The Sun Also Rises (1926)

I think I prefer Hemingway's short stories to his novels. ( )

was not expecting to like this and don't really know why i did. a story of english-speakers in france and spain between wars, they all drink way too much and look down on the europeans. they are all in lust with brett who is more like a man than the men. jake is an extremely nice guy. hope he doesn't finish last. he keeps the novel going. ( )

I read "The Paris Wife" earlier this year and it tells the story of the Hemingways and friends going to bull fights in Spain, which inspired this first major break through work for Ernest. Thus, I felt compelled (yawwwwn) to read the actual (ho hum) book to see what all the (huh?) fuss was about.
OK, so maybe he wrote differently than the other popular writers of that time, but I got little if no "meat" from this story of self-indulgent rich people with nothing better to do than to drink and drink and drink some more and fuss over a silly woman. Writing simple sentences can make you famous. I can write a simple sentence. I can be famous. I went to the pub and drank too much. Am I famous now? She is not one to read "the classics". ( )

I have looked forward for many years to reading another Hemingway novel. I loved A Farewell to Arms and the characters of Frederick Henry and Catherine Barkley have stayed with me for many years. With the understanding that The Sun Also Rises is considered by many to be Hemingway's finest work, I dove in hoping to be as enthralled as I was with AFTA. And so, because I was not, I wonder if I'm judging TSAR somewhat unfairly. But I cannot escape that fundamentally this book is about celebrating the flaws in characters and commending them for being selfish and hateful. This was simply something I did not enjoy. I rate this with three stars because the plot is good (once you get past the first section, which is essentially only to lay the groundwork for the rest of the novel) and because the characters are unforgettable. But they are unforgettable for very different reasons than Lieutenant Henry and his beloved nurse Barkley; they are unforgettable because they are, quite simply, immature and indecent people.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh here. I did enjoy Hemingway's simple style, and the descriptions of the festival at Pamplona are excellent, particularly of the bull fighting towards the end. But at the end of the day, what we have here are men who drink too much, who hate other men because they all desire the same woman, and that one woman is selfish, superficial and someone who uses men only for her ends. I found it very difficult to sympathize with any of them. Robert Cohn may very well be a petty man who is egotistical, but the characters constantly demean him not for these negative qualities but for his Jewish ethnicity. Michael Campbell is a drunken gentlemen prone to fits of rage and rants, but no one stands up to him and calls him out on it. Jake Barnes stands at the center of all of this, and while he seems to have more redeeming qualities than the rest, he also goes along with the childish antics of his friends and engages in foul behavior even when he is aware of its foulness. He is anti-Semitic towards Cohn like all the others and cannot find the inner strength to tear himself away from the poison that is Lady Brett Ashley. Brett Ashley is possibly the worst offender of them all, as she consistently does damage to everyone around her, seems to be aware of this damage, and simply chooses to ignore it as it does not serve her own selfish ends. If there was anything redeeming of the way these characters carry on, it is this: none of them, perhaps save Ashley, get what they want in the end.

My rating reflects the fact that I don't like the characters and I especially hated the anti-Semitic theme with regards to Cohn. But I will not dispute that it is a valuable book and it is written well. I think if anyone were searching for a novel that shows the fruits of pursuing a life of selfishness, depravity and above all drunkenness (I'm not entirely sure the characters were ever sober), this would be it. But don't expect to find characters you can empathize with, because they simply aren't here. ( )

Doing a re-read of the novel for the Seasonal Reading Challenge (Fall 2009). I loved this book when I studied it in high school, so it will be interesting to see if I feel the same way about it now. ( )