Rating: 
Summary: Needs a second read
Review: I agree with the remarks of the reviewer a few spaces down- this could have been a wonderful short story or novella. I also kept wondering where the story was. Now, if you've read my review of The Great Gatsby, you know that I do not demand a "plot" so to speak, but still... I was left wondering where the beginning and the end were, and what they signified.I did enjoy the descriptions of Spain and bullfighting (I read this on a couple of hot days on my hammock with a few Coronas:) The descriptions of the bullfights, in addition to being vivid, are accurate. If anyone has ever read the works of Prosper Merimee (colomba, carmen), specifically his Lettres d'Espagne-- Les Courses de Taureaux, you will enjoy the passages in Spain in Hemingway's book. After I had finished reading and had time to digest what had occurred, I felt better about The Sun Also Rises, but I still feel the need to read it again. One thing that has always bothered me about Hemingway, however, was his anti-Semitism... By the way, can anyone fully explain the meaning of the title?
Rating: 
Summary: Um . . .
Review: I was under the impression that Hemingway is considered one of the greatest writers ever? What happened? I read The Sun Also Rises and obviously did not get the point, unless the point I did get (life after WWI is pointless) just holds mystical revelations for some people that simply fail with me. The point that life is pointless is pointless for a book of 250+ pages; it could easily have been summed up in 30-40 pages in some short story and we could all go home to get on with our lives (metaphorically speaking, of course). The fact that the characters were more self-absorbed than any you'll meet on Seinfeld or Friends doesn't help (it gets his point of pointlessness across but gets old, oh, around page 15). I asked a friend of mine why he loved the book so much and he couldn't really tell me (not that he didn't try, just nothing useful came out). Most of what he said watered down to the first two things he said "There wasn't a single word in there that didn't need to be there" and "It's about vast disillusionment following WWI". Hm, okay, so the guy doesn't elaborate much in detail and the book is pointless (as I've mentioned). Is that any reason to read an entire novel?
Rating:
Summary: A surprisingly powerful aftermath
Review: This didn't particularly impress me while reading it, then surprisingly left me with a deep sense of tragedy afterwards. The core of the novel - Jake Barnes' love for the self-destructive Brett Ashley - was very strong and subtle. It provoked sympathy and sadness. One could imagine them carrying on the way they were for the rest of their days, and that was rather depressing. I would also read this for the era and atmosphere evoked - the frantic bullfighting fiesta in 1920s Spain - as well as the hedonistic yet jaded perspective through which it was experienced. As for faults, I found certain protracted descriptions difficult to plow through (a consistent problem with Hemingway). This book dipped into 'boring' territory now and then.
Rating:
Summary: Hemingway? To Have or Have Not?
Review: So, yeah.. I read The Sun Also Rises.. twice. I even watched the movie. There is nothing interesting here. His prose plods along. His characters say 'extroadinary' things. They drink. They are 'just too much', they argue ..oh, well. No, I'll never get why people like Hemingway. What fascinates me about this book is how someone can take such interesting characters and paint them in such a dull manner. What can be done with this book? Do as Hemingway always said. Be practical, take a book like this and use it practically. Roll it up, ..wow! ..it's a small cricket bat or tennis racket! Yeah, maybe he'd like that!
Rating: 
Summary: TEN STARS!
Review: This is Hemingway's best novel and the best novel of all! (Writing a review of it almost seems to tarnish its greatness.) Hemingway's terse, impactful prose works in full force telling the tale of Jake Barnes and his (impossible) love, Brett Ashley. It tackles all the relevant themes of the Lost Generation and captures the spirit of expatriot Paris and Europe. In my opinion, it upstages "The Great Gatsby" by orders of magnitude including its portriat of post-WWI decadence, its writing, its romance, its action, its story, and most importantly its realism. AND IT HAS THE BEST FINAL LINE IN HISTORY! (There is more emotion and power in that line than most 20th Century fiction rolled together.) A magnificent read.
