Ernest Hemingway. That name stirs up thoughts of Key West,
drinking, and misogynistic bastards. Oops did I just say that? Well anyone who
knows anything about Hemingway probably knows he isn’t exactly kind or
favorable to his two dimensional women.
Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises is about
hedonistic ex-pats living in Paris. Our main character is Jake, a newspaper
writer. This was Hemingway’s first novel and as with the other novel I read, seems kind of useless. Things happen, but with emotions that linger beneath the surface and thoughts that are never spoken. Hemingway uses his words sparingly, and sometimes it makes the story seem pointless.
The characters are complicated. What they want, where they
come from, why they are who they are is never explained. The reader is thrown
into their lives and is taken through their current daily happenings. All the characters
seem to do is drink and party. They travel all the time and have lovers, some
sort of writing careers, and are almost unbelievable. The thing that saved them
for me was all of their flaws. One of the men was not particularly popular with
the group. Most of them had money troubles, yet continued to spend. They were
all overly indulgent with liquor, but seemed to know how to enjoy a good wine and
a fabulous meal.
Hemingway’s writing style is stark. He was not one to over
explain or get overly detailed. This is what he is known for. He was a
newspaper writer prior to being a novelist, and one can see the influence of
that profession upon his novel writing. Get to the point and don’t be overly
wordy about it, seems to be his motto. The events and things that Hemingway
does emphasize are significant to him. These are the things that are
important to life; appreciating a good wine, a sporting event, the sun and sand
on a beach.
As for the recurring woman in this book, she’s not much to
call home about. Brett is a heart breaker and someone who doesn’t seem to care
who she hurts as long as she gets her way. She’s a bitch. Her relationship with
the men in the novel is complicated. She has been intimate with at least two of
these men and then goes on trips and meets other men, yet she is engaged. I did
not understand how she functioned and why her behavior was so confusing. Why
would her fiancé remain with her when she publicly goes off with other men? Why
would she stay in the relationship when she is involved with other men and says
she is in love with Jake and he with her? She isn’t realistic. The thing is she
actually was based on a woman in Hemingway’s life. As much as I hear Hemingway
is a misogynist, his novels always seem to focus around a woman. Maybe he
doesn’t understand the female sex, but he sure does enjoy their presence and
writing about them.
Jake is a good ole boy. He’s easy going and adventurous.
He’s a man who seems to make friends easily and knows what he wants. Jake is
always helping Brett out of her complicated situations, which was another one
of my annoyances. Brett, for all her independence, was unable to function
without a man at her side. Hemingway’s men are men. They have emotions and will
be private with their sentiments, but are adventurous, drinkers, and love
taking life by the throat. However, most of them, as stated before, don’t have
themselves together.
This novel is known for the bullfighting. Jake and his
friends travel to Pamplona for the annual fiesta and running of the bulls, an
event that still occurs to this day and my father won’t let up on my sister
about not seeing when she was in Spain. Anywho, this is where some
characteristic violence enters the scene and Hemingway’s testosterone does a
manly dance (I couldn't explain said dance to you, but I hope you know a man who dances and can base your manly dance on him). Description of the bull fights, the matadors, and violence on the
scene, although not grotesque, are finally talked about towards the end of the
novel. I suppose I expected a bit more emphasis on the bull fighting since I
thought this was a novel about that subject.
Hemingway was one of his own characters or his characters
were him. Whereas many authors’ novels are more enjoyable and adventurous than
the author was themselves, Hemingway is known to be everything and more that he
wrote about. He lived a full life of adventure, love affairs, violence, and in
the end tragedy. Hemingway believed in writing the truth, so all of his novels
are based on real life events or people.
If you enjoy the straight to the point style that Hemingway
crafted, Joan Didion has a similar sparse style. If you’re looking for more of
the man-man writing that is so fundamentally Hemingway, try The Red Badge of
Courage by Stephen Crane. This is a novel about a soldier’s emotional and
physical well-being during the American Civil War. Crane was also a journalist,
but his style is more detailed than Hemingway.
Happy Reading!
Here is the story of a King who was betrayed by the woman he
loved and turned his heart to stone so he would never love again. In his anger,
he declared that he would take a bride every night and kill her at dawn. What
he did not anticipate was that a woman would present herself who would make him
question himself and his convictions. 