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What are readers saying about The Sun Also Rises?
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-01 01:07:08.
(Language: English)
  
Just read entire novel in bed this morning. Could not put it down. What the hell does "I feel a little tight" mean anyway? A lot of wine and cigarettes to take care of that tightness I guess.At just nineteen I experienced Pamplona and Running of the Bulls for myself. One never forgets sleeping on a street odored by the smell of beer and pee just to wake up at 6am to be trampled on by drunk Spaniards and tourists. Thanks to my parents for a wonderful road trip full of rolling hills, beautiful countryside, castles, cathedrals, Picasso, paella and topless Spanish beaches! 
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-22 10:30:23.
(Language: English)
Classic novel? Yes. Captivating story? No. I read this because it has been sitting on my bookshelf ever since I didn't read it in high school. I thought I would come back and enjoy a classic with an open-mindedness that I did not possess at that age. Unfortunately I didn't actually "enjoy" it... Nevertheless I am glad I read it, but I won't be too quick to recommend this book to others (particularly not high school kids who hate reading in the first place).
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-04 10:39:00.
(Language: English)
The point of this story was? Was I supposed to develop some empathy for our perpetually drunk and immature characters? Was I supposed to lament the fact that one man was effectively emasculated in WWI and he and the rest of his friends were still suffering from it years later? Am I to read of their drunken brawls, arguments, and fights to better understand them? If the answers to these questions were yes, I have seriously missed the message of this book. There were no real themes in the novel, merely drinking, arguing, drinking, and being an ex-patriot. Hemingway may have been making an autobiographical novel here, but if so, his life must have been very messed up. The only things I did like from this novel were the bullfighting and the fishing trip. Other than that, the dialogue was bad, and the plot stank. It should not be a required text for high schoolers. Just because it is short does not mean that it enriches anyone's life with the reading of it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-12-30 04:55:44.
(Language: English)
In on of Kurt Vonnegut's later work he likens Hemingway to a master painter. You may not always like his subject matter but the brush work is superb. I love the way he controls the tempo of a story. When the character is lazying about fishing, the pace slows. While, during the bull fights, he whips along frantically. I don't really care about the themes or the imagery or the symbolism. In this instance, I don't even really care about the characters. I don't think you're supposed too. Yet still, if you want to feel the doldrums of Europe between the wars, this is where you should turn. It doesn't get much better.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-16 10:26:58.
(Language: English)
This is easily one of my favorite novels due to its aching beauty and simplicity. The book reads like a weekend is, without unnecessary flourish but chock-full of all the non-excitement. Lest that sound like a dig, it's not meant to be... Hemingway doesn't force his characters to postulate on fishing, to describe the exhileration or the fight of the fish. He has them fish and nap and drink wine. And that's a good enough excursion for me. The story is so much more real for it. The real vitals to the novel, though, are in the sheer sadness of the characters. How broken they all are in their own way. It's an honest love story... no boy-meets-girl, no desire and success, just the pain of wanting what will never be. The awkward pauses in life. It's deceptively difficult to describe exactly what's so perfect about this novel, especially in a culture that yearns for cloying romance, fast paced action, and a happy ending. Perhaps that itself, that it eschews these modern conventions and presents us something honest and simple, is part of that perfection.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-01-19 01:06:34.
(Language: English)
After reading PARIS WIFE, it was interesting to see how Hemingway modeled his characters and experiences for this book. I found it deliberately pompous and aimless, which seems reflective of the time, setting, and characters. I didn't love it like I wanted to love it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-02-17 06:55:41.
(Language: English)
This was my first Hemingway and I am not giving up on the author. I do like his style but just not the story. Other readers have similar impressions. I realized that the book was written in 1926, and hailed as a symbol of the lost generation after WWI. It was a classic then, but is now just a tired exercise. Having read my share of European existentialists I got the point.... I would be careful with expectations for this book. I was disappointed.
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Vivek posted a review at 2012-03-30 01:44:55.
(Language: English)
hemingway knew what it awas to be a man!!
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-06-13 08:35:28.
