Post #5 - The Sun Also Rises

I have only gotten to Chapter 12, page 106, which is about half way through the book since my last post. The book continues with the lives of these various writers, journalists, artists, and nobility in Paris during the 1920's. The narrator, Jacob Barnes, is in love with a woman named Brett, who is divorcing an English noble, marrying a Scott, having some sort of affair with Robert Cohn (the failed Jewish writer), and spends much of her time with a lively old count. Book One is mainly about the social life of the above characters in Paris. Book Two follows the fishing trip made to Spain by Jacob, Robert, and another American author friend of Jacob named Bill; Brett and her fiancé Michael will meet them in Spain. Jacob and Bill both do not like Robert very much because they find him to be awful, Jacob is also jealous of whatever relationship Robert might possibly have with Brett. By Chapter 12, Jacob and Bill have just arrived at the village where they will actually fish.

Hemingway's writing is so distinctive. Everything is so simple yet detailed. Everything is chronological, as he writes out many of the characters actions. There is also a lot of emphasis on location in The Sun Also Rises. All of the streets are named and precise details of where the characters go and what the places look like is provided. In both books I have read so far, the narrator is also one of the main characters. So not only are the events being witnessed thoroughly described, but the narrators thoughts as well. The characters themselves are also similar. They are both single and very observant of all their surroundings, including the land (or previously ocean), people (or in Old Man the animals), and objects. Both characters also seem to have a simple outlook on life, taking each day as it comes without much anxiety or ambition. Much of the writing is on in depth descriptions of the narrator's surroundings. Basically everything is very concise, as almost all of the sentences are shorter than ten words, it is journalistic in nature because of Hemingway's experiences as a journalist.