Customer Reviews

The Sun Also Rises (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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A tremendously poignant foray into the adrift lives of Americans in Europe. I liked the vivid portrayal of bullfighting and the almost dizzying descriptions of drinkfests too numerous to recount. It took me five times over the past 20 years to finish this book: it was too fuzzy. But as I grow older, it is easier to appreciate the existential drift of many of Ernie's characters. Too bad we can't live lives like this anymore.... too bad the lost generation was found. One final note: more interesting ways to drink were defined in this book than any I have read in years.

Critics of this novel may cite that the characters are aimless, idle, and unworthy. Though simple in nature, The Sun Also Rises thrives on the desire to go trout fishing in Spain, the satisfaction of cocktails at dusk, and the longing for sincere love. Look deep within this novel and you will regret that only a lifetime remains to digest its contents

I was fascinated with the characters and settings of this book. I looked forward to seeing what the "lost generation" was doing every time I picked the book up. It's a romantic (dysfunctional romantic), tough, insightful book which shows how a specific generation lived in Paris during this time. Hemingway has such a way of painting a picture, that I could vividly picture them at the cafes in Paris, fishing in the mountains, and watching the bull fights in Spain. On top of the pictures he paints, I had insights/emotions into the characters. If there was anxiety between them, I felt it; if there was love and jealousy between them, those emotions were conveyed. It was amazing and I definitely want to read the book again, because I don't think I even began to grasp everything possible in this novel. And the amazing part is that the writing is so simplistic and minimal. Obviously I recommend this book.

I, a novelist, find Hemingway to be crucial in the literary world. It is said a man will turn over a whole library in the process of writing one book of his own; let him. I can live on Hemingway, of course with my own real acting and formulating. I often read philosophy; Hemingway was so new and fresh juxtaposed to abstract writing; if philosophy is anchovie paste, as Seneca said, Hemingway is crackers.-- Zack Ford