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A review of The Sun Also Rises

by Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway's first masterpiece, the unveiling of the Lost Generation.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Muzinic
About Jennifer Muzinic

The Sun Also Rises If ever there was a book that should radiate its own divine light, floating--a holy grail--above your library, you have found it. The Sun Also Rises. Hemingway's first masterpiece. It calls all good writers to listen and learn. You were born to write. Take up the book. Then take up your pen. You are inspired, alive.

How does one travel with Jake, our hero, without becoming friends with Hemingway first? You can--I did, at the tender age of 15 when I read the book because even then it stood out amongst the boring and dusty classics my Lit teacher offered to loan us. But you will enjoy it most when you know the legends and fables of the man behind the novel, Hemingway himself. When do we learn these fables? The mystery behind one of the world's greatest authors--like Van Gogh and his ear, we've absorbed through time, knowing without knowing. Hemingway is a triumph of artistry--a writer unchallenged, adventurer, hunter, drinker, and the inheritance of the genetics that induce middle aged shotgun swallowing, ailing generations of Hemingways to come (if they survive). I don't recall exactly when I turned from just passing through our American culture to Hemingway fanatic, but my prelude is enough to get you by, if you didn't know the basics to begin with.

Jake IS Hemingway, to the degree that all heroes turn out to be the author themselves. Yet he is more, and increasingly, less, than the man we are desperately trying to understand. Hemingway's words sing truth to our souls. To know the man behind the words is to know--yourself. It is the impossible with a whisper of the attainable. Understand? I didn't think so.

Well then, just join the party, and take it from there. You'll start out in Paris, drinking a glass of red wine in a smoky cafe with poets and artists of soon-to-be fame. For now, you are all equals--starving, striving, but living the glamorous life in spite of it all. Dinner and drinks--and more drinks--are accompanied by the lively chatter of characters that seem to have it all (except your insider, Jake, has told you the gossip and the reality behind the smoke and mirrors).

Travel to Spain, run with the bulls and pass flasks of dark wine amongst your cronies. See and experience the beauty of the bullfight--the tradition and mastery behind the matador. Sigh as your crush becomes entangled in the greatness of the romance of another city, a bygone era. You know it is not meant to be, not for you.

The simple and beautiful sentences string together to create a novel of excitement and wistfulness. This is a novel that defined a generation--the lost generation. If Kerouac and the Beats took over the fifties and labeled themselves, Hemingway blazed the trail for them to follow behind. There are only two great generations of authors in our modern times. Come meet the first.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: The Sun Also Rises

Copyright © by Jennifer Muzinic, 2002

Reviewed by Jennifer Muzinic:
-- Hell's Angels (A Strange & Terrible Saga) - by Hunter S. Thompson
-- Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats - by Pitcairn & Pitcairn
-- White Oleander - by Janet Fitch
-- notes of a dirty old man - by Charles Bukowski
-- The Jungle Book - by Rudyard Kipling
-- Many Lives, Many Masters - by Brian L. Weiss, M.D.
-- Jitterbug Perfume - by Tom Robbins
-- The Sun Also Rises - by Ernest Hemingway









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