Posted by Ritch on August 11, 2002, at 13:45:31
In reply to Re: The Sun also Rises my book report, posted by susan C on August 8, 2002, at 10:18:48
> I was very impatient reading The Sun Also Rises. It took a great deal of restraint to not just put it down. I kept at it, finally, I began to feel I knew who was who and not be totally lost in the dialog. Then I lost my way with the french and the 1920's cultural language. Eventually, I skipped to the end to find out what happened, and I realized not much time had elapsed. None of the characters had 'developed' as far as I could see. In addition, it hit me that they were all drunks. I know Hemmingway was an alcoholic, but that is about it. I have not studied, nor read any of his work since High School when I read the Old Man and the Sea. This observation prompted me to count the number of pages where there was at least one reference to 'go get a drink', 'drunk', 'wine', 'bar', you get the idea. I found every third page or so, on average, contained references to alcoholic consumption. The first part of the book, had multiple references on every page. Another part of this observation, is I reacted to this book in the same way I react to movies from the forties and fifties, and, perhaps the sixties (The Rat Pack) where the entire movie consists of people smoking cigarettes and drinking, clink clink. I turned it off.
> I think this was a horrible story, poorly written to stand the test of time and I look forward to the next book we pick.
>
> Perhaps, now having written all this, I am predjudiced myself, prefering and identifying with novels written within the time frame I have lived.
>
> Now, a question for you: Is it coinsidence that we read this author during the month of his birthday, the Key West contest to find the annual Hemmingway look a like and noticing TV ads for Feline Pine? This ad is set in Hemmingway's home with decendants of not Hemmingway, but 60 generations of his cats.....
>
> a strained mouse
>Hi, Susan-
I finished it yesterday. There *is* a lot of drinking in there. But, it was like a vacation cruise. Certainly more interesting than the travel channel! He writes chronologically. He starts at the beginning and just walks you through the whole story in sequence-no flipping back and forth in time. It is very objective-the narration is descriptive, stark, plain, and simple. The mental pictures evoked by reading are very Mediterrannean-high contrast, bright stucco, breezy, dry, and hot. Very aesthetically low-tech, like a good photographer who was careful to keep the telephone poles out of a photograph. The whole story could have been done with half a book. He seemed impatient and almost decidedly simple, like he (the author)was himself impatient with setting the stage for the story in the first half of the book. What makes it good is the FORM that he conveys the story in. One thing that I noticed.. I don't think Hemingway got inside anybody's *head* with the narration, with the exception of Jake (and that was limited). He just *showed* you what they *did*, he doesn't make you privy to much of their thoughts, only what they SAY. When he does get into Jake's head (Jake's thoughts), it *is* fairly interesting:
.."Perhaps as you went along you did learn something. I did not care what it was all about. All I wanted to know was how to live in it. Maybe if you found out how to live in it you learned from that what it was all about."
.."Enjoying living was learning to get your money's worth and knowing when you had it."
"It's like a wonderful nightmare." (the fiesta-*life*?)
And then finally what Brett says towards the end:
"You know it makes one feel rather good deciding not to be a bitch. It is sort of what we have instead of God."Wow, a little stark, but interesting, nevertheless.
Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:548
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20020616/msgs/598.html