The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway **1/2

The Sun Also Rises (originally published 1926) Ernest Hemingway

Okay I am not a Literary Historian, in fact, I am hardly literary, but I do have an opinion. This is the first novel that Ernest Hemingway had published. His style was touted as being revolutionary. It seems to me it is only partially revolutionary. I find many of the novels from the romantic period somewhat boring because they have endlessly long, detailed descriptions that have little to do with the plot, but do have value in exploring the life and times of the period.

Hemingway is known for his “spare but powerful” writing style. In this novel there is a lot of sparseness in the narrative. See the following example:

“The wine was icy cold and tasted faintly rusty.
“That’s not such filthy wine, “Bill said.
“The cold helps it”, I said.
We unwrapped the little parcels of lunch
“Chicken?”
“There’s hard-boiled eggs.”
“Find any salt?”
“First the egg,” said Bill. “Then the chicken. Even Bryan could see that.”
“He’s dead. I read it in the paper yesterday.”
“No. Not really.”
“Yes. Bryan’s dead.”
Bill laid down the egg he was peeling

However, I am not convinced it is “powerful”. It is the same type of detail that is the novels from the romantic period but in fewer words...that in itself is a blessing as when i read Jane Austin's novel (okay the one I did read, Pride and Prejudice" I kept waiting for something to happen...nothing ever did. Much of the novel is endless descriptions of the “lost” generation after WWI. It focuses on a group of expatriates living in Paris who travel to Paploma, Spain to attend the bull fighting festival. They appear to spend most of their time drinking wine, eating, arguing, disagreeing and complaining. Basically it’s boring.
The scenes of the “running of the bulls” are too sparse to create much excitement. The bull fighting sections near the end of the book have some interesting perspectives.

I have read “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and plan to read “Death in the Afternoon” (more about bullfighting) and since I haven’t read “The Old Man and the Sea” which probably ultimately led to his winning of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Perhaps my opinion will be modified after more exploration of his work.

Plague Ship by Clive Cussler ***+

This book is enjoyable for just fantasy action escape. As usual Cussler starts with an imaginary historic event when a survivor of WWII military plane crash discovers Noah's Arc on a glacier in Norway. We don't hear about the arc again until about page 400 of the book. The primary plot involves the customary villians, this time a world wide organization dedicated to solving the problem of the overpopulation of the world through villanous means. The crew of the Oregon ship (the agency of the good guys)discovers the plot accidently and pursues the challenge of thwarting the plot. The book moves at a quick pace as one obstacle after another has to be overcome by the ingenuity of the crew and their ultra high-tech equipment. The good guys win,of course, but after completing the book one might come to a realization that the bad guys had a significant concern about the impact that overpopulation is having on society. It does prick one's conscience!

The African Diary by Bill Bryson NF

African Diary by Bill Bryson
This little book (50 pages) is record of the humorous travel writer, Bill Bryson’s, account of his experiences to Kenya sponsored by the humanitarian organization “Care”. It is a delight combination of humour, personal anecdotes, and a factual account of the conditions that he encountered on his brief tour. It is another occasion on which are conscience can be jolted by the living conditions of those in developing countries, and the opulent good fortune that we have living in North America.

It is acknowledged that progress for the poor and deprived in this once significant country is slow but there is hope. With every small advance of providing clean water, safe living conditions and adequate food lives do change. “And so by such means, do people’s lives improve, little by little.”

The profits from the book sales go directly to support the work of “Care”. Their philosophy is not to give the money to the country and hope that it is not lost within the corruption that exists everywhere. It is to invest in small innovations and allow the people themselves to make decisions and experience the success of their own entrepreneurship. As is stated in the book , “It’s not about spending large amounts of money, but about spending smaller amounts intelligently.”

The book ends with an understated success about one individual farmer whose life has been changed markedly by the work done by the organization. As a result of improving his farming methods , “William Gumbo, in short, is a happy and he has a future. Surely every human being is entitled to at least that much.”