Rating:  Summary: A good read as long as you aren't looking for a consise plot Review: I just finished this book, and I didn't want the story to end, despite the fact that not a whole lot happens in the book, plot-wise. I just liked the characters. I liked the nobleness of the main character who is cursed with all the feelings of a man, but is unable to pursue them because of his "war injury." In this way, he becomes best friends with Lady Ashley, as there is no confusion of ulterior motives ... none of the messiness she experiences with her other men. The "War" is kept very much in the background, making it clear that these characters don't want to talk about it much, which suggests that it is too painful to talk about it. When it's mentioned, it's mentioned briefly and passingly. And yes, there is lots of drinking, lots of it, and they drink to celebrate, and drink to forget. I think the final scene, when Brett is talking, that it is clear they drink to forget their feelings and she doesn't want Jake to do that, to drink away his feelings. When they're drunk they are allowed to do almost anything they want, all in the name of drinking; they are allowed to turn rotten or belligerent. Mostly I loved the writing, which in this early novel is not fully realized yet by the young Hemingway, but it still powerful in its stark, poetic simplicity. Oh, he says more, and says it more elogently, than all but a handful of writers who take up pages describing what he does in one sentence. The dialog is sharp, witty, and true to life. I recommend this book for anyone who is serious about writing. If you're only looking for cheap entertainment, skip it.
Rating:  Summary: An authenic "Spanish Fiesta"! Review: An extraordinary, mostly dialoged novel. We encounter with a young Hemingway who describes the life and splendor of the Spanish Fiesta thorughout his interesting and lostgeneration type of characters. A brutally realistic description of the bullfighting fiesta in Pamplona. A terrific display of the age of the Lost Generation, unrealized love, spiritual dissoulution and vanishing illusions.
Rating:  Summary: Hemingway Gives A Glance of Life Review: Hats off to Ernest Hemingway on an incredible look into the human condition with his novel, "The Sun Also Rises." The story is of Jake Barnes, a French writer who is incapable of loving the woman he most desires, Lady Brett Ashley. The author does an excellent job of revealing the characters by avoiding boring, lengthy descriptions, choosing rather to express their feelings through dialogue and interraction. Hemingway captures moments of his life on paper, creating characters so rugged and real that the reader cannot help but be inspired and filled with wonder. Also, the story is filled with eloquent, rich imagery that truely stirs the soul. These lavish descriptions, along with all too real bull fights, bar scenes, and romantic misgivings make this novel a charming read for any interested in an author who breathes life into the pages of his writing.
Rating:  Summary: A dull story about alcoholics and their boorish behaviour. Review: I do not care to read anything further about the "lost generation" if Hemingway's characters are typical. The dialogue (of which most of the book is written)is corny and the only charcters worth saving are the natives that are encountered in the Basque Region and Pamplona. Thankfully Hemingway wrote less than 200 pages. I kept hoping that the story would end with Lady Ashley, Jake Barnes, Robert Cohen, and the other "ugly americans" and arrogant Brits entering a detox center and becoming the initial success stories of AA.
Rating:  Summary: It's okay, really hard to follow! Review: This was a pretty good book, First novel by Ernest Hemingway, but I just couldn't follow the plot like why Lady Ashely and the narrator could get married! why? I still don't know and I guess if you really can and like to figure out plots and can follow through...then I guess this is for you...but I don't GREATLY recommend it. My opinion...the way I see it.
Rating:  Summary: Great, but, get rid of Brett!!! Review: I think "Papa" Hemingway is one of the most influential writers of our time. Yes, he is the master of prose. He makes you feel as if you are actually there with the characters. I have to agree with one of the comments made here by another reader:Pedro Romero is the real hero of the story. He choses to be a torero and nothing else. Brett truly is a "whore" and she has no direction. Thank God Romero was saved just in time and she had the sense to dump him and do himself and the reader a favor. I have been to Spain and I have walked the same steets in Pamplona as the characters. It is very inspirational. Overall the book was good aside from the excessive drinking, name calling and the so called "Lady Ashely". This is one of "Papa's" greatest works.
Rating:  Summary: Not even close to his best Review: This book does an excellent job of portraying the "Lost Generation," but what else? It is in no shape or form a lousy book, but by the same token it's not even close to deemed as a classic. It's a basic story with simple symbolism. If this book was written by "Joe Shmoe" and not Hemingway, it wouldn't be anywhere near as popular. I recommend "For Whom the Bell Tolls." This is a true classic...
Rating:  Summary: Good, but not great. Review: I enjoyed the story, particularly after having been to Paris last summer. The emphasis on drinking is interesting during the age of American prohibition. I found the writing style to be most interesting: concise and bordering on too concise. I do not think that Hemingway's reputation as a great writer was made with this book alone, but I do now want to read For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Rating:  Summary: A good read, but a little hard to understand Review: This story is told mainly through dialogue, which made it hard for me to follow the plot. I don't remember ever reading in the book that Jake Brnes is impotent. I only realized the depth of this novel after reading the Cliff's Notes. I had to read in a place where I could devote all my concentration to the book so I could get the best possible understanding of it. This book does have a lot of thematic issues, though, and the reader really needs to think to be able to pick up on all of them. I would recommend that other readers of this book also get the Cliff's Notes. If you are good at figuring out a plot and themes from a story that is mainly dialogue, then this is a good book for you.
Rating:  Summary: Hemingway is a master, but also hides the emotion. Review: Get in touch with that hard edge of yourself, the tough deadpan we all romanticise. But then step back and revel in the fact that we're not the heroes of Hemingways work, we have to risk to get the finer rewards and his characters are all about playing it safe under the disguise of dangerous living. It is this subtext of the hidden side to Hemingway that lends a bittersweet taste to his breathtakingly stark writing. He wants the world to be this raw, this manly and cynical but you get the feeling he cannot help but acknowledge he is also just defending himself. It is this schizoid quality of defensive toughness that gives us the undertones of fragility and longing in the work of the consummate male. Look deeper as you go because it is this that raises old papa above his hack followers. Its not just all bravado. The only failing is that the messages he delivers are a little emprty in that we know they are delivered in a fashion we like.
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