Reviews with content warning for Death - The Sun Also Rises

"The Sun Also Rises" defined the Lost Generation, and it certainly feels lost. It's very reminiscent of the very household name The Great Gatsby, published only a year earlier. We follow a group of affluent white folk who live in a world feeling jaded. They hope that each new day will be better, but their freedom brings them to poor conclusions. The characters are put in situations where they don't HAVE to do the right thing, and so each decision is just a little selfish. Usually not grossly so: they're all human, and we would act the same. But these little building disagreements, without distraction, gradually build into conflict. I like our protagonist well enough. I like Bill. I want to like Brett, I want to like Robert, and Mike, and Romero. In the end there's no reason to dislike them either. They're all lost and hurt people, formed by circumstance.
P.S.: There is a single page where the n-word is uttered casually something like 15 times. It doesn't seem malicious, but it's flagrant. Just be aware that if you read this book about problematic people, understand that the author also was a problematic person in a lost world. 8.5/10.

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ezulc's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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lauramcc7's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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i_llumi's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

i’m gonna be honest this book felt like a filler episode of some random ass npc that no one cares about

I just really could not bring myself to remotely care for anyone except maybe the two protagonists. the entire cast and the plot read like unseasoned food and just . not fun

I get that Hemingway’s writing is innovative and unique and great but after putting myself through 3 works by him, I’m starting to accept that his thing just isn’t for me

with that being said tho here are some quotes that i found funny for no reason

It is very important to discover graceful exits like that in the newspaper business, where it is such an important part of the ethics that you should never seem to be working.

"Mr. Barnes introduced his fiancée as Mademoiselle Le-blanc, and her name is actually Hobin."

I knelt and started to pray and prayed for everybody I thought of, Brett and Mike and Bill and Robert Cohn and myself. and all the bull-fighters, separately for the ones I liked, and lumping all the rest, then I prayed for myself again, and while I was praying for mysel I found I was getting sleepy, so I prayed that the bull-fights would be good, and that it would be a fine fiesta, and that we would get some fishing. I wondered if there was anything else I might pray for, and I though I would like to have some money, so I praved that I would make a loto money, and then I started to think how I would make it, and thinking of making money reminded me of the count, and I started wondering about where he was, and regretting I hadn't seen him since that night in Montmartre, and about something funny Brett told me about him, and as all the time I was kneeling with my forehead on the wood in front of me, and was thinking of myself as praying, I was a little ashamed, and regret red that I was such a rotten Catholic, but realized there was nothing I could do about it, at least for a while, and maybe never, but that anyway it was a grand religion, and I only wished I felt religious and maybe I would the next time; and then I was out in the hot sun on the steps of the cathedral, and the forefingers and the thumb of my right hand were still damp, and I felt them dry in the sun.

“You know what you are?”

Tell him bulls have no balls!

“You kill your friends?”
“Always”

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bookish_bry's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I'll admit from the beginning that I don't really jive with Hemingway's style. I appreciate it as someone who writes themself, but as a reader, it makes it hard to get into. The entire first part of the book was very slow and the style made it hard to connect to any of the characters. However, later in the book I did start to enjoy it a lot more. While Hemingway doesn't use many metaphors the ones he does (pretty much just bullfighting) are used very effectively. I ended up being able to see the complexity of the characters and their relationship, and I appreciated them by the end.

It was a good representation of the lost generation and that sense of hopelessness and loss of real identity. It's definitely an important read, and I'm sure there are people who would appreciate the style more than I do at times.

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shadestate's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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karendarias's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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