(Language: English)
I read this on the streets of Vancouver, and afterwards I met a person my wife works with named Brett, who was forever hounded by the characters less than conservative reputation. That made me pretty happy though, because at the time I figured it was a pretty obscure connection. This book is fucking incredible, the story kind of alludes to the main characters sex organs having been rendered useless, so he drinks like a fish and falls in love with everything and is about as sad as you could ever want to be. I was reading the linear notes of a leanord cohen album, and the latter was compared to Hemingway and said that the words were such that to break and show any emotion would be to let go of too many dammed up emotions and break the levy, so to speak. If you find yourself in Vancouver, try and read it sitting under a tree where you can still hear the traffic and the sky is threatening rain.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-02-23 03:59:26.
(Language: English)
I enjoyed reading it, but seriously, was there a point to this book, like a plot?
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-17 04:02:40.
(Language: English)
It's really hard to get used to Hemmingway's prose. He uses short, concise sentences that keep everything moving at a breakneck speed, often times even the dialog. That's where I have a problem with him. Between the accents, dialects, and having to guess as to the inflection and tone behind what the characters were says, I didn't particularly enjoy reading this. Can I also make note that the characters are drunks and very ill defined. The author does however describe settings like nobody's business, but that's not enough to make up for the awkward dialog. After reading several Hemmingway short stories and novels I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm not a fan of his work.
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Carol posted a review at 2011-09-25 09:57:28.
(Language: English)
Wow! A real eye-opener of post-WW I European ex-pats! REAL drunkards! Let's have a drink - let's have ten! Every day! Starting at ten a.m.! Seemed to be the theme. Supposed to be Hemingway's impressive streamlined writing of his first book - I found it strange and boring. "He went down the street." "She said, "Can't a chap get a drink." Really enlightening stuff. Regardless, has it's place in history, I get it. Loved the bullfighting and Pamplona parts.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-09-10 06:50:46.
(Language: English)
My second book written by American expatriates in Paris in the early 20s, inspired by the movie "Midnight in Paris" (Gatsby was the first). The only Hemingway I had ever read before was "Old Man and the Sea" and that doesn't really count! 'Sun' was good, took me a minute to get used to the writing style and the oblique nature of the narrators references to himself (his impotence for example). The aimless wandering and constant drinking was exasperating to read, made me glad that God and family provide a clear sense of purpose in my life. Next up - "A Farewell to Arms".
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-17 01:57:49.
(Language: English)
"The Sun Also Rises" - Hemingway A book I re-read every autumn, usually during the first fall visit to my secret salmon/trout fly fishing stream. First read at 12, it is my favourite among Hemingway's novels and stories. The characters, at age 12, were fascinating and larger than life in a small way. Since then, I have lost none of the fascination, but I far better understand them, human size, some of the walking wounded of "The Lost Generation", most doing better than many of their contemporaries. It is in understanding characters like Jake, Bill and the Lady Brett that one begins to understand the destruction of war, in general, and of that war, WWI, in particular. Every major war damages its combatants in particular ways in addition to the scars and wounds of any prolonged combat. All the characters, in addition to their own, individual disabilities are also wounded in the same way that Jake has been, physically, and each deals with it in their own way, but with a loose interdependence on each other. Beyond all that, one can almost taste the dust of Pamplona streets, (dust I've tasted myself in some part due to this book), the cold red wine streaming out of a boda at a creek in the hills, the heat of the bull ring and the stale French cigarettes of an Apache bar. Whether you care about the tragedy of WWI or not, it is a great, character driven fiesta of a book, easily enjoyed for the story. Enjoy it, as ever, --doc--
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Peachy posted a review at 2010-04-10 08:33:32.
