Customer Reviews

Sun Also Rises

5 star:		(182)
4 star:		(71)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

The Sun Also Rises was my first sampling of Hemingway's novel length works. My verdict? Clearly, this is a first novel, but a very good one. The first half of the book is slow and not exactly compelling, and yet by the second half, it really takes off, and I found myself engrossed.

Basically, The Sun Also Rises is a portrait of the "lost generation", those who were so impacted by the war that their lives have no meaning in the traditional sense. They go about a series of meaningless activities that leave them feeling empty and unfulfilled. This premise is fairly existential and dark, and if that isn't your cup of tea, don't bother with the Sun Also Rises. That said, this novel does a great job of characterizing such members of said generation, and the style of the writing is attractively lucid and crisp, yet rich with symbolism. Despite the shaky start, I would reccomend reading this.

This book is an account of several characters that are complete losers. The story never picks up, and the account of people getting drunk continually is uninteresting. Hemmingway makes use of a lot of dialogue that is sometimes hard to follow. The one bright spot of the book is the way that the author reveals the culture and landscape of Spain. He wrote in a way that made the Spanish atmosphere very vivid. I enjoyed Hemmingway's book, Old Man and the Sea much more than this book.

I was looking forward to reading this. (I have fond memories of Pamploma from 1963.) I had just finished A Moveable Feast and was interested in the spare style of Papa, but this book, despite all the fame it has, did little for me. I can accept his spare style, but nobody talks the way Hemingway writes, except the characters in his book. I think the interest of this book lies in its value as a literary artifact - but I doubt that anyone would publish it today (if it were written by an unknown author at any rate). The characters are not well drawn and I have little interest in them - eating and drinking all day may have had value for the lost generation , but those days are long gone (thank goodness). My father (born 1917) was a huge Hemingway fan, his son is not.

Sorry I cant figure out what's so great about this writer. I did enjoy Snows of Kilimanjaro but it was shorter. This book has no story to it. I went on to try For whom the bell Tolls - same thing. Would be great I'm sure as a play but no flow to his stories.

I read this book right after reading of a couple of other novels, and I have to say I found it a touch bland. I suppose it's good if you want a simple read, and it has the Hemingway touch in terms of its prose, although at times I was shocked to experience writing that was honestly really, really bad - probably the worst I've seen in a published work of fiction. Sometimes I couldn't tell which character was talking - sentences didn't flow well or explain sufficiently what was going on - it was as if Hemingway hastily scribbled down the text in a drunken moment of inspiration. He also didn't provide certain information about the background of the characters, especially the protagonist of the story, but whether or not that was a deliberate literary tactic I'm not sure. Also, Brett Ashley, the object of desire for about every male in the book, is one of the most annoying characters I've ever encountered in a novel. Hemingway may have intended that irony.

Why would anyone want to read a novel about unending drunken revels by emotional cripples who treat each other badly, never-ending love conflicts, getting excited by mayhem at the running of the bulls and during bull fights in Pamplona, and wasted lives? That's the question posed by this book.

The book will not draw too many readers for the subject matter. Why then does the book attract? Part of the appeal has to be the same reason that many people like horror films -- the relief you feel when you realize that your own life does not encounter such dangers can be profound.

Another reason to read this book is to understand the disillusionment of the American expatriates in Europe after World War I. The book is a period piece in this sense. Clearly, Hemingway is Jake and the book is undoubtedly very autobiographical. All first novels have that quality to some degree. Imagining how the author of The Old Man and the Sea started out as Jake was very interesting to me.

To me, however, the primary reason for reading this book is to encounter the remarkable structure that Hemingway built in his plot. He has created several different lenses through which we can explore the role of conflict and separation in our lives. Each lens turns out to be looking at the same object, and it is only by slowly focusing each of the lenses that we are able to see that object more clearly.

The central figure in the book is Brett, Lady Ashley, who enchants almost every man she meets, and who disengages from intimate relations with each one after permanently entangling him emotionally. That leaves a string of wounded suitors in her wake, including Jake. Things get tough when several of them join her and her fiance in Pamplona for the running of the bulls. The symmetry in the book becomes more obvious during a fishing trip that Jake takes without Brett. The fish are lured by artificial flies more successfully than with real worms. Brett's exotic appeal draws men in like flies, much more than the attractions of women who want to make an emotional commitment.

The symmetry becomes masterful when we reach the bull fights. Brett and the matador are inevitably attracted, for they are the same. They both play with their opponents (men and bulls) by flirting and using their capes, weaken the opponents in the engagement, and bring the opponents down (through sexual entrancement and slaughter). Hemingway makes this abundantly clear by repeatedly describing the bull's death as when the matador and the bull become one. One pet name for Brett is Circe, to help complete the picture.

