good english

One of my favorite things about reading Hemingway is reading the reviews other people have left. They're fun.

The Sun Also Rises follows a bunch of dudes and a woman named Brett as they traipse around Europe, hovering for a lot of the book in Spain. All the dudes love Brett (to be fair, she does seem fun, albeit bratty). There are a lot of fights and there's a lot of drinking. One of the dudes, Robert Cohn, is badmouthed constantly within the little group because he doesn't understand what No Strings Attached means.

The narrator, Jake, is impotent and in love with Brett, and these are important things in the book. He also seems to be in love with bullfighting and goes on and on about the fights and the bulls and I'm sure it's great evocative writing or something but it bored me. By contrast, Jake also goes into detail about the steps he takes to go fishing and drink with some locals, and I enjoyed that bit, even though it was just as tedious. Maybe bullfighting is just not my thing.

It was okay. I might try Hemingway's short stories next; A Moveable Feast is still my favorite.

(two-and-a-half stars)