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Brad's Reviews > The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises
by
by
Brad's review
bookshelves: faves, classic, the-best, to-read-again
Mar 25, 2008
bookshelves: faves, classic, the-best, to-read-again
Read 17 times. Last read June 17, 2019 to June 24, 2019.
I've read this book every year since 1991, and it is never the same book. Like so many things in this world, The Sun Also Rises improves with age and attention.
Some readings I find myself in love with Lady Brett Ashley. Then I am firmly in Jake Barnes' camp, feeling his pain and wondering how he stays sane with all that happens around him. Another time I can't help but feel that Robert Cohn is getting a shitty deal and find his behavior not only understandable but restrained. Or I am with Mike and Bill and Romero on the periphery where the hurricane made by Brett and Jake and Robert destroys spirits or fun or nothing (which is decidedly something).
And then I am against them all as though they were my sworn enemies or my family. No matter what I feel while reading The Sun Also Rises, it is Hemingway's richest novel for me.
I feel it was written for me. And sometimes feel it was written by me (I surely wish it was).
Hemingway's language, his characterizations, his love for all the people he writes about (no matter how unsavory they may be), his love of women and men, his empathy with the pain people feel in life and love, his touch with locale, his integration of sport as metaphor and setting, his getting everything just right with nothing out of place and nothing superfluous, all of this makes The Sun Also Rises his most important novel.
It is the Hemingway short story writ large. It is the book he should be remembered for but isn't. I often wonder why that is, and the conclusion I come to is this: The Sun Also Rises is too real, too true, too painful for the average reader to stomach. And many who can are predisposed to hate Hemingway.
A terrible shame that so many miss something so achingly beautiful.
Some readings I find myself in love with Lady Brett Ashley. Then I am firmly in Jake Barnes' camp, feeling his pain and wondering how he stays sane with all that happens around him. Another time I can't help but feel that Robert Cohn is getting a shitty deal and find his behavior not only understandable but restrained. Or I am with Mike and Bill and Romero on the periphery where the hurricane made by Brett and Jake and Robert destroys spirits or fun or nothing (which is decidedly something).
And then I am against them all as though they were my sworn enemies or my family. No matter what I feel while reading The Sun Also Rises, it is Hemingway's richest novel for me.
I feel it was written for me. And sometimes feel it was written by me (I surely wish it was).
Hemingway's language, his characterizations, his love for all the people he writes about (no matter how unsavory they may be), his love of women and men, his empathy with the pain people feel in life and love, his touch with locale, his integration of sport as metaphor and setting, his getting everything just right with nothing out of place and nothing superfluous, all of this makes The Sun Also Rises his most important novel.
It is the Hemingway short story writ large. It is the book he should be remembered for but isn't. I often wonder why that is, and the conclusion I come to is this: The Sun Also Rises is too real, too true, too painful for the average reader to stomach. And many who can are predisposed to hate Hemingway.
A terrible shame that so many miss something so achingly beautiful.
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March 25, 2008
– Shelved
March 25, 2008
– Shelved as:
faves
September 14, 2008
– Shelved as:
classic
December 24, 2008
– Shelved as:
the-best
January 13, 2009
– Shelved as:
to-read-again
January 22, 2011
–
Started Reading
January 28, 2011
–
Finished Reading
June 17, 2019
–
Started Reading
June 24, 2019
–
Finished Reading
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I just finished reading this again the other day. I think it might be my favorite book of all time. I never notice everything about it. Every time there is something vivid that takes my breath away. Sometimes I wish more people would utilize it, but I'm happy having it to myself, too.
It really is a beautiful piece of work, isn't it Meredith? It is one of the richest books I've ever read.
Readers and writers who hate Hemingway are petty, loutish, jealous, envious, small-minded cretins. Did I leave anything out?
never thought of that one. Yes..sexist also.
Oh please stop this. ANOTHER book I'm going to have to read!
Perhaps I should say this undercover, but... I usually am not a Hemingway fan. This book is the HUGE exception. I've read it twice now- I hated Brett both times, but perhaps the readings weren't far enough apart. It's wonderfully enthralling. Great review!
I kind of hate Brett, too, actually. I was thinking that when these guys were posting. But, I kind of love to hate her, and I feel bad for her at the same time. I definitely feel strongly for her every time I read it. I think she's a really interesting character because she is not how a woman would write that person, and in that way she comes across unrealistic to me. But, at the same time, I can see who he's talking about and imagine who she would be to me in that circumstance. I don't know if that makes sense.I think I can get why people wouldn't love Hemingway, but I do love him.
