The Sun Also Rises

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The Sun Also Rises first appeared in 1926, and yet it's as fresh and clean and fine as it ever was, maybe finer. Hemingway's famously plain declarative sentences linger in the mind like poetry: "Brett was damned good-looking. She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed back like a boy's. She started all that." His cast of thirtysomething dissolute expatriates--Brett and her drunken fiancé, Mike Campbell, the unhappy Princeton Jewish boxer Robert Cohn, the sardonic novelist Bill Gorton--are as familiar as the "cool crowd" we all once knew. No wonder this quintessential lost-generation novel has inspired several generations of imitators, in style as well as lifestyle.

Jake Barnes, Hemingway's narrator with a mysterious war wound that has left him sexually incapable, is the heart and soul of the book. Brett, the beautiful, doomed English woman he adores, provides the glamour of natural chic and sexual unattainability. Alcohol and post-World War I anomie fuel the plot: weary of drinking and dancing in Paris cafés, the expatriate gang decamps for the Spanish town of Pamplona for the "wonderful nightmare" of a week-long fiesta. Brett, with fiancé and ex-lover Cohn in tow, breaks hearts all around until she falls, briefly, for the handsome teenage bullfighter Pedro Romero. "My God! he's a lovely boy," she tells Jake. "And how I would love to see him get into those clothes. He must use a shoe-horn." Whereupon the party disbands.

But what's most shocking about the book is its lean, adjective-free style. The Sun Also Rises is Hemingway's masterpiece--one of them, anyway--and no matter how many times you've read it or how you feel about the manners and morals of the characters, you won't be able to resist its spell. This is a classic that really does live up to its reputation. --David Laskin

Book Description

The Sun Also Rises was Ernest Hemingway's first big novel, and immediately established Hemingway as one of the great prose stylists, and one of the preeminent writers of his time. It is also the book that encapsulates the angst of the post-World War I generation, known as the Lost Generation. This poignantly beautiful story of a group of American and English expatriates in Paris on an excursion to Pamplona represents a dramatic step forward for Hemingway's evolving style. Featuring Left Bank Paris in the 1920s and brutally realistic descriptions of bullfighting in Spain, the story is about the flamboyant Lady Brett Ashley and the hapless Jake Barnes. In an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions, this is the Lost Generation.

Customer Reviews:

Beauty in words.......2007-09-17

Ernest Hemmingway in his unique style delivers a masterpiece in adult fiction. His prose is concise and words beauty known only to the reader. He creates a wonderful atmosphere of the locations and his character's travel through the landscape and through emotions is captured exceptionally well.

This is a timeless classic. There is nothing I can say to convince anyone to read it. The characters are well-developed. There is love and passion and pain and beauty. The world that Hemmingway recreates belongs with these characters. The book launched a successful career and in me it set in motion the desire to read everything ever written by this brilliant writer.

A True Classic.......2007-09-03

The Sun Also Rises turned out to be quite a remarkable read and a novel worthy of classic status. It is absolutely amazing how much symbolism and hidden meaning Hemingway can sneak in through his distinctive clear and simple prose style. On the other hand, if you are not paying attention and miss the implied messages then this novel will strike you as nothing particularly special.

The book is about a group of American and English expatriates residing in Paris during the 1920s. They live aimless, purposeless lives after World War I because their whole value system has been shaken up. They are members of the "Lost Generation", a term popularized by this very book. Although the plot is simplistic, with Jake Barnes and his friends traveling to Spain for the Pamplona fiesta, the brilliance of the novel shines through in the relationships and dialogue between characters. The rambunctious Lady Brett Ashley is the target of four men's desires and Hemingway uses her to exemplify the destructiveness of sex and the male insecurity felt after World War I. It is a world where everyone drowns their sorrows in alcohol. The novel ends in an outstanding description of a bull-fight and on a hopeful, wishing note.

The novel opened my eyes to how drastic the effects of WWI were on soldiers and how disenchanted some of them became with prewar values and notions. I also was truly impressed by Hemingway's bullfighting descriptions and how he made them seem almost like poetic events. The characters were likable and compelling, too, and gave the novel much life even without an enchanting plot. Although I couldn't relate to the characters all that well, I'm sure someone who has had more of life's experiences will have no trouble doing so. Altogether, Hemingway created a novel that changed the literary world forever and will leave a lasting impression in many minds for generations to come - it sure did in mine.

Absolutely terrible.......2007-08-02

I'm no scholar, no student of literature. I just like to read. Everything from Huxley to HST to Dan Brown... if a book is good, I'll read it. If a book sucks, I'll usually put it down about halfway through.

