“‘Oh, Jake,’ Brett said, ‘we could have had such a damned good time together.’
Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Isn’t it pretty to think so?’”
-The Sun Also Rises, p 251
I think this is a rather fitting end to The Sun Also Rises. As far as endings go, it was not a particularly exciting ending. It was not overly poetic, nor was it completely pointless. Yet that basically sums up the entire novel. The novel was not overly exciting or poetic; to be honest, I did not like the novel at all. If all of Hemingway’s books are similar to this one, I fail to grasp the reason why Hemingway is considered so great of a writer.
Yet despite this, The Sun Also Rises did have its merits. The struggle between Cohn and Brett was well developed, even if all of the development occurred within a fifty-page section. The setting and depiction of France and Spain were well-detailed and quite accurate. Overall, it seemed that Hemingway was writing a story that quite possibly could have been based on events of his own life. His own life just was not very interesting. Because of the lack of interesting material, the story as a whole suffered immensely.
Not a fan of the book, but the ending made the entire novel worth it. I loved the ending because I feel like Jake was like, yeah well it's nice to think we could have been together but we're not.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I didn't really like the book, but I have to admit the ending was pretty clever.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know exactly how you know the descriptions of France and Spain are accurate.
ReplyDeleteWell, I've been wrong befo...wait, I'm never wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think eeeeeverybody quoted that part =]. I guess it was the point of the book, pretty much. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"
ReplyDeleteMeh. I guess the audience can relate to having pretty things to think. We like to deceive ourselves, I guess...? I don't know what I'm talking about.
I don't think that an author has to have interesting topic material to write about to have a well-written, interesting novel. What I think you really object to is his perpetual dryness.
ReplyDeleteI think the only way an author can have a well-written, interesting novel without interesting topic material is if he wrote in an interesting or at least entertaining manner. Hemingway's manner, however, is rather bland, noncommittal, and simple. Not a good combination.
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