I kind of hate Brett, too, actually. I was thinking that when these guys were posting. But, I kind of love to hate her, and I feel bad for her at the same time.This seems to be an opinion of a lot of women... unless they want to be Brett. I've met a few of those. Of course someone will now come out of the woodwork and prove me wrong about this generalization, but that's been my experience. It is definitely hard for me to see her as a person, since she seems like the projection of so many Issues. But what you're saying makes sense- I guess I gave up sooner than you did.
I think I can get why people wouldn't love Hemingway, but I do love him.
For me it's just about the prose itself- flat, suck the life out of you dead sentences. I know tons of people love it- it's just generally not my thing. When his style varies from that famous standard, I like it. Like in Sun Also Rises, and also in Moveable Feast in the section where he talks about Fitzgerald- his style almost got infected by him or something. I don't know what it is- just doesn't hit me in that place it does for others.
The part where he talks about Fitzgerald is one of my favorite things in the world.I don't find his prose flat at all. It's really loaded with emotion to me. Like, almost every single sentence. But, I think maybe I'm bringing a lot of that to the table and what he says brings out associations that I already have.
That's interesting that you say that about Sun Also Rises varying from the standard because I feel like it's the most emblematic of it.
The part where you find out how abusive her ex-husband was is kind of where Brett comes together as a character for me.
That's interesting that you say that about Sun Also Rises varying from the standard because I feel like it's the most emblematic of itReally? My experience with it was so different than other Hemingway stuff. Old Man and the Sea and a bunch of his short stories are the other Hemingway I've read, and remember sentences that seemed to just drop a brick at the end of each one- it was such an effort to keep going when I felt like he kept interrupting my flow and throwing me out. It is possible that I should try another one of his books to revise my opinion. I was pretty young when I read that other stuff, and pretty in love with Byron and Fitzgerald at the time.
The part where he talks about Fitzgerald is one of my favorite things in the world.
Well now, that we can agree on. :)
I guess I feel like it's emblematic because the whole book isn't about plot at all (I think), it's all about the dialog and descriptions. A Farewell to Arms is my other favorite, but it's more plotted. I love Old Man and the Sea, too, but I'm a sucker for fishing stories.I'll have to think about what you're saying about the sentences dropping a brick like that. And I definitely think it's possible to read Hemingway too young.
I guess I feel like it's emblematic because the whole book isn't about plot at all (I think), it's all about the dialog and descriptions.I would agree with that then- but that's not what I have a problem with in his style, so I don't mind it! So should I read Farewell to Arms if/when I eventually get around to Hemingway again? It seems intriguing.
I would recommend it. I actually think it's the most accessible of his writing. I love Old Man as much, but I think it's probably the least accessible. I think it's too bad that they assign it in high school so often. I don't think I would have known what to do with it then. Maybe I'm wrong, though. For Whom the Bell Tolls is the most self-indulgent of his writing that I've read.I always go back and forth on A Farewell and the Sun Also as to which is my favorite. A Farewell has another female character whom I really love and think is described in such an unrealistic, masculine way. I think she's a beautiful character, though.
Yes - Hem's best book. It covers 'everything.' V good review. Do read McAlmon's "Being Geniuses Together"; he was w Hem at the bullfights.
A Farewell it is! Glad you warned me off For Whom the Bell Tolls- I've had that on my list forever as a potential next one.I love Old Man as much, but I think it's probably the least accessible. I think it's too bad that they assign it in high school so often. I don't think I would have known what to do with it then.
It probably also didn't help that I was reading a book about Paris in the '50s that featured an older Hemingway as a rude old drunk asshole, too.
Ah, yes. It's tough to forgive him for a lot of the assholey things. For some reason, it doesn't interfere with my enjoying his writing, though. I even think he hits on something profound with his women - not in talking about how women see ourselves or even hear ourselves, but in talking about how men see and hear women.
but in talking about how men see and hear women.Huh. You might be right, I think. I will have to think about it from this angle the next time. It is, I admit, the easy path to go "misogyny!" and give up.
I don't really think it is misogynistic, even though I don't think Hemingway understood women very well. At least not intentionally misogynistic. I think his women are pretty tough as a general rule. I wouldn't say I identify with them, though.
Holy smokes, Kelly and Meredith. I leave and you two deliver a fantastic discussion of The Sun Also Rises from a feminine perspective. Seriously, thanks for that. I don't think I can really add anything, and I probably shouldn't, but I really loved this bit you said, Meredith: "I even think he hits on something profound with his women - not in talking about how women see ourselves or even hear ourselves, but in talking about how men see and hear women" (I agree wholeheartedly); and I loved this bit that you said, Kelly: "Huh. You might be right, I think. I will have to think about it from this angle the next time. It is, I admit, the easy path to go "misogyny!" and give up" (so groovy that you're so open).And thanks for the tip, Sketchbook, I'm going to go add that book to my to-read list after I'm done here.
