The Perfect Follow Up:: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Summary::
Jake Barnes is in love with Lady Brett Ashley, as are all of his friends. Jake, more an observer than contender for Brett's love, narrates the journeythat he and his expatriate friends make from Paris, France to Pamploma, Spain to watch the bull fights. The novel tells of both the hijinks and the horrors that occur when several men are in love with the same woman.

Review::
I find it hard to review classics- how am I supposed to review something written by someone almost a hundred years ago and with so much influence? I guess I'll try! I think that reading classics are so much fun because there is so much stuff out there to support your reading- from Sparknotes to critical essays- so that you make sure you get the most of your experience (so take advantage of cool resources, even if you are reading the classics not for school). I'm working really hard to try to start reading classics outside of my English major classes.

I really liked Hemingway's style of writing. I'd never read anything by him before and I found his writing really digestible. If you want to start reading classics on your own, Hemingway is a great place to start. His writing is so clear- you never get lost or can't understand what is happening. I always felt like he took you to the places he wrote about. When Jake was in Paris, it really felt like you were there, which a lot of authors can't do well. His dialogue is really dynamic too. It really jumps off the page, which makes it quick to read.

Plotwise- I really enjoyed reading if after finishing The Paris Wife. He wrote it during the time when McLain's book takes place, so it is easy to see the correlation between real events and the events of the book. At first it was hard to tell the difference between all of Jake's friends, but by the end, I felt like I knew they all pretty well. I'm not very keen on bullfighting at all, so I got bored/disgusted during the bull fighting scenes. Despite this, the scenes of dialogues and the dynamic relationships that were shown in the book made up for it.

Perfect if you loved:: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (he helped Hemingway edit this), The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (it was the perfect follow up), generally anything taking place during the 1920's in Europe

No Ratings for Classics :)