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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Love, emptiness, dedication; three life-inspiring themes, February 17, 2000
Can it be said that there's no place like home in all instances? This group of post-war youth prove this enticing theory wrong. Home is where the comfort lies, not the heart. Jake, Brett, Bill, Robert, and Mike form a group of friends traveling wherever their consience leads them. Growing restless when they keep themselves in one situation for too long, this mess of human regret lives for the moment. They travel to the week long Fiesta in Pamplona, where they find nights of drinking and days of somber realizations, uniquely tied hand in hand with bullfighting. As is true with most Hemingway novels, a man and woman's relationship with one another is used as a mode of depicting his views on life. Lady Ashley (Brett, disguising herself with a title as she does with short hair and hats and various other men's traits) stars as the diva without a cause. She wanders the streets of Paris in search of a good night in bed, which is all the war has left her with. As was done to the rest of war-participating America, Brett was stripped of compassion, of desire for love, and was left with a hollow lust. This lust was never to be filled but was continually in search of completement. This is what drew Brett to Pamplona with Mike, her haughty, yet understandably grounded, fiance. Perfectly depicting the result of Brett's search for completion, Robert Cohn follows Brett to the Fiesta and likewise follows her every move. He is a former lover whwhich cannot seem to tear himself from the idea that she was once his. By his continual snooty comments, and the fact that Brett could find pleasure in him and not Jack (sexually hindered by a war wound) every word that comes from his mouth is the subject of Jack's narrative scorn. Easily understood is Jack's disattachment from the world which took away his "manliness," especially when this is that which would attract the one thing in life that he values, Brett. Jack's love for Brett is obbsessive and ultimatley dooming when he sacrifices his remaining link to disillusionment, bulllfighting, which is his last escape from the chaos trailing the war. In an effort to please Brett, he gives access to an able-bodied matador, the object of her lust. After losing the trust of a community held tight with respect by Jake, he is left with the same Brett, just a little more contented than she was five minutes ago. In my careful opinion, Hemingway has reconstructs a world ignored by many, but remembered and endured to this day. In a time of confusion and distrust in the reality of human emotion, this group typifies the actions of self-indulgence and disparity which characterize this generation. Instead of merely a drunken party with some good fights, some bullfighting, and plenty of sex, the novel depicts with pity the lost generation and all their woes. For all those opposing the seemingly endless stream of war literature, it's fair to say "Give it up, already!" With unforgetable stories like these, how can we complain about a generation willing to share their tales of dedication to one true thing, in a time of great confusion. Their sacrifices will live forever in us and our decisions. Respect this and you can understand any Hemingway novel that is thrown at you.
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