The response to this review is a bit weird for me. It was one of the first reviews I wrote on goodreads, and after writing it I took a long break from The Sun Also Rises. The other day, when I started reading it again after the long layoff, I just went to the book and changed "read" to "currently reading," then today, I hit finished and went about my day, planning to write a new review of the book under the umbrella of another edition, but naaaaah. Not now. Maybe next year.
I hope you like it when you try again, Kelly.
And, in case you're wondering, this time through I loved Brett all over again.
I did the same thing with a couple of reviews this last year. It's harder to re-review than I thought it would be.Also! I'm glad you didn't hate we took over this thread. I was going to apologize at one point, but now I'll say, "You're welcome," instead.
Glad you didn't apologize, Meredith. No need at all. What books did you re-review? I'd like to take a look.
The M-K inner-thread was interesting. McAlmon is the forgotten man of US letters. Living in Paris he helped promote Hem-Stein-Joyce. A sort of dashing figure that vanished w the era. (Why do people seem so bland today...there's an essay---).
I'd love to read your essay on blandness, Sketchbook.
Brad wrote: "Glad you didn't apologize, Meredith. No need at all. What books did you re-review? I'd like to take a look."I couldn't actually do it. I re-read Gaudy Night last summer, and I re-read part of Half the Sky over winter break. I kind of have things I want to say about them, but I don't even know if it's enough for an entire review. Plus, they're kind of long reviews anyway, so why torture the reading public further? I don't know. I haven't decided.
Big Fat No to Lord Whumsy! (Keep reviews to 10-12 lines, say I, unless you've made a once-in-lifetime discovery. The 'puter lets one gaz on; it shows in the published word. Some of us stick to typers..umm).
Brad wrote: "I'd love to read your essay on blandness, Sketchbook."Mulling, mulling..tempted, tempted...
I'm going to go ahead and say that I think that where Brett is a misunderstanding of women, Peter Whimsey is more of an invention of a man. I do love him, though, however unrealistic he is. Totally dreamy.
This is the most powerful review I've ever read, and it was so convincing I went out and bought the book. Thank you for sharing what this book has meant for you, I think every time we read we hope to get a fraction of what you experienced with this book.
Excellent Review Brad. Love that you have decades experience with this text, as do I. During my younger years , I felt in love with Brett, intoxicated by her gregarious spirit, I read paragraphs describing her repeatedly. I still find myself wanting to be her.
She is moxie personified.
Now, in the turn-about of life, the script has flipped and I'm lost in longing like Jake.
The hunger of the pine.
Brandy wrote: "Excellent Review Brad. Love that you have decades experience with this text, as do I. During my younger years , I felt in love with Brett, intoxicated by her gregarious spirit, I read paragraphs d..."
Have you read this again recently, Brandy? I am going to be picking it up and starting it on my first ever trip to Oak Park Illinois this year.
After this comment, I'm going to reread it to see if I start loving the other characters more. Haha!
It's intimidating for me. I want to read it but also I don't want to feel like an idiot. I need reading to be accessible. Can you vouch that it is?
I feel like it is very accessible, maybe Hemingway’s most accessible after Old Man and the Sea. It certainly is a fast read.
Well then. I will be checking this out based on your review and multiple reads. Thank you!
Sarah Obsesses over Books & Cookies wrote: "Well then. I will be checking this out based on your review and multiple reads. Thank you!" Cool. I hope you like it.
That first paragraph has me sold, I’ve never read the book but to be able to experience the same piece of literature with different outcomes then it is worth reading
Why can't they see it? Ugh.
Cory wrote: "Why can't they see it? Ugh."I wish I knew, Cory.
Posh wrote: "That first paragraph has me sold, I’ve never read the book but to be able to experience the same piece of literature with different outcomes then it is worth reading"So did you ever read it, Posh? How did that turn out?
"Robert Cohn is getting a shitty deal"He gets beaten up constantly because
a. He has clinical depression MDD.
b. He's a quiet type, which people even modern society, DESPISE.
And he doesn't have the balls to say FUCK YOU to his so call 'friends' and just bounce permanently.
Mr wrote:"...clinical depression MDD.
b. He's a quiet type, which people ... DESPISE."
Lady Ashley be trippin', Yo!
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