Enough has been said about The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, that this review is superfluous - but it's new to me, having missed it thus far. Published in 1926 (my HarperPerennial copy lists it copyright free in public domain) the surprising thing about this novel is how alive and vibrant the fine writing is. I've read many books from the 1920's and 30's, and they don't measure near his quality or style.
"It is magnificent writing, filled with that organic action which gives a compelling picture of character" - New York Times, 1926
The narrator Jake Barnes is an American journalist living in Paris, where the wealthy and titled spend their days sleeping, reading, taking coffee in cafes, before going to dinners and all night parties with other ex-pat friends. Lady Brett Ashley is often there, sporting a bobbed hairdo and the new sexual freedom of the 20's - several other men in the revolving group of revellers have an eye for Brett, although with Barnes it's a solid friendship. Deciding to travel to Spain, they branch off into several cars, stopping to fish along the way, before arriving in Pamplona for the fiesta and the running of the bulls. Daily bullfights in the hot sun are followed by nights of fireworks, Basque dancers, drinking, fighting, and Lady Brett disappearing with a young bullfighter.
What makes this an enduring classic - it has been called his greatest work - is the vivid writing and his easy style, capturing the "lost generation" of 1920's Paris and the heat of Spain with its spectacle of festival debauchery. Reading this in 1926 it must have come as a shock, to think of such a different land. Today it reads as clear and original, fresh and alive as any book currently published, and will continue to influence. Highly enjoyable.
1926 / Tradeback / 320 pages
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