The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
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Book Reviews of The Sun Also Rises
Book Review: Less is more
Summary: 5 Stars
Written in sparse, simple language, you might be tempted to dismiss the work as banal. But Hemingway, like his friend Picasso, knows the value of pruning so that less is more.
The story is set in Paris between the two great wars. There we find a group of attractive, young, well-educated ex-patriots. Our narrator, Jake, is in love with the beautiful Brett. But Jake's war wound makes him unable to satisfy Brett sexually. Their unhappy predicament spawns an unusual love affair. Jake, in effect, becomes Brett's pimp. Just as fish can be lured more successfully with artificial flies than real worms, the lovers use Brett's exotic looks to lure men for "artificial" love affairs. While never overtly stated, Jake and Brett play their game under strict rules. Brett never falls for any of her "lovers." Jake never denies her choices. Jake is always there for her when she needs him. Like Picasso, Hemingway is a master of the double entender. At the Bullfights, we learn that steers are used to calm the wild bulls; it's a steer that leads the bulls to slaughter; bulls get slaughtered, but the steers get to live another day; a great bullfight is one where, at the climax, the bull and matador are one. At the bullfight, like two Greek gods, Brett and a handsome young matador are inevitably attracted to each other. Jake arranges a meeting and then leaves them. After a brief tryst, the young Adonis leaves Brett because Brett won't marry him. Penniless and alone, Brett calls Jake to her rescue. It's not your typical love story, but it makes a swell book.
Book Review: Not exactly Beowolf
Summary: 5 Stars
For one who is living so remotely from WWI, the war that didn't end all wars, it is difficult to understand its effects on those that lived it. And, when one comes into a story that assumes you have lived it, it is difficult to fully appreciate the story. The Sun Also Rises is that kind of story.
The dissolutes who wander Paris and Pamplona hardly muster sympathy from the likes of us, who know only a war fought surgically at high altitude, on television. In our times, so far anyway, the hapless grunts in harm's way are volunteers, who volunteered without conscription as the alternative. To those of WWI, it was a Hobson's choice.
This story is set in the early to mid 1920's. With the glories of battle of a Beowolf now permanently erased from the imaginations of these characters, and the mindless slaughter of civlized warfare firmly implanted in its place; our heroes roam foreign lands in search of a reason to live. That debauchery is the reason should be no surprise. It was age and experience appropriate.
Yet there's implied redemption. The fiesta ends in reflection, Jake doesn't return immediately to Paris, and Brett (Lady Brett) sacrifices what she, in the beginning of the story, was unlikely to sacrifice.
Many of the veterans of WWII, especially of the Pacific portion, buried, for a long time, their experiences of slaughter. Hemingway was taking a different approach, revealing its toll on a generation. Which is the greater generation remains an open problem.
Book Review: Just the sort of book I like.
Summary: 5 Stars
I know that I should have read this book again, before I made my final decision of 5 stars. But, Hemingway's writimg style and language are just so perfect. I love how Hemingway's writing is blunt, and so to the point. It's like he writes directly from trhe heart, without thinking too much. Like oh this sound good, or no, this sounds better. He just states his thoughts on love and on life.
I remember a documentary I saw on Hemingway; about having his heart broken by a women he met during his own service during war. Don't know if a majority of readers are already aware of this. So, as I continued reading the book I kept sensing connections between Cohn and jake, to Hemingway. I think both characters contained certain traits which related to Hemingway's own personal characteristics. I think Hemingway wished he could have been more like Jake in instances of his own life. How Jake was very strong and in control of his emotions, and his resistance to falling absolutly in love with Lady Ashley. Cohn on the other hand makes a complete fool of himself by going head over heels for Lady Ashley. Love showed how weak Cohn is, and how strong, and cool Jake was. Maybe Hemingway's wished he could been more able to be like Jake, and therefore impervious to ever becoming heart-broken. Good read, there's a lot more I want to talk about, but better read it again before I start making anymore conclusions. Great read for anyone!
Book Review: A portrait of a lost generation
Summary: 5 Stars
"Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think that I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn..."
With these words - which immediately give us a narrator with attitude - Ernest Hemingway begins his first big novel, published in 1926. This novel perfectly evokes the twenties. It is a portrait of a group of British and American expatriates enjoying the café scene of Left Bank Paris, who decide to take an excursion to Pamplona in Spain to see bullfighting.
What could be more charming or interesting than to see (or hear in Hemingway's inimitable dialogues) these well-educated bright young things? And yet the ravages of the Great War lurk underneath the surface, with ruined bodies, ruined minds, cynicism and spiritual dissolution.
It is helpful to remember that when people talk about the "Lost Generation", they mean the survivors of a horrible and wasteful war. This war killed so many young men (the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 cost England 23,000 young men), that plenty of women had to live out their lives without any hope of marriage and family.
It is not surprising that the twenties - when people tried to cope with the aftermath of so much destruction - evokes so many images of light and darkness. This book is particularly relevant today.
Book Review: The Sun Does Indeed Look Bright
Summary: 5 Stars
As a young man I took the opportunity of a lifetime to spend a year living and traveling abroad in Spain. Upon making this life altering choice, I began researching what novels I could read that could give me a glimpse into spanish culture--enter "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway. At that point in my young life, I had never read any of Hemingway's works; since reading this, I've read the majority of his other works which, while mostly they were well written and enjoyable, no other book I've read, Hemingway or other, has had the same impact on me as "The Sun Also Rises."
Many reviews will break down the story line and interpretations of the relationships in the book, what I can say to you is that I am a mid-twenties male, married with a daughter, I love travel and sport, enjoy good wines, used to enjoy partying a bit too much, and am a bit of a guy's guy, and this is hands down the best book I've ever read. My home library is not as extensive as I'd like to say, but I have began collecting this fantastic novel in as many editions as possible, simply because each year when I open the front cover, I know that I'm going to be gripped just as tightly by the story as I was that first time.
It's a simple read, and a quick one. But be warned, you will want to read it again and again...and again.