That's what bothers me the most about The Sun Also Rises. I've heard nothing but good things about Hemingway, how he's the greatest American author of all time. So even though page after page of this book was boring to the point of tears, I kept reading. I gave Hemingway the behefit of the doubt that at some point, SOMETHING other than dinner, drinking, and everyone taking their turn on the neighborhood whore would happen.

Unfortunately, nothing happens. There's no plot, no conflict -- wait, that's not true... everyone hates the Jewish guy and everyone wants to sleep with the same woman... let me clarify -- there's no conflict interesting enough to carry a novel, no interesting characters (everyone is either an alcoholic or a slut, who you'd think might be interesting, but they are really just sad and pathetic), and absolutely no action. I wish I had read something else by Hemingway first, because odds are that ANY book would be better than this one. But now that this is my first impression of him, unfortunately, I don't know if I'll ever pick up another one of his books. It really is that bad.

DON'T READ THIS BOOK!!!!

Sitting Around, Feeling Sorry for Themselves.......2007-07-08

In the shallow world of the characters of Ernest Hemingway, everybody seems to spend most of their time feeling sorry for themself. Going beyond the tragic hero, the charcters are perhaps best described as arrogant and self-centered. Coupled with the terse writing style of Hemingway, this makes for a quick read with a somewhat clever plot.

While bull fighting actually takes place in the plot, it is also a clever metaphor used in the story. The main character Robert Cohn follows Lady Brett Ashley around like a stupid bull follows a bull fighter. It is hard to feel sorry for Cohn when everybody realizes Brett's disinterest in Cohn except Cohn. It comes to a head when Brett falls for the bull fighter and Cohn assaults his friends for viciously taunting him about Brett's disinterest.

While the main theme is somewhat clever, much of the other prose seems to be self-loathing and scenary. When the characters get drunk, they pour their hearts and failures out like spilling wine. Even when Bret finds her resolution, the reader could anticipate the downfall.

It is difficult to like any character in the story which may leave the reader with an awkward feeling. The characters are depraved and infantile while searching for a love that eludes them. While the search for an elusive love is one that readers can identify with, the flaws in the characters make evident why their goals elude them.

Hemingway good, story bad.......2007-06-24

I've often wondered how I got through college as an English major without reading any Hemingway. The classics have always been my favorites, and American lit specifically. So, as an adult, I've tried to add some of those critically acclaimed books I missed in undergrad to my "Have Read" list. The first Hemingway book I read post-college was A Farewell to Arms. I liked it ... not loved, but liked it enough to read more of his work. But this one ... I struggled through it. I felt like each page was the same -- group of friends who don't all like each other and lots and lots of alcohol. I did make it to the end despite my minimal interest in the story (or lack there of) because, no matter what the story is, Ernest Hemingway's style of writing is a great example of a true gift.

Average customer rating:

Ignore the critics
The classic of American modernism
Classical Hemingway, need I say more?
Worthwhile, yet UN-earth-shattering.
Disappointing

The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743297334

Book Description

The quintessential novel of the Lost Generation, The Sun Also Rises is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. 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 published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century

Customer Reviews:

Ignore the critics.......2007-10-01

For some reason Hemingway seems to be a target for cheap criticism; I guess his spare, masculine style is easy to mock. But 'The Sun Also Rises' is not only a great masterpiece by one of the 20th century's best and most innovative writers, it's also terrifically entertaining, funny, subtle and ironic. And here's a hint for those who complain that nothing happens in the book. There's this amazing thing you should find out about: it's called SUBTEXT.

The classic of American modernism.......2007-08-23

All I can say is that the people who have rated this book with a low score are missing the point. This is a beautifully written book. The complaints that nothing happens and all the characters do is drink, fight, and fish is because this is a book about the LACK of meaning in post-WWI society. Meaninglessness IS the message. If you seek to understand modernism, this is the best novel for that purpose.

Classical Hemingway, need I say more?.......2007-08-23

Actually, I shall say a bit more. If you are looking for a cliche product of Hemingway, search no farther. It has a great style, flow, great diction. However, it is a very dry story. Through symbolism and imagery and anecdotes, Hemingway manages to describe a theme that could have been described in two paragraphs. Suggested for Hemingway fans. Not so much for anyone else.

Worthwhile, yet UN-earth-shattering........2007-08-22

One of my most recent reads has been Ernest Hemingway's [1926] novel, The Sun Also Rises.
Hemingway is one of those authors I have wanted to explore for a long time [along with James Joyce, Saul Bellow or John Updike] but I have inexplicably never really gotten around to it. Actually, this is not entirely true... I did read Hemingway's memoir-ish A Moveable Feast, and loved it.
But The Sun Also Rises was my second look at Papa, and I do want to read more.
It was entirely coincidental that I was reading it during the same days [seasonally speaking] in which the novel itself takes place.
The bullfights of Pamplona, along with the daily early-morning three-minute suspension of sanity known as the "Running With The Bulls" takes place from early to mid-July.
And that is where we find ourselves in this book.