(Language: English)
The Sun Also Rises at first appears to be a story based upon Robert Cohn, a shy and awkward ex-boxer, who is insecure, yet disciplined in his struggle to rise up and out of the shadows. Quickly we realize that Cohn is little more than a weak and tormented scapegoat for the narrator and the other expatriates of the novel to debase and mock, all in efforts to ignore their own self-loathing and disgruntled lives. Cohn, a self-conscious writer lacking any true connection with others, whilst shouldering emasculating abuse from women as a constant, is a clear and vicious reminder of all of the traits that Jake Barnes, our narrator, despises about himself. Since the feminizing war, Jake is not unlike many other men who had returned from combat broken and lost, choosing to pay no mind to their servitude and how it had changed them. Theirs is a life impaired by an arrested development, devoid of any meaning, direction or significance. They stay numb with drink and forever search for the next form of entertainment to keep their minds occupied. Some trivial, like getting ‘tight’ at the bars, some poetic, like the destructive and metaphorical bull-fights. At the contrast of the weak men, we are presented with few women in The Sun Also Rises, all of which are strong, dominating and controlling, and, frankly, come off as bitchy whores. Lady Ashley, our femme fatale, is quite possibly the most tragic and damaged of all the flawed personalities we encounter. It is interesting to note that although she was not part of the war, she did lose her true love to it, leaving her part of the lost generation indirectly, as a consequence. Although you would be hard pressed to find any very likeable men or women in this cast of characters, I did finish the novel with an aftertaste of misogyny in my mouth, and I’m interested to see what the female roles of Hemingway’s other works amount to. Hemingway’s clean and precise writing style, lacks in rhetoric or pretentiousness, yet this is not meant to imply that his work is simple or commonplace, as The Sun Also Rises is like a pungent onion, that you slowly peal-back layer by layer, always respectfully aware of its strength and savouring its dissolve. Check out more of my reviews at BookSnakeReviews
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Heather posted a review at 2013-02-22 01:42:22.
(Language: English)
This book still amazes me in that there is no real plot, and it solely revolves around the dialogue of the characters. However it somehow manages to be totally gripping. Even though this was a re-read for me, I was still anxiously reading to see what they were going to say or do next.
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Geoff posted a review at 2012-03-19 03:51:32.
(Language: English)
I'm a little embarrassed it took "Midnight in Paris" to get me finally to read Hemingway, but I'm a fan now. The writing is powerful and I can imagine how much of an impact it had given what came before (though note to self: never let high schoolers read Hemingway or Steinbeck - at the time I thought the prose in Mice and Men was simple because it was for kids). Though so far for this period (and for drinking and irony) Fitzgerald's won me over - let's see if that changes with Farewell to Arms.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-11-22 02:12:00.
(Language: English)
beautiful! but, obviously, not in the conventional way. this is not a romantic work, not adorned with flowery description or weighed down by pounds of gaudy jewelry. the economic writing style serves the characters and setting like no other style could. this is a story about emptiness, realism, and - as was posited before - the failure of the pursuit of happiness. some have written that the characters aren't worth writing about, that they are dull or depressing, or simply lost and should not be found. but to that i say that that is shallow. certainly they appear soulless, etc, but that is the source of their beauty and the reason Hemingway wrote about them. they are beautiful because they are not perfect, and not conventionally inspiring. the sun also rises is not another story about great people doing great things and only slightly hampered by their environment. that is the point behind lost generation writing. the era after the first world war was the era of disillusionment. like any novel, Hemingway's work must be looked at in historical perspective. it was the first modern generation, ready and willing to throw off the shackles of social convention, lending them a quality of amorality. moreover, they had little love for this realm. that is not to say that they were akin to helen burns of jane eyre, of course - they did not look forward to some afterlife - but they were disenchanted. they did not see this world as beautiful or precious. they delighted in what would bring them immediate happiness or some brief moment of ecstasy. they followed a differnt moral, though this certainly doesn't mean they should be disregarded in important literature.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-01 04:52:41.
(Language: English)
Set after the Great War, our protagonist finds himself with a rather eclectic group expatriates during the running of the bulls in Pomplona, Spain. The juxtaposition of an impotent love story set against the backdrop of the violence during the running of the bulls helps to both draw the reader in to the context of the story as well as create one of the strongest senses of character tensions that Hemingway created. Hemingway's characters are all fully realized in this novel and, to his benefit, the dialogue is simple, straightforward, honest and plausible. This simple structure belies the complexity of each character's personality, motivations, and lack of self-knowledge in a post-world war era when man was supposedly more powerful, more dominant, more relevant than any other time in history. Hemingway has given us a gift; one to be savored both on the tongue and in the mind and heart. Hemingway is at his best here and his sparse, brutal words will effect a reader after the novel's end.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-29 03:13:02.