Rating:
Summary: A Subtle Tale of Nothing But Really Something
Review: Few books leave such lasting footprints on my memory. The Sun Also Rises is indeed one of those books. To some, it may seem that little really happens in the book; but it does. At the heart of the story, as someone already mentioned, Jake Barnes is impotent (castrated), yet he yearns to hook up with Brett Ashley. Of course, she knows his predicament and her ultimate decisions (and his) are based on that knowledge. Hemingway's most talked-about quality was his ability to characterize through dialogue. But some "book doctors" say that he uses too much of it and that his sense of balance between dialogue and narration is off-kilter. Sometimes I agree, but I'm usually so wrapped up in Hemingway's magic that I don't really notice. My favorite part of the book is the fishing trip that Barnes and Bill Gorton take prior to attending the festival in Spain. It made me want to dig out my rod and reel and take a vacation myself. The scene reminds me of Hemingway's story "The Big Two-Hearted River," except that Barnes is not alone; he has Bill with him. I also enjoyed the scene in the bar when the Spaniards absorb the Americans into their group and share their wine with them. Indeed, alcohol plays an important role in The Sun Also Rises; a whole cast of down-and-out characters emerge who drift and drink through life as though nothing else matters. Hemingway is indeed my favorite writer and this book stands at the head of my list of all-time beloved novels.
Rating:
Summary: Generation of the Lost Member, or something like that.
Review: Ernest, Ernest, what the heck were you thinking when you wrote this existential treatise to the Lost Penis? Lost Generation, hell, I think Mr. Hemingway was concerned with a completely different loss, that portion of the male anatomy that seems to, ahem, stick in everyone's brain when they read this gloriously minimalist book. One of the few things I got out of college English and/or Lit classes was the observation by an otherwise pompous associate professor that Hemingway (more likely his editor) pared his prose to the point that every word was perfect and necessary, and that these words comprised equally perfect sentences and paragraphs and chapters ad nauseum. But he had a point. The only two things wrong with this book have to do with Mr. Barnes, ahem, short-coming, which seemed contrived to me, and the not so subtle racism. But the latter point is like complaining about Huckleberry Finn, The Sun Also Rises is a product of its time, like Finn was a product of Twain's, and if you don't apply today's standards and are capable of holding your unease, you'll find here some of the most elegant writing in the English language.
Rating:
Summary: a true classic that holds up over time
Review: I think I've read and reread this novel over 15 times through my own reading and teaching English. It's a key novel for any reading course because more than any other Hemingway novel, it's a book that teaches you how to read. Sure, his dialogue is inspired, his descriptions lean and elegant, but the genius of Hemingway lies in the silences and the gestures. What could say more than "he looked down" when Montoya realizes that Jake has betrayed him to Romero? Or when Jake squeezes Brett's hand in the car? This is the key to Hemingway's genius. In the honors 9th grade class I taught 2 years ago, 22 of my students voted it their favorite novel of the year (we read perhaps 7) by a landslide. It's not as easy a book as you would think, but it bears repeated reading and study. For my money, I think it's the greatest thing Hemingway ever wrote except perhaps some of his short stories like Indian Camp (which you should read for the great gesture of all time: he rolled over). When you read the story, you'll understand how it's the most important line, but one that's easy to miss.
Rating: 
Summary: Psychologically challenging account of Lost Generation
Review: These characters' personas must have been exactly what Gertrude Stein had in mind when she coined the term "Lost Generation." Especially Lady Brett Ashley fits this mold of a woman who has lost her idealism and has saught refuge in a pretend world of alcohol-inspred giggles. The details of European life coupled with the fascinating character interactions--of narrator Jake Barnes, Lady Brett Ashley, ex-boxer and Jew Robert Cohn, and Brett's fiance Mike--make for an exceptional novel
Rating:
Summary: Pretensious Drunks
Review: Big Deal. The only interesting character is Lady Bret Ashley, and this is only because she is so pretensious and dull witted that it brought out a severe hatred in me. Good writing style but not much doing here otherwise. I wish this generation would stay lost, they're very, very boring.
| 
