Rating: 
Summary: Dated, Dusty and Getting Rusty
Review: When S.A.R. first came out in the 1920's, a review of the day said that Hemmingway's prose,"...put conventional English to shame." Well, that was then, this is now. The more I read it the more I wanted it to end. Is it entirely possible that in the American myths about Papa's alcohol soaked hunting and fishing trips, we've elevated the work because we wanted to like it as we seem to like the man? Hemmigway is the perinneal 'Uncle That We All Wanted', but a much better and true account of the Lost Generation authors in Paris is A Moveable Feast, please read it before reading 'Sun...'.
Rating: 
Summary: Vivid and fresh, for an "oldie but goodie"...
Review: I was surprised when I read a fellow reviewer's missive when he referred to Hemingway's "lean, adjective-free style". I was surprised because the images from this book seemed so unbelievably vivid...but that person is exactly right. His prose doesn't tell you anymore than you need to know, but somehow tells you everything. It's kinda weird, actually.
You can read the exemplary summations for yourself, but I thought I could smell the dust during the bullfights while reading the last half. A plot summary of this tome may seem slight, but I don't think that was the point. It's clearly the telling of the story, not the story itself, to which people respond.
I love the fact that so many readers interpreted things from the book in so many different ways...yet all with equal enthusiasm and zeal. That phenomenon should tell you more than someone simply giving a "great review." This is a relatively short book that can (and should) be read slowly, to savor every line. It will drop you perfectly in the midst of post WWI Spain. I look forward to the rest of the Hemingway canon, which I have yet to experience. This is a temporary situation.
Rating: 
Summary: Hemigway is great... but not here.
Review: Hemingway is a fantastic writer, however his plotting leaves much to be desired in this story of an impotent (in more ways than one) man who drifts through life as though he has no purpose.
I absolutely hate the end of the book, where Brett tells him that if he wasn't impotent "we could've had a hell of a good time." I do mark the book as 3 stars however, because Hemingway's use of language is so powerful. The plot is absolutely useless.
Rating: 
Summary: Required educational reading for a good reason
Review: Something that Hemingway argued was the fact that the English language is insufficient in fully describing ideas and events. In his style, what is not said is just as important as what is said. His sentences are purposely short and require deep thought to fully realize the conceptual themes. ... This book IS taught for a reason.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely AWFUL
Review: I read this book for an English class, expecting it to be the masterpiece it's cracked up to be. I was unpleasantly surprised. This book is not only TERRIBLY written, it is boring beyond words. Hemingway's writing style could easily be surpassed by a seven year old. Descriptions like "she was really pretty" just don't cut it in the world of top writers.
Rating:
Summary: A Different Kind of Story
Review: I read this book and it made me fatasize about knowing the wonderful mind it's words were written from. I absolutley feel in love with Hemingway's style and work. I felt as if he were "talking" to me. The book is written in such a way that it makes you feel as if you are sitting in front of this interresting young man hearing of his day. It made me want to read more of his works and to read more of his life. I only wish the world were small enough for Hemingway's in our day in time.
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: Having spent the past summer in Spain, Made me appreicate the book even more.
Rating:
Summary: The Sun Also Rises . . . . is the real deal.
Review: It would be difficult (if not unbelievable) to claim one is a student of the American novel and not have read Hemingway. And then . . . .read him again. I think there are more enjoyable books. Social maladies and the concept of being "lost" neither began nor ended in the post World War I era. Lost generations do seem to follow a war. The Civil War for example produced enormous social discontent, and certainly the foolishness called Vietnam produced a generation of, if not lost, hopelessly confused men and women. (Have you seen some of our pictures from 1969?) So while he was drawn to post war Paris, that venue for the odd mix of abusive characters may become irrelevant, knowing what we know now. Having said that, I think that there are two reasons we treat Hemingway with awe. You ever try to write like him? I mean it's a simple paragraph. Staccato thinking. Bang bang bang. Economy of prose. Tightness of verbiage. Compression of thought. Read the extraordinary sentences of him in the Cathedral. Or fly fishing in Spain. Simple, or so it appears. But then try to replicate it. It's nearly impossible. The other point is Hemingway's disguised repetition. He tells us something. Then in a different city, with different characters, forty pages later, he tells us the same thing. Ecclesiastes tells us on page one what the story is about, everything changes, only to repeat itself: "unto the place from [where] the rivers come . . . .they return again." I feel every character speaks for every character. Mike's bankruptcy represents all of their bankruptcy, financial and otherwise; Jake's frustrations are all of their frustrations; Brett's promiscuity not only speaks to all of them, she needs all of them. John Donne's line about the bell tolling for all of us rings true. A brilliant, brilliant book. You may not care for the story but you can't escape Hemingway.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book
Review: Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises was an excellent novel. Hemingway's style is poetic while still being austere enough to convey his serious messages about life and the behavioral patterns of all men. This is a book that you cannot read halfway. You truly do not get the full meaning of the novel until you read the entire thing. But as much as I liked this book, this is not Hemingway's best work. A Farewell to Arms, I believe, was much better. I must recommend A Farewell to Arms to anyone who desires to read Ernest but hasn't read any of his material before. If you have read Hemingway before, or at least have some knowledge about his life and writing style, buy this book now. E-mail me for any other questions about novels and the sort; I like being helpful about that kind of stuff.
Rating:
Summary: i was a Hemingway virgin
Review: "The Sun Also Rises" was apparently Hemingway's "breakthrough" novel, and for that I'm glad it's the first of his novels I decided to read. Hemingway uses a stripped-down, bare-bones approach when it comes to writing prose, and has a firm bite on the concept of less is more. Most of "The Sun Also Rises" is written in such a way as to eliminate background information on the characters, leaving the reader to discern what is important and what is not by reading between the lines. This book is touted as an examination of the "Lost Generation" of post WWI individuals. If "lost generation" means directionless, alienated, drunken miscreants, then Hemingway hits the nail right on the head. These characters are unlikable drunken slobs who exist for nothing more than to wander around and drink themselves stupid. We follow the lives of Jake, a writer of some sort who is mostly blue collar yet pals around with the "social elite". Brett is the rich lush who seems to sleep around with every chap she meets at one point or another. We also have Mike, Brett's supposed fiancé, and Cohn, the pathetic hanger-on. Every male character is in love with Brett on some level or another, probably because she behaves exactly like you'd expect a man would: drinks like a fish and likes it fast and loose. The story is very vague and muddled at times, although this was probably done on purpose. It wouldn't do to tell a story about directionless people and proceed to have them acting purposefully, now would it? The characters do little more than go on vacation to Spain to fish, watch the bullfights, and visit every damn bar in the country. Of course, aside from the fishing and bullfighting, visiting bars is what they do while not on vacation as well. It matters little what the players do, however, since it is their moody interactions with each other that sets the tone for the bulk of the novel. I'm not completely sold on this novel being a masterpiece as many have claimed. While it gave me a nice challenge to read, "The Sun Also Rises" also has ugly characters behaving in ugly ways. As much as the gritty delivery kept my attention, I found myself waiting for a flash of insight regarding the characters lifestyle choices or the world they live in that never came. There is nothing likeable about the goings on here, and for that I have to reduce my rating. The novel would rate 5 stars if I were ranking on style alone. Hemingway's economy of words makes him one of the most studied writers in history. Although "The Sun Also Rises" is a relatively short novel, there are many conclusions to draw from it and a great deal of insight can be forthcoming should you choose to study it like many other readers have over the years.
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