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.