzzing around the lovely and charming Brett, who abandons each in turn when the threat of physical and emotional intimacy becomes too great. It is Jake's inability to perform the physical act of love that enables their extended emotional connection, making him the person she turns to after each failed affair. I suspect that if Jake were not wounded as he is, she would flee from him as well, and the final paragraphs of the novel make it clear that Jake thinks so, too.
If there are few pleasures for the characters, there are many for the reader. In addition to Hemingway's masterful depiction of character, the novel works as a travelogue, particularly in his wonderful evocation of Spain. This novel is rightly considered to be a classic.
Book Review: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway
Summary: 5 Stars
I never really read much Hemmingway. Sure, Old Man And The Sea (Scribner Classics), my Dad had it lying around when I was a kid. A month long vacation traveling through Spain seemed like a perfect opportunity to get started.
It's a great description of "the expat life" and the Basque country was not so very different when I first traveled there in the early nineties. When I was last there in 2007 it had fast forwarded into what seemed like the 1980s. Shame.
Two very memorable characters in Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley, forever battling the wound that will never heal. They and their motley crew have "a wonderful nightmare" at the Pamplona fiesta. I'm not going to give away the plot here but my thinking is that all of the male characters (Cohn, Bill and Mike) represent different aspects of Jake's personality that he is either suppressing (Cohn and Mike) or aspiring to (Bill). Even the great Pedro Romero - Pedro loving and Pedro fighting both bulls and men seems to represent Jake's not so subconscious. That doesn't give away the story line but see if you don't agree after reading.
The Pamplona fiesta is mostly foreign turistas and creeps now. If you would still like to see a more authentic fiesta complete with bullfighting (though no "bull-running") try Ronda in September. Ronda is the birthplace of both bullfighting and Pedro Romero and is also featured in Hemmingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls (Paperback). People travel from all over southern Spain for the fiesta. The point though, is that they are Spanish not skipping classes at Penn State.
Book Review: Review from a Lit Scholar
Summary: 5 Stars
I think Hemingway attacked the theme of insecurity because, he was also dealing with his own issues.
Hemingway had a history of alcoholism and this novel serves as release for the author. The speaker, Jake, takes an adventure and in turn experiences a self-discovery. The fiestas, society, and friends meant everything for Jake at the novel's opening. However through a difficult journey dealing with lost love and false friends, Jake manages to realize several truths in his life: his drinking will lose him friends and those he calls friends are not true in their loyalty.
Montoya, the hotel owner that shared Jake's passion for bullfighting, no longer wished to associate with Jake after the fiesta. Due to all the rabble-rousing, partying, drinking, and the friends Jake brought, Montoya no longer could bear to be associated with Jake. Hemingway, too, lost friends as a result of his hurtful drinking habits.
Despite his losses, Jake realizes that his love for Brett is merely and allusion. The novel ends:
"'Oh, Jake,' Brett said, 'we could have had such a damned good time together.'... 'Yes,' I said. 'Isn't it pretty to think so?'"
Jake has come to terms with the fact that he is to be a loner, that he needs to be alone.
The Sun Also Rises is considered not only one of Ernest Hemingway's best books, but also one of the greatest classics of modern literature. I believe that the book is so powerful to read because the author underwent a catharsis in writing the novel. In writing the novel, Hemingway attacks his alcoholism and takes the first steps towards dealing with it. It is from that natural process that the reader is able to feel the emotions in the book. The language is curt yet true. The book is great.
Book Review: Poignant, wistful, evocative
Summary: 5 Stars
A beautiful book which I wouldn't mind reading again and again. The backdrops to this story - Paris and Spain are beautifully and evocatively described. Not that I am much of a bull-fight fan. To the contrary. But Hemingway's descriptions fit in the context, and make even someone who is against such barbaric pastimes like the book.
There is a scene of Jake and his friend Bill fishing in a river in a village in Spain, leaving their bottles of wine in the cool stream for chilling. The way it's described makes me wish I was there (not fishing though!).
I saw a few of the 1-star reviews here - most of them dislike the book because "nothing happens", "the characters lack morals and hence the book lack morals", "the characters are 2-dimensional" (I vehemently disagree with this last). I guess if you disagree with the moral standpoint (or lack thereof) of the book, then it's difficult to like the book.. this book is not for you if you believe in "one set of morals fit all".
Yes, the book does describe a desultory lifestyle in which nothing much happens... but the poignancy of the unrequited love between Brett and Jake is palpable (I'm a sucker for love stories, though not necessarily tragic ones). He makes you like or hate the characters as he chooses - which is the whole point of a fiction writer, no?
The descriptions of the bull-fights almost make you feel like you are right there watching. Don't read this book if those sort of gory details are disagreeable to you!
If you are willing to suspend moral judgements, and read for the sake of immersing yourself in a different time and space, and sort of go with the flow, then this book is highly recommended.