The Sun Also Rises in Retro Chapter Chicks

Jun 21, 2019 Book Concierge rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: concierge, library, audio, movie, classic, spain, france

One of Hemingway’s earliest novels, this was first published in 1926, and has never been out of print since that time. It is loosely based on the author’s own experiences with a circle of friends frequently known as “The Lost Generation.”

The novel follows Jake Barnes, an American journalist, and Lady Brett Ashley, a twice-divorced Englishwoman who seems unable to function without a man fawning over her. Together with a group of friends, including Brett’s fiancé, the Scot, Mike Campbell they tra One of Hemingway’s earliest novels, this was first published in 1926, and has never been out of print since that time. It is loosely based on the author’s own experiences with a circle of friends frequently known as “The Lost Generation.”

The novel follows Jake Barnes, an American journalist, and Lady Brett Ashley, a twice-divorced Englishwoman who seems unable to function without a man fawning over her. Together with a group of friends, including Brett’s fiancé, the Scot, Mike Campbell they travel from Paris to Pamplona for the Festival of San Fermin, and the running of the bulls. Along the way more than one man is convinced he loves Brett and can win her affections.

The first Hemingway work I read was his The Old Man and the Sea, which was assigned reading when I was in 8th grade. I loved it and have been a fan of Hemingway’s ever since. Still, some of his works fail to resonate with me. And this was one of them.

The ennui with which these people live their lives just doesn’t interest me. I am as bored as they seem to be by their own lives. I don’t understand the attraction to Brett, who seems unable to form any lasting relationship but lives for the conquest. Yes, she beautiful and apparently has some money, but men are literally coming to blows over her affections.

And Jake? I get that he’s been wounded in WW1, and that has resulted in impotence. I can understand his resultant reserve and reliance on alcohol to dull his emotions. But I just didn’t get the relationship between he and Brett. Or for that matter, his relationship with the other characters. What drew them together? And what kept them connected?

I may have liked (or at least appreciated) the novel more had I read rather than listened. I absolutely hated William Hurt’s delivery on the audio. He is a wonderful actor, but in this case he sounded so bored and uninterested. I felt that the pace dragged. He even managed to make the bullfight sound boring. 1* for his performance of the audio.

NOTE: The book was published in Britain under the title Fiesta
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Mar 28, 2019 Theresa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-and-classic-redos, z-pop-sugar-2019-reading-challenge, z-aty-2019

The end of the world is nigh. I enjoyed just about every second of reading this --and it's Hemingway! I am famous for my dislike of his work -- all dating from what I had to read in high school and college. Well, there was one exception - I am very fond of A Movable Feast but it's about Paris, hardly his usual, and not surprising since I'm equally famous as a francophile with a deep love of Paris. Which comes into play here too. The initial third or so of the book is set in Paris, in and out of The end of the world is nigh. I enjoyed just about every second of reading this --and it's Hemingway! I am famous for my dislike of his work -- all dating from what I had to read in high school and college. Well, there was one exception - I am very fond of A Movable Feast but it's about Paris, hardly his usual, and not surprising since I'm equally famous as a francophile with a deep love of Paris. Which comes into play here too. The initial third or so of the book is set in Paris, in and out of the various cafes frequented by Hemingway and his circle between the wars. Those cafes (the Dome, La Rotonde, Select, Cafe du Lilas) all still exist, existed in 1976 when I was there as a student and hung out there absorbing whatever vibes we could left by the famous writers who frequented them. It is 'my' Paris. I was hooked, and stayed caught through travel to Spain, fishing interlude, and the vivid descriptions of Fiesta in Pamplona.

What's the novel about? Superficially, it's not about much. A group of writers and friends between WWI and WWII, the infamous Lost Generation, spend time drinking, eating, and bed-hopping in Paris, move it all down to Spain for the bullfights, but first some go trout fishing in Basque Country, ultimately all end up in Pamplona for the Fiesta de San Fermin, what we know as the annual running of the bulls and bullfights. It's about a man who is in love with a woman who loves him, but his impotency forms an insurmountable barrier, and as a result their relationship is warped, hurtful, constant. It is all told from the first person perspective of Jake, a writer with a war injury that renders him impotent, who tells the story in a spare journalistic recitation of events and actions without color or judgment or analysis. This is the essence of Hemingway's modernist writing style. The relationships and events told in this spare manner end up incredibly revealing and vivid so that by the end, you have seen all the complicated relationships, careless cruelties, lack of direction - or maybe it's lack of meaning, illusions, and deep emotions in the lives of Jake, Brett (the main female character), Mike, Bill, Cohn and others. The descriptions of the bullfights - how the bull is teased and ultimately killed - mirrors the treatment of Cohn by the others, in fact. Jake et al. are matadors, and those not of the circle, like Cohn, are the bulls played to the death.

Much is written about the various themes covered by this novel, about the portrayal of the Lost Generation, how this established a new writing style for the novel, and many now consider this to be Hemingway's masterpiece. It may be and it certainly is about the Lost Generation, but I find it timeless, in fact, which I in large part attribute to the spare journalistic style of writing. The events described, the inter-relationships, could easily be some rock band and its groupies, or Paris Hilton and her entourage, the Kardashians. This book was written and published 93 years ago, yet you recognize Paris, the bullfights, Spain, and most of all the characters and their relationships. I think that does indeed make this a masterpiece.

I absolutely adore the final sentences as they encapsulate the central relationship between promiscuous Brett and impotent Jake:

"Oh, Jake," Brett said, "we could have had such damned good time together."
Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.
"Yes," I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

It was while reading The Paris Wife that I decided I had to bite the bullet and read The Sun Also Rises because in The Paris Wife you meet all the real people and learn of the real events that inspired Hemingway, upon which the entire story is based (although we all know Hemingway, for whom Jake is an alterego, was not impotent!). I believe that the real Lady Duff, who in the novel is Brett, Lady Ashley, rather famously is credited with saying that it should be considered non-fiction not fiction given the word-for-word accuracy of the writing.

I doubt I will be rushing out to read any more Hemingway, but I am very glad I read this and was forced to eat my words about what a bad writer he was.

Conveniently fit the ATY 2019 prompt #27 book on 1001 books to read before die list. ...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Kris (My Novelesque Life) rated it really liked it

3.5 STARS

"A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First ...more

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Jan 10, 2022 ˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜ rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, in-person-book-club

Hemingway’s style of writing takes a bit of getting used too. I don’t understand what this book is about but the bits I know about the author make me think he wrote about what he liked and knew; traveling, drinking, and hanging out with friends.

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