(Language: English)
Half-fiction, half-memoir, The Sun Also Rises is a story about all and nothing, the Lost Generation of American expats in Europe and passtiming. Jacob "Jake" Barnes, the journalist hanging out in Europe at the end of World War I, is surrounded by drunkard-yet-affable Americans, proud Spaniards, and the occasional British. In a slow-paced, well-detailed story, Hemingway captures a lifestyle of waiting for the next thing to happen (angst? expectation? agitation?), a lifestyle of in-between-wars. I found the writing style often tedious (maybe the book shows it's age), and the lack of an obvious plot rather un-enjoyable. Overall, a good observation of a master at work, but nothing more.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-15 09:54:11.
(Language: English)
It's an interesting book themeaticly, but somewhat difficult to grasp what it's intent is without prior knowledge of the period. If you're reading this on your lonesome, that is without a book club, class, or study guide, it's likely some of these ideas might pass you by because undiscussed details [such as WWI] need to be taken into consideration. That aside, I think many of the themes and concepts the novel discusses are still prevalent. Particularly, what stands out about this novel is Hemingway's dialog. Some of the passages in this book are absolutely exploding off the page in their absurdity or vehemence. If it weren't for this, I'm not entirely sure I would have made it through the novel but because so much of the novel is carried by dialog it was a painless read. The book has a meandering, directionless quality to it [which in retrospect seems appropriate] but it can be difficult to slog through. No part of the novel was as bad as when they were fishing. I'm not even sure what happened in that part of the novel that made that section necessary but I'm so turned off by it that I don't want to go back and look. I enjoyed this book but I feel I lost a lot because of what Hemingway doesn't discuss but is so central to his novel. I'm still putting the pieces back together now in retrospect.
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Michael posted a review at 2012-06-29 09:10:24.
(Language: English)
It meanders around without a narrative focus or story arc. Good portrait of Spain, but generally uninvolving...
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-31 09:53:13.
(Language: English)
Michelle Fernandez Seminar: 20thce Lit & Culture April 3, 2006 The Lost Woman in The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemmingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises dramatizes the personalities and relationships of a group of American expatriates and their friends in Paris during the post-war period. They are embodiments of what Gertrude Stein refers to as “the lost generation,†a generation of wanderers, a generation that lacks purpose, direction, and growth. The world of Paris and all its pleasures become a haven for these characters, a place where it is acceptable, and encouraged for them to remain as wanderers. However, when they are placed within the “natural†setting of Spain, their identities erupt and collapse. Because the lost generation rejects morality, truth, and honor, which are highly valued by the Spaniards,they disrupt the natural order in Spain. Therefore, their characterization as a lost generation, not only emerges while they are in Spain, but is also heightened because Spain is in such stark contrast with the Parisian way of life. One such character, Lady Brett Ashley, becomes one of the major disruptors of Spain’s code of morality, truth, and honor and also of the lives of other characters. Her beauty, which lured many men in Paris, becomes a successful tool in her seduction of the talented matador, Pedro Romero. While Brett disrupted Spain’s natural setting, Spain in turn affected Brett’s own character, causing her identity as an amoral woman to rupture and collapse. However, because of the cyclical nature of life and self, Brett was not able to hold on to the morality offered by Spain, and remains a lost woman in Paris. Lady Brett Ashley represents the lost generation through her amorality and directionless life. Brett is not interested in a purposeful life of love or religion, but rather in a life of wandering from one man's affection to another. Even though she is engaged to Mike Campbell, she had various trysts with other men, which she attributed to her own nature. One such engagement was with the main protagonist, Jake Barnes, whose attempts to make her a virtuous partner never succeeded. Jake states, “‘Couldn’t we just live together, Brett? Couldn’t we just live together?’ / ‘I don’t think so. I’d just tromper you with everybody. You couldn’t stand it.’ / ‘I stand it now.’ / ‘That would be different. It’s my fault, Jake. It’s the way I’m made’†(Hemmingway 69). Even though Brett genuinely loves Jake, she denies a life of love with him, partially because Jake is impotent from the war, but more so because she believes having multiple trysts are a natural part of her character’s behavior. She is fully conscious of her character, seen through her ability to identify that it is her fault and through her statement “It’s the way I’m made.