Play Book Tag discussion

The Sun Also Rises follows a group of expatriates in Europe shortly after WWI. They spend their time lunching, socializing, dancing, and drinking......lots of drinking.

The main story follows Jake Barnes, a journalist who was injured in the war. His romantic interest, and that of several of his friends, is Lady Brett Ashley, an alluring and sexy British woman. Jake and Brett met at a hospital in England after Jake was wounded in the war, but their mutual affection was thwarted by Jake’s injury, which left him impotent.

Bulls and bull-fighting are the two most critical symbols in "The Sun Also Rises". The bulls symbolize passion, physicality, energy, and freedom. The bulls' interactions with the bull-fighters also come to symbolize the act of sex. Hemingway absolutely loved bullfighting. He writes those passages as if it’s a character, in itself. You can feel his obsession bleeding through every sentence about it.

Hemingway' writing is straightforward but powerful. He uses simple words to express deep emotions and captures the characters’ feelings authentically through their conversations.

"The Sun Also Rises” is a well-written book that takes you into the lives of its characters and makes you think about the ups and downs of life after an event like a war. If you enjoy riveting stories with deep emotions and meaningful themes, this classic novel is worth a read.

I so appreciated your review of this, Lynda. I really have not ever liked Hemingway's books, but until a few years ago, I'd never read this one. I was inspired to read it after reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain which is all about Hem and Hadley his first wife and their time in Paris where he wrote this book and in fact includes the whole trip to Spain and group of friends that are the basis of The Sun Also Rises. I think you would enjoy it. I did some research after reading both of the books and one of Hemingways' friends from that trip said that this book of Hem's should have been call non-fiction.

It's final sentence is one of the best ever. I also found the initial chapters set in Paris so familiar - as they were set in the very neighborhood and cafes where I spent my student semester in college, and while I was there in the mid-1970s, it was not so different from what it was 50 or more years earlier.

I had only read Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms but I enjoyed it. I didn't realize this was his debut novel. For many years I avoided Hemingway, confusing him with Steinbeck, who scarred me in high school.

I added "Paris Wife" and am positive a Play Harder prompt will have me reading it soon.

I finished A Moveable Feast this week. Hemingway talks about writing is first book and about people and events that he used for The Sun Also Rises so I guess it could be a good companion book to the one you read.

I read this one long ago, but I remember liking it a lot. I never had a problem with Hemingway - he had a distinctive style. Nice review, OM!

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "I finished A Moveable Feast this week. Hemingway talks about writing is first book and about people and events that he used for The Sun Also Rises so I guess it could be a good companio..."

Would love to hear your reaction to Moveable Feast. I read it prior to reading The Paris Wife which Theresa mentioned. McLain also wrote Love and Ruin about Hemingway and his second wife as did Meg Waite Clayton in Beautiful Exiles, both of which are excellent.

Hemingway is one of those peculiar people who I am fascinated with but don't admire him.

I love that he pushed back against the overly flowery writing style and stripped it down. I do often find his depiction of women unrealistic.

Agree with BnB on the other McLain read relating to Hemingway. The 2 separate books by different authors dealing with his marriage to Martha Gelhorn are different from each other in many ways to be read close together - and introduced me to the amazing Martha Gelhorn, war correspondent and the only journalist who made it to the D-Day beaches with the troops as the attack started.

I read A Movable Feast as a student in Paris, a copy I bought at Shakespeare & Co. There. Need to reread it, and have been meaning to do so. As an aside, I also read most of Fitzgerald while a student in Paris. Those English books read were for fun ane a break from reading only in French.

OM - I was scarred by Hemingway in High School - The Old Man and the Sea. *shudder*