Jake Barnes, [whom I could not help but identify with what I know of the persona of the author], is an American journalist stationed in Paris. He likes bullfights, drinking, fishing, and..... not working.
This book is like one long, extended party, where people venture from café to bar, and stay in either place only long enough to suggest the next rendezvous, the next café or bar where they will consume as much alcohol as is humanly possible!
I've never read of such wanton dissipation since, well..... A Moveable Feast!

So, in the first portion of the book we meet all of Jake's friends, beginning with Robert Cohn, the Jewish writer, ex-boxer. Cohn is the only person in this book that is not a severe alcoholic.
Then there's Lady Brett Ashley, the sort of English dame hottie that everyone not only wants, but also... has! Jake and Brett maintain a close, although platonic [for reasons I will not get into] relationship throughout the course of the book, and they are paranthetical characters, in my opinion.
The ever-insouciant [and ever-soused] Mike Campbell is Brett's boyfriend [well, she has others, too] and he hates Robert Cohn, not only because of Cohn's Jewishness, [racism abounds in this book] but because of the fact that Robert loves Brett.
Then there is Bill Gorton, sort of a happy-go-lucky guy who rounds out this fivesome of ne'er do wells. A spicy amount of secondary characters are peppered throughout, but suffice it to say, these principal five all end up in Pamplona for fiesta week, where they trample and gore their way through all of the hotels and bars like a wild herd of multi-horned rhinos!
At one point, a brief fight breaks out between Jake and Robert Cohn, and the following few lines illustrate the near skeletal way that Hemingway writes.

Jake narrates:
I swung at him and he ducked. I saw his face duck sideways in the light. He hit me and I sat down on the pavement. As I started to get on my feet he hit me twice. I went down backward under a table. [from ch.XVII].

I went down backward under a table?
Anyone writing this sparsely [not to mention disjointedly] nowadays would not be published.
And yet. And yet... there is something about this book that is good.
Something that makes it well worth reading. Hemingway [successfully] gets away with this sort of austere, clip-clop style... utterly devoid of pretense. Leaving you with the feeling that you have a brother, or maybe an uncle, that would have related these events to you in much the same way.
Or maybe even a Papa.
I enjoyed The Sun Also Rises, in a non life-altering way!

So what am I saying about this, my second foray into Hemingway?
Am I `fer it, or `agin it?
I say overall, it is a thumbs up! Read it.
Hey, and now that I think of it, I read Old Man and the Sea way back in high school.
But it was required reading, so.... doesn't count.
Reading under duress does not count!

Disappointing.......2007-08-21

I was disappointed in "The Sun Also Rises". Perhaps my expectations were too high or, perhaps, this is simply not one of Hemingway's greatest works. Methinks the latter.

The essence of the novel is the meanderings of a group of American expats living in France and travelling through there and Spain during the 1920s. They seem to spend a lot of time eating and drinking but not much else. They have been described as the lost generation. I would rather describe them as lost. Their eating and drinking seems interminable and the reader is left waiting for something to happen. And it doesn't.

It pains me to write this review as there is so much to love about Hemingway. His Nobel Prize was warranted and his later works such as "The Old Man and the Sea'', "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "A Farewell to Arms" are masterpieces. Unfortunately, "The Sun Also Rises" does not compare well to these other works. It's a shame, but avoid this work and your opinion of Hemingway will not be damaged.

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I Have Heard Every Reading

The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0743564413

Book Description

THE QUINTESSENTIAL NARRATIVE OF THE LOST GENERATION

The Sun Also Rises is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the story introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. Follow 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 published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.

Customer Reviews:

I Have Heard Every Reading.......2007-02-09

All other published readings pale in comparison to this one. After careful listening, I believe that what Charlton Heston did as Santiago in "The Old Man and the Sea", William Hurt has done as Jake Barnes. Bravo!

New Essays on The Sun Also Rises (The American Novel)

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New Essays on The Sun Also Rises (The American Novel)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521317878

Book Description

The Sun Also Rises (1926) was Hemingway's first novel and is now widely considered to be the most important of his longer works of fiction. Written in an accessible style by prominent scholars, this collection of essays provides helpful and valuable insight for new readers and Hemingway specialists alike. Each essay is devoted to a major aspect of the novel: Hemingway's use of humor, the literary and historical context of the book, the atypically modern character of Brett Ashley, and recent approaches to issues of sexuality in the novel.

