after i read this for the second time just recently i decided that this is my favorite hemingway book. i just read in a memoir by him titled a moveable feast that when he sat down to write he tried to get one true sentence and build from that. it seems this book is nothing but true sentences, i can definatley see the infulence he had on writer's such as bukowski and kerouac when reading this one. its written in a similar simple but beautiful style that keroauc and bukowski both often employed. in my opiniion the sun also rises is a damn near flawless work of art.

Hemingway's strongest novel, this story follows Jake through his ambitions and frustrations with Cohn, Bill, Mike and the love of his loveless life Brett. Jake, an expatriate, traveling through France to Pamplona Spain, is a veteran still fighting his own feelings of inadequacy after an injury has left him impotent. Jake travels with his punching bag, Cohn, a jewish man who had recently published a novel and left his wife. Cohn, who spends his life looking for people to tell him how to spend his life, follows Jake as a symbol of manhood. Ironic, as Jake is figuratively castrated. They are joined by Bill, another author whom Jake respects more, even though his alcoholism makes him more of a burden than a companion. Bill takes an immediate dislike to Cohn as he notices Cohn's attitude towards Brett. Previously, Brett and Cohn had been sexually intimate. Cohn misinterpreted this as love and thought it was lasting. However Brett, being the most powerful character of the quintet cannot love a man she can dominate. Mike, Brett's fiance, uses Cohn's religion as a mocking point several times which brings up the argument of anti-semitism in the book. Many critics believe that the root of the characters' dislike for Cohn has nothing to do with his religion, however they constantly use anti-semitic terms to insult him. The tension culminates at the bullfight as Jake betrays a trust given him by Montoya (an innkeeper Jake respected highly) when he sets up Brett with Romero (a rising bullfighter based on the real life hero Pedro Romero from Spanish history). Brett leaves Romero eventually, as she can't be with a man other than Jake, but she can't be with Jake. The last scene sums up the book. Brett and Jake are alone speaking when she says "It would have been beautiful if we could have made a go of it." And Jake turns to her and says "It's pretty to think that way." OUCH!

And yet another great book from America's best literature writer. Story of news paperman Barnes in paris with a unique and terrible disability. The lives and loves of the characters is ingrossing and entertaining.