The closer the matador comes to the bull's horns (or Brett to making a commitment), the better the sport for the spectators and the greater the self-esteem for the matador (and Brett).

I do not recall a novel that does such an excellent job of using multiple story lines to reinforce the book's main point, in this case that alienation transcends even closeness. Much as you will dislike some of the characters, the unnecessary racial and ethnic slurs, the savageness, and the emotional scenes, you will probably find the characters to ring true. You will also admire the misguided optimism and honest commitment of Jake as he fulfills his love for Brett by procuring men for her and then rescuing her when the next engagement is all over. Jake's love is that noble sacrifice that we all admire in lovers.

And that's the beautiful part of the book -- you will find nobility amid the ugliness. The contrast makes the nobility more beautiful.

When you are done reading the book, examine your own life and see where you draw back from closeness. Then, ask yourself why you do, and what it costs you and others. Next, consider what closeness can bring from continuing relationships.

Find beauty wherever you look!

A great existentially themed novel. Very well written (obviously), but not as refined as Hemingway's later works. A very good book. The stoic characters are also very fun, especially once considering the speaker's awkward injury.

The central figure in the book is Brett, Lady Ashley, who enchants almost every man she meets, and who disengages from intimate relations with each one after permanently entangling him emotionally.

That leaves a string of wounded suitors in her wake, including Jake. Things get tough when several of them join her and her fiance in Pamplona for the running of the bulls.

The symmetry in the book becomes more obvious during a fishing trip that Jake takes without Brett. The fish are lured by artificial flies more successfully than with real worms. Brett's exotic appeal draws men in like flies, much more than the attractions of women who want to make an emotional commitment.

The symmetry becomes masterful when we reach the bull fights. Brett and the matador are inevitably attracted, for they are the same. They both play with their opponents (men and bulls) by flirting and using their capes, weaken the opponents in the engagement, and bring the opponents down (through sexual entrancement and slaughter).

Hemingway makes this abundantly clear by repeatedly describing the bull's death as when the matador and the bull become one. One pet name for Brett is Circe, to help complete the picture.

The closer the matador comes to the bull's horns (or Brett to making a commitment), the better the sport for the spectators and the greater the self-esteem for the matador (and Brett).

I do not recall a novel that does such an excellent job of using multiple story lines to reinforce the book's main point, in this case that alienation transcends even closeness.

Much as you will dislike some of the characters, the unnecessary racial and ethnic slurs, the savageness, and the emotional scenes, you will probably find the characters to ring true.

You will also admire the misguided optimism and honest commitment of Jake as he fulfills his love for Brett by procuring men for her and then rescuing her when the next engagement is all over. Jake's love is that noble sacrifice that we all admire in lovers.

"The Sun Also Rises" is a good story and it starts to take off by the end, leaving you with at least a glimpse of emotion. The only problem that I can see in this book is the absolutely abomitable writing. Hemingway is a terrible writer, at least from this book I think so. His writing is choppped up and broken, which translates into a broken storyline, and he has some trouble making his sentences make sense (gramatically and otherwise). I have counted, sometimes five or six, broken bits of... 'something'... that could be pieced into one coherent and eloquent sentence. Although the writing picked up at the end and the story and the characters were fairly interesting, overall this book is a broken piece of writing with interest, at least for me, only as an exploration of Hemingway's style and an interesting story.

Has anyone ever noticed that he is refered to as a prose stylist? What does this mean if not a butcher of language? If you want to be a stylist, be a stylist, but don't call yourself a writer. Sorry about this last paragraph; you may disregard it; i just needed to get a little bit of weight off my chest.

Hemingway's first short form novel, a wonderful story regarding the lives of people living post WW1 (the Lost Generation).

A story about about a man that cannot have what he desires and a woman that can have anything she desires with the exception of what she desires the most.

Jake Barnes and Lady Brett are wonderful characters who are intensely in love with one another but cannot get around the one obstacle that keeps them apart, namely a sexual relationship. Yet Barnes will defend her honour and satisfy her needs in every other way possible and she will consistently call up upon him as a confidente, friend and mentor.

It is a maddening relationship and existence that they live in, day-in, day-out.

Hemingway provides brilliant detail of Spain and France along with a wonderful expose on both trout fishing and bull fighting. To relate these two very opposite sports in a story line such as this further articulates the confusion and degree of complexities that all the characters (and the reader) find themselves in, in this Lost and Lust Generation.