The Sun Also Rises: 2/5

Now if you aren't already familiar with Mr Hemingway, I will say this - most people tend to either really love his writing style, or really just not get on with it, and I fall into the second camp very firmly. Hemingway seems like an awesome man, his life story is impressively badass and he spent his life hanging out with some of the most incredible authors of the 20th Century. I just cannot get on board with his style of writing, and if you disagree with me on that point, you're probably not going to like the rest of this review very much.


The Sun Also Rises follows at group of American ex-pats living in Paris as they travel to Spain to watch the annual fiesta and bullfighting. The group of characters is a varied one all typical of the 'lost generation' type found in a lot of novels of the same era. Personally I find that none of them are very likable or easy to sympathise with, spending most of their time drinking and drifting meaninglessly through life. However as I mentioned, the major problem for me is Hemingway's characteristic style. The writing is blunt, straightforward and manages to suffer from both too much description and a lack of any kind of interesting description. If I could manage to get past this I would be very happy with the lack of major action as the novel is undoubtedly more character driven than plot focused. I personally can't though. You might not feel the same though!

What I can appreciate and what stops me from giving this book a zero is the way in which Hemingway manages to capture the feeling of listlessness and ennui that haunted the generation he was writing about, and convey it so well to the reader. The character's various plots and story-lines are all but lost under the overwhelming emotional vacumn that consumes them all, and the self-awareness of the whole novel is apparent throughout.

I am not Hemingway's biggest fan as a writer, but damn I would love to go for a drink with him. If you can get past the unusual style and lack of any major action in favour of a character driven story, you will like this book. Equally, if you have a passion for any of the following things you will probably  like it: Fishing, Heavy Drinking, Bullfighting, Travelling the Spanish countryside and Having No Purpose In Life. I'm just being mean now sorry, so I'll end this here and end on this - Hemingway isn't everyone's cup of tea but for some, he is the quintessential American novelist, so try him at least once. You might be surprised. 

I would give this book 2 stars out of 5

- Natalie