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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
Not sure I “get” Hemingway. Uneventful tale of obnoxious, privileged piss artists knocking around various places in France and Spain. Colourful descriptions of the bullfighting but otherwise fairly forgettable for me.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was Hemingway's debut novel first published in 1926 and it's also my first time reading Hemingway.
It's written in a sparse prose style but somehow the words get in your head. There's something about the lines that make them memorable.
The plot involves a group of ex-pat Americans firstly partying in Paris and then moving onto Spain for a week of Fiesta, the celebrations involving bull fighting and a lot of drinking.
Drinking is the main theme. The 1920s hedonism of this group known as the 'lost generation', disillusioned with life in the post war years is abysmal. Everyone acts badly, and spends more money than seems possible on getting drunk or 'tight' or 'blind drunk'. Cheers 🥂.
Jake Barnes is working as a reporter although we don't see him do much work. His wartime experience left him wounded and impotent and a slight tragic figure. He's in love with Lady Brett Ashley, a beautiful aristocrat who teases the men and likes to drink, party and sleep around.
Jake must learn that he can never really have her although in tender moments they do know that they love each other. Trouble is that Brett has just got divorced and plans on marrying Mike. But Mike is permanently drunk and bankrupt.
And then Jake's friend, ex-boxer Robert Cohn, another writer, falls in love with Brett which creates more tension. And that's before they get to Spain and Brett has her eye on a bullfighter.
If you took a drink every time one of the characters has a drink you would need a few weeks to read this. Or even months. Stay sober and you can easily read it in a day or two.
The characters aren't likeable and there's not a lot of plot when you really examine it but it's powerfully written and feels like a slice of life of a lost time, a particular period in history that was over as soon as it began.
People and places come and go but the sun carries on.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think The Great Gatsy is a better book about the great disillusion of the 1920s. If you want a better Hemingway book, try Farewell To Arms.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I can tell why this is considered to be a great book, but I was not in the mood for a rambly "let's get drunk all the time!" travel journal. Booooo-ring.
Book #16 completed for Book Riot Challenge 2018: "An assigned book you hated (or never finished)"
So it wasn't as bad as I remembered from college, but it was still pointless drivel. Hemingway is very good at setting a scene, but the characters are pointless and the story is pointless and I felt like I wasted my time a little bit.
So it wasn't as bad as I remembered from college, but it was still pointless drivel. Hemingway is very good at setting a scene, but the characters are pointless and the story is pointless and I felt like I wasted my time a little bit.
Seems like Jake should have stayed on his fishing trip.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes