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frank_horrigan's review against another edition
I have only gotten about some 90 pages in. Everything in the novel up until this point can be summarized with: Lunch, women, wine, dance, dinner, friends, relationships, Europe. There is nothing to push the story or narrative. Brett seems like an annoying women that jumps from man to man. Jake should grow a pair (yes I know) and tell many of the characters to act decent, instead of a bunch of winos who are always coincidentally finding each other around lunchtime and having "just a drink" because surely they're busy. But busy with what?
Many characters are undistinguishable from another, not so much personality wise, but through dialogue. So when Ernest Hemingway begins writing the zillionth dialogue heavy scene, you have to guess who's talking, because none of them talk in a manner that will differentiate them from the others.
Does the story get better after where I dropped off? Maybe. Will I return to this book or even pick up other Hemingway works? Most likely. But for now, I have grown tired of it. I refuse to read another scene where Jake goes to eat or drink for the quadrillionth time that day, encounters and invites some throwaway character to dine with him, and read walls of text where I begin to lose track who is who.
Many characters are undistinguishable from another, not so much personality wise, but through dialogue. So when Ernest Hemingway begins writing the zillionth dialogue heavy scene, you have to guess who's talking, because none of them talk in a manner that will differentiate them from the others.
Does the story get better after where I dropped off? Maybe. Will I return to this book or even pick up other Hemingway works? Most likely. But for now, I have grown tired of it. I refuse to read another scene where Jake goes to eat or drink for the quadrillionth time that day, encounters and invites some throwaway character to dine with him, and read walls of text where I begin to lose track who is who.
mikkiokko's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A gang of reckless semi-rich mid-30 year olds go on vacation. They all ruin each other's lives. But you slowly feel more and more pity for them. They have been through it with no solutions. They turn to vices to stay disillusioned, and even when they finally realize how pretty it would have been another outside force will not let them be. They are so incredibly lost. You see hauntingly how the same feeling still is, you just wish for a few more words.
haidynemmerich's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
dkatreads's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 Probably better than I give it credit for. Hard to read but maybe that’s the point.
But, I have little interest in rich folk complaining about the hardships of their love triangles over coffee and martinis as they vacation indefinitely on “allowances” from their estates.
The writing was interesting but I felt I was listening to a man who deeply feared his femininity (in fact, Ernest Hemingway) and was unwilling to display or discuss emotion beyond saying “I’m tight (drunk) and life is rot” talk through all of the brusk and benign details of life and love, but with little actual insight into what make life and love meaningful. Meaninglessness might be the point here though. Lots of layers which the misery of the experience of reading don’t really invite me to explore.
Also, is the antisemitism a veiled critique because all of the characters are essentially villains, or is it simply antisemitic because that’s what you get when you read white men from the early 20th century?
But, I have little interest in rich folk complaining about the hardships of their love triangles over coffee and martinis as they vacation indefinitely on “allowances” from their estates.
The writing was interesting but I felt I was listening to a man who deeply feared his femininity (in fact, Ernest Hemingway) and was unwilling to display or discuss emotion beyond saying “I’m tight (drunk) and life is rot” talk through all of the brusk and benign details of life and love, but with little actual insight into what make life and love meaningful. Meaninglessness might be the point here though. Lots of layers which the misery of the experience of reading don’t really invite me to explore.
Also, is the antisemitism a veiled critique because all of the characters are essentially villains, or is it simply antisemitic because that’s what you get when you read white men from the early 20th century?
mcdubbs1188's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
mxunsmiley's review against another edition
1.0
Now I will no longer hesitate when someone asks me what the worst book I’ve ever read is. Quite truthfully the dullest thing I have had the misfortune to sit through (twice I fell asleep right after reading). Hemingway also cannot let you forget that Robert Cohn is Jewish and that’s why he’s insufferable, in what seems to be every other paragraph. I cannot believe this man is seen as a paragon of American literature when the writing is so bland and often unnatural in the case of the dialogue. But where else can you read lines like “Abraham Lincoln was a f*ggot”? Master of the craft.
gemified's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
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
2.0
ammm1990's review against another edition
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
3.5