†Interestingly, she is also aware that her behavior causes pain. It is this awareness that classifies her as an amoral character, because she does not put a stop to her behavior, but merely verbalizes a warning. Hemmingway’s italicization of the word “tromper,†which derives its origin from the verb tramp, reinforces the idea that Brett is aware she will “tread heavily [,] ‘come down upon’ with injurious effect [or] take undue advantage of†Jake through her infidelity (OED v.1.2). It is also possible to associate the verb tramp with the noun tramp, which not only means “one who travels from place to place on foot, in search of employment, or as a vagrant†but was also a slang term for “a sexually promiscuous woman†since in 1922 (OED n.1.4.a,b). The word vagrant evokes an image of the lost generation and characterizes Brett as a woman who is lost and wandering in her promiscuity. Brett is unable to comprehend the degree to which her behavior impacts the lives of other characters, but when her amoral values are juxtaposed with Spain’s tradition and honor, we see that her behavior damages and disrupts lives. It pains Robert Cohn that Brett does not consider their tryst in San Sebastian meaningful. He states: I just couldn’t stand it about Brett. I’ve been through hell, Jake. It’s been simply hell. When I met her down here Brett treated me as though I were a perfect stranger. I just couldn’t stand it. We lived together in San Sebastian. I suppose you know it. I can’t stand it any more... I felt so terribly. I’ve been through such hell, Jake. Now everything’s gone. Everything. (Hemmingway 198) Cohn, a romantic who believes in the sanctity of love, is unable to come to terms with Brett's nonchalance. He is pained by the fact that Brett treated him “as though [he] were a perfect stranger.†We recognize that he is in agony and despair because he associates his experience of Brett’s rejection with hell. In many ways, even though Cohn belongs to the lost generation, his adhesion to the laws of love and virtue could classify him into the old generation. However, his interaction with Brett breaks that tie with the old, causing him to lose “everything:†Brett, his fiance Frances, his friendship with Jake, and possibly his romantic, albeit naive, perspective on love. Similarly, Brett’s infidelity deeply pains her fiance Mike Campbell, who finally expresses his anguish and insecurity, by ridiculing one of Brett’s past lovers, Robert Cohn. In a drunken state, Mike says, “Do you think you amount to something, Cohn? Do you think you belong here among us?... I’m not clever. But I do know when I’m not wanted. Why don’t you see when you’re not wanted, Cohn? Go away, for God’s sake. Take that sad Jewish face away†(Hemmingway 181). Not only does Mike insult Cohn, his religion, and his manners, he also clearly makes Cohn feel rejected and unwanted, something he is already experiencing from Brett. To experience it from another character, especially from his friend Jake later on in the scene, must be damaging to his self worth. Mike, on the other hand, channels all his insecurities to alcohol and to Cohn. As readers, we could very well apply the words he directs to Cohn back to Mike himself. His disparaging comments are misplaced, because they also represent Mike’s role in Brett’s life. Brett does not always want Mike’s company and easily replaces him with other men, yet he continues to stay as her fiance. While Mike’s behavior is unfavorable, it is certainly warranted, yet Brett expects her men to merely accept and tolerate her infidelity. Jake states, “It’s been damned hard on Mike, having Cohn around and seeing him with you†(Hemmingway 185). Brett responds, “Yes. But he needn’t be a swine... Don’t I know it darling? Please don’t make me feel any worse than I do†(Hemmingway 185). She known that Mike is hurt by Cohn’s presence because he is a reminder of Brett’s infidelity, yet she takes no responsibility. Instead, she directs the conversation elsewhere because her own feelings will be at stake, which truly portrays her as character without conscience, and thus devoid of morality. Her behavior disrupts the married life that Mike most likely has planned for the two of them. And while the two are engaged, they are a vagrant couple, lost and wandering in and out of one another’s lives. Brett’s tryst with the young handsome matador Pedro Romero, perhaps represented the possible damage and disruption that the lost generation can have on a culture founded on traditions of honor. When Cohn discovers of Brett’s and Romero’s tryst, his jealousy, anger, and pain drives him to strike in a violent manner. He strikes at Mike, Jake, and Romero, the latter being severely affected by Cohn’s violence. Cohn’s punches left Romero bruised and sore for the last day of the fiesta, for the final bull fight. Before the fight began, Jake sees Cohn’s damage, “Close below us we saw Romero’s lips were puffed, both eyes were discolored. His face was discolored and swollen†(Hemmingway 217). Brett responds “He feels very badly... He should be in bed†(Hemmingway 217). Romero was not in his prime physical condition to fight. While Romero killed the bull successfully, Romero was still placing himself at great risk for participating in the fight. Had Romero been gored, a promising matador in the