Before anything, I'd like to say that even though this blog is written in English, I recommend you to do as I did and read the books I criticise in their original language (if you can). This way you'll like them much more and you'll find astute word games and double meanings which will help you read the book in all of its potential.

December 22, 2013

The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway

Criticism:

This book, of a style similar to the one of The Catcher in the Rye and of The Great Gatsby, is a prefectly written masterpiece. The reading of it is very dynamic, and it portrays wonderfully, with an abundance of physical, very easy to capture, feelings: when you read this book, the feelings seem real; the sounds, the smells, the colours... This liveliness helps to convey the great angst felt by
the main characters that symbolizes the angst and frustration that the Lost Generation felt at that time. The Lost Generation is a big theme in this novel, for the main characters belong to it. About this theme Hemingway defends that it wasn't completely lost.
The story is set in Spain, in Pamplona's San Fermin festivals; and the chaos of the parties helps illustrate another of the great themes in this novel, which is moral. It talks about corruption, about how easy it is to lose oneself- especially when one has no more motivation in life. Moreover, this book contains a really strong critic directed especially towards those who don't work, and mostly towards those who don't pay what they consume. On the other hand, it is a very interesting novel, because it portrays to perfection the way in which people act once they have decided that they will stop fighting, and at the same time how difficult it is to fight when the rest have already given up.
The rhythm of the reading is frenetic, crude and sometimes brusque. By contrast, there are other moments in which it is more relaxed. Nevertheless, the reading is very quick and entertaining. The characters are very profound and although the reader empathizes with them they made me nervous. They are the kind of characters the reader wants to punch to wake them up a little, and they make you nervous because, as you can't, you feel impotent. Not only because of that, when reading this novel one must have time to think it through and reflect a lot about it; mostly the proposed moral. I would recommend it to everyone with enough literary experience; but especially to those who like classics like The Great Gatsby.

Author's official webpage: Nonexistent

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