The Sun Also Rises in The Importance of Reading Ernest

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The Sun Also Rises

Ernest Hemingway

Start date: May 1, 2010

Finish date: June 1, 2010

Discussion: The Sun Also Rises

Discussion leader: Brad

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The Sun Also Rises

* First Impressions *no spoilers*
By Brad · 6 posts · 98 views

last updated Sep 10, 2013 09:44PM

Jake Barnes *spoilers*
By Brad · 21 posts · 397 views

last updated Jun 10, 2018 01:35PM

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What Members Thought

Mar 25, 2008 Brad rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, faves, the-best, to-read-again

I've read this book every year since 1991, and it is never the same book. Like so many things in this world, The Sun Also Rises improves with age and attention.

Some readings I find myself in love with Lady Brett Ashley. Then I am firmly in Jake Barnes' camp, feeling his pain and wondering how he stays sane with all that happens around him. Another time I can't help but feel that Robert Cohn is getting a shitty deal and find his behavior not only understandable but restrained. Or I am with Mike a ...more

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Apr 28, 2009 Daniel Villines rated it really liked it

This is my fourth time reading The Sun Also Rises, and my familiarity with its details allowed my mind to sort of slip between the lines.

This time through, I could see the main character, Jake Barnes, as the symbol for a 'lost generation' of men that served as soldiers during WWI. In truth, he鈥檚 a symbol for any soldier of any war that has served and been deeply affected by combat. I was able to see the pain of Jake鈥檚 injury, which is hidden just below the surface of everything that he shows to This is my fourth time reading The Sun Also Rises, and my familiarity with its details allowed my mind to sort of slip between the lines.

This time through, I could see the main character, Jake Barnes, as the symbol for a 'lost generation' of men that served as soldiers during WWI. In truth, he鈥檚 a symbol for any soldier of any war that has served and been deeply affected by combat. I was able to see the pain of Jake鈥檚 injury, which is hidden just below the surface of everything that he shows to the world. It all seemed very analogous to the psychological stress of combat that plagues so many of our veterans even though we never see it. Jake moves through life with his silent handicap and in doing so constantly fights a battle between who he wanted to be and who he has become.

Along these same lines, I saw Lady Ashley, Brett, as symbolic of the benefits brought about by the sacrifices made by Jake and the veterans of WWI. She is taking the new, war-free Europe by storm and abandoning all the old traditions. She loves Jake but does not offer any sort of commitment to him or gratitude. Her grasps for the moment eliminate any sort of retrospective perspective. She is carefree and symbolizes the spirit of the Roaring 20s.

The very end of the novel suggests the incompatibility between Jake and Brett. In doing so, it also suggests the incompatibility between the carefree times of the 1920s and the solemn nature of the former soldiers that survived the war and brought those times into being.

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This is my third reading of The Sun Also Rises with each reading being about ten years apart. In looking back, I find that I latched on to a different element of Hemingway鈥檚 story each time.

In my 30's I loved the stoic code-hero character represented by Jake Barnes. Chaos happens all around Jake. His friends are a personal embarrassment who are all bad drunks. He is a respected aficionado of bullfighting in its native land and yet his fellow Spanish comrades of the sport hold his friends in contempt. And the girl that he loves dismisses him out of hand. Yet, he keeps his cool and never behaves badly. He acts out the meaning of grace under pressure.

In my 40's I loved the rustic travel elements of the novel. Hemingway brought to life the simple pleasures of sitting in a cafe in Paris. Where drinks with friends, under an awning overlooking a street, could be a complete slice of life all on its own. The old-world Spanish setting of Pamplona is made real complete with the hot sun, but also tempered with the contrasting coolness of both shade and breeze. And he assures us that staying in a modest but well-cared for hotel can evoke the feeling of being at home in a place that is far from home.

Now in my 50's I found the relationships to be my focus. An entire mix of hopelessness, jealousy, raw attraction, and desperation all plague these characters. The men in the novel all take a turn at dancing with the idealized and deeply flawed Brett Ashley. And one by one, their individualized dreams of relationship perfection are all shown to land far from reality. There is one man, however, that ultimately comes to see a life with Brett Ashley for what it would truly be. For him, the sun also rises.

The complexity of this novel combined with its brevity shows how hard Hemingway worked to produce his literary diamond; where all the fluff is cut away leaving a book that feels inviting to the imagination. As it is, it seems slightly too long for being so short of a book. As such, I wonder what I鈥檒l find next in it while reading it in my 60's. ...more

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Jun 09, 2009 Jeff rated it it was amazing

My earliest favorite book. It's since been eclipsed by others but it's still special to me. ...more

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Jan 02, 2009 Dan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, re-read, z-2016-reads, z-2021-reads

New review (2021): maybe what I said in my original review is wrong. That said still enjoyed rereading this again.

Original review (2016): Still the best book of Hemingway's, probably by a wide margin. ...more

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