history of Spanish bullfighting would have been wasted because of the lost generation of Parisians: Cohn would have been responsible because the marks on Romero were from his hand. Jake would also have been partly to blame, because he initiared and fostered the relationship between Romero and Brett, in an attempt to clarify that he was a man who could stand and put up with Brett’s infidelity. Most of all, Brett would have been responsible because her amorality disrupted the purity of this young matador, and thus the honor of Spanish bullfighting. While Brett's character disrupted and damaged Spain, Spain also unearthed morality within Brett. At the end of the novel, Brett realizes, too late, that the relationship she was carrying on with Romero was damaging to him. She states: I made him go... He shouldn’t be living with anyone. I realized that right away... He really wanted to marry me. So I couldn’t go away from him, he said. He wanted to make it sure I could never go away from him. After I’d gotten more womanly, ofcourse... You know I’d have lived with him if I hadn’t seen it was that bad for him. We got along damned well... I’m thirty-four, you know. I’m not going to be one of these bitches that ruins children... I feel rather good, you know. I feel rather set up. (Hemmingway 247) We see Brett’s conscience and morality guide her to the realization that her relationship to Romero could be damaging. Romero was still a very young boy, whose only passion at the time was for bull-fighting. Because he was such a promising matador, carrying on a relationship with Brett may have redirected his passion, resulting in a loss for one of Spain’s highly revered traditions. One could also interpret Brett’s rejection of Romero as an amoral act, as characteristic of Brett’s flighty nature. However, her realization that she could “ruin†this boy and her actual response in making him leave, is in contrast with how Brett previously dealt with her past lovers’pain. The amoral Brett would have warned Romero of her nature, but would not have taken any action to end the relationship. However, Brett does not hold onto that morality. The moment she realizes her good deed, she quickly takes credit for it. Her remorse, her morality is only temporary, and she quickly circles back to her original nature as a member of the lost generation. While Brett rejects her amorality at the end of the novel, she remains a lost woman, because she reverts to her old ways. She calls on Jake to be her savior once more and she decides to go “back to Mike... He’s so damned nice and he’s so awful. He’s my sort of thing†(Hemmingway 247). Her return, her circle back to her true nature, reveals the essence of what it means to belong to the lost generation. In the epigraph of the novel, Hemmingway includes a passage from Ecclesiastes, “The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose.†Those of the lost generation are not lost among society, but rather are lost amongst themselves, their own identities. Brett found direction when Spain unravelled the morality that existed within her, but her fate as a member of the lost generation meant that she would lose that morality and wander before she should find it once more. Like the sun,.her morality rose and fell in a cyclical nature. As Gertrude Stein states, “You are all a lost generation†she was not refering to those living in the 20th century, but rather refering to us all and to our jouney through the cyclical life, the rises and the falls, of our lost selves.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-01-20 01:05:59.
(Language: English)
Sometimes the simplest words can contribute to a good piece of work. Ernest Hemingway has a unique style of implicitly expressing the struggle of the post-war generation which lives in an amoral world where self-pity and self-indulgence are given more importance than human values. One of my favourite paragraphs from the book: "You're an expatriate. You've lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed by sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an expatriate, see? You hang around cafes." This is a must read for anyone who can look beyond the obvious.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-06-11 09:25:32.
(Language: English)
I read this book because I was supposed to incorporate it into an 11th grade English class I was temporarily teaching. I'm forever grateful the department decided to go with another book, because I absolutely couldn't get into it! The prose is lovely, but I just could not get into the subject matter, or the themes really. Then again, most stories whose plot and major themes revolve around wars is particularly yawn-inducing to me personally. Also, I didn't like Hemingway's portrayal of the female characters, few and minor as they were. Brett, the only major female character, seemed to possess some characteristics typically associated with masculinity (particularly for the time period). She had multiple love affairs, was highly independent, and even referred to herself in masculine terms. She also seems to be a destructive force in her relationships with men. As if the author sees nonconformity to feminine gender roles as particularly destructive.
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