Alchemy in the Sun Also Rises: Hidden Gold in Hemingway's Narrative

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Alchemy in the Sun Also Rises: Hidden Gold in Hemingway's Narrative
Wolfgang E. H. Rudat
Manufacturer: Edwin Mellen Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0773495797

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The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Scribners: NY. 1954/58
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

ASIN: B000BMHVSQ

Hemingway and the Post Narrative Condition: An Unauthorized Commentary of the Sun Also Rises

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Hemingway and the Post Narrative Condition: An Unauthorized Commentary of the Sun Also Rises
Frank Kyle
Manufacturer: Univ Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

Hemingway and the Post-Narrative Condition examines the relevance of the Sun Also Rises to the post-modern condition.

A Rotten Way to Be Wounded: The Tragicomedy of the Sun Also Rises (American University Studies Series Xxiv, American Literature)

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A Rotten Way to Be Wounded: The Tragicomedy of the Sun Also Rises (American University Studies Series Xxiv, American Literature)
Wolfgang E. H. Rudat
Manufacturer: Peter Lang Pub Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0820412821

Tennessee Williams's a Streetcar Named Desire (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

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One Of The Best!!

Tennessee Williams's a Streetcar Named Desire (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Tennessee Williams's the Glass Menagerie and a Streetcar Named Desire (Barron's Book Notes)

ASIN: 1555460534

Book Description

Published in 1947, A Streetcar Named Desire garnered Tennessee Williams the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics' Award. Considered a lyrical masterpiece, the drama reveals the destructive impact that ensues when romantic impulse encounters animal vitalism.

The title, Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, part of Chelsea House Publishers' Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on Tennessee Williams, a chronology of the author's life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

Customer Reviews:

One Of The Best!!.......2000-10-20

A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams is one of the best plays that I have read in years. First adapted to film in 1951, by Oscar Saul. I must recommend this play to all theatre directors out there and say that this would be a very large hit.

Book Description

This is the book that chronicled the lives and times of "the Lost Generation," American expatriates that filled Europe between the world wars. Hemingway's expatriates are there for two different reasons: one is there solely for entertainment, the other, to heal from the horrors of war and create something worth living for. Wounded Jake Barnes narrates a great, difficult love story.

Customer Reviews:

Henry and the Club House.......2000-11-09

I loved the book it is great for all kids to understand! It is awesome! It really teaches kids responsibility with a humor added to jazz it up, kinda like a true life story is being told!

A unique and somewhat falsified approach to this Novel.............2000-08-01

Gertrude Stein named the generation that came of age during the First World War the "lost generation." The world quickly adopted the phrase as the most accurate description for the generation who died, fought, or worked during the war as they passed through the threshold of their adult lives. Before the novel opens, Hemingway quotes Stein as well as a biblical passage that contrasts the transient nature of human generations against the eternal survival of nature. The world remains and the sun continues to rise and set despite the inevitable passage of each human generation into death. The juxtaposition of the two epigraphs produces an ambivalent tone. There is hope because there will be a new generation beyond the aimless generation that populates The Sun Also Rises. There is also a bitter irony in the contrast. Every generation is lost in one sense because they will all eventually pass away. Some are perhaps more lost than others. The characters of the The Sun Also Rises are clearly emblematic of a generation of lost souls. Just as they approached the sunrise of their adult lives, a horrific war of unprecedented death and destruction shattered their world. The pre-war values of love, faith, manhood, and womanhood that previously gave meaning to their reality proved to be an inadequate answer to the unbelievable scale of violence of the war. The characters in The Sun Also Rises are a careless, aimless, pleasure-seeking crowd. They wander through an endless, drunken procession of parties, cafes, and sexual affairs in a desperate search for meaning in their lives. It is no coincidence that many of them are artists and writers. Through the work of artistic expression, they try to produce meaning in a world seemingly lost to rampant, amoral consumerism and lovelessness. They are always going somewhere, but never really arriving anywhere. The narrator, Jake Barnes, provides us with an incomplete portrait of the aimless expatriate crowd living in 1920's Europe. We must always search for what he does not say. Half of the story lies between the lines in the novel; perhaps this symbolizes the absence of meaning in the characters' lives. Although not a single shot is fired throughout the novel, The Sun Also Rises is about The Great War. We know a few scarce specific details of the characters' war experience. However, the war relentlessly haunts the characters throughout the novel. The effects of the war are evident in their alcoholism and their casual cruelty to one another. It is evident in the way they skirt the edges of their war experiences in their conversation. It is the war and its effects they are fleeing when they descend into the forgetfulness of alcohol. They flee it continually by refusing to discuss its horrors directly. They flee it by running from one cafe, one country, and one party to the next. They are prisoners of their own attempts to escape the war that maimed them physically and psychologically. They are attempting to flee their shattered selves, but as Jake Barnes says, "You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another." Confrontation is the central conflict that divides every character's consciousness. For many, this is the hardest battle of the war.

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