The Sun Also Rises Order Now

Gallons of ink have been spilled over what Gertrude Stein labeled "the lost generation." The label was used primarily for American expatriates who flooded into Paris after World War I. Ernest Hemingway was a central figure, no doubt because he documented their lives in such books as A Moveable Feast as well as this one. The author was a literary icon of the `60's. I've been re-reading his works; still found much excellence in To Have and Have Not (Scribner Classics) but it took significant will-power to finish "The Sun Also Rises."

The story is told through the eyes of Jake Barnes, who had the most feared of war wounds, which meant he could never consummate his relationship with Lady Brett Ashley, who had been his nurse during the recovery period. Obviously it was frustrating for her, which may have been the reason she managed to bed most of the other characters in the story. There are a half dozen other principal characters, including another woman. Jake is a reporter, but there is so little factual news that the reader cannot even tell if it is the early `20's or the latter years of that decade. The novel is an account of their toing and froing; they are immensely puerile and self-absorbed. The inane conversations, ah, "the dialogue" so often resembles today's: "Eh, what's happening. Nothing, how `bout you." It was excruciatingly painful to read. And it was devoid of any sign of irony on Hemingway's part.

The novel's settings are primarily in Paris, and towards the end the "action" moves to Pamplona, in Spain, to see the bull fights. But the backdrop for the character's passions and quarrels is so one-dimensional; I thought it might be like going to Las Vegas to see the Pyramids, or the canals of Venice--a totally ersatz experience. The French and Spaniards in the story are just so many props... there is no real insight into their character. And overall, there is pitifully little to learn about these societies during the inter-war period. The main thing Hemingway seems to get right is the street names in Paris. And certainly the restaurant, the Closerie des Lilas, remains a "destination" for American tourists because of him.

Then there is the madness of bull fighting itself, which can be off-putting to more sensitive souls. I saw one, briefly, in Arles. At least in the one I saw, the horses had thick pads which protected them; in Hemingway's book, they did not, no doubt reflecting the reality of the event.

Shallow characters, insipid, whining interactions, set against poorly described "exotic" settings. I rounded up to 2-stars, and wonder if I should retry "For Whom the Bell Tolls (Scribner Classics)Get more detail about The Sun Also Rises.