Poignant, wistful, evocative
Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Book on Amazon | My review on Amazon
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed July 17, 2009
A beautiful book which I wouldn’t mind reading again and again. The backdrops to this story – Paris and Spain are beautifully and evocatively described. Not that I am much of a bull-fight fan. To the contrary. But Hemingway’s descriptions fit in the context, and make even someone who is against such barbaric pastimes like the book.
There is a scene of Jake and his friend Bill fishing in a river in a village in Spain, leaving their bottles of wine in the cool stream for chilling. The way it’s described makes me wish I was there (not fishing though!).
I saw a few of the 1-star reviews here – most of them dislike the book because “nothing happens”, “the characters lack morals and hence the book lack morals”, “the characters are 2-dimensional” (I vehemently disagree with this last). I guess if you disagree with the moral standpoint (or lack thereof) of the book, then it’s difficult to like the book.. this book is not for you if you believe in “one set of morals fit all”.
Yes, the book does describe a desultory lifestyle in which nothing much happens… but the poignancy of the unrequited love between Brett and Jake is palpable (I’m a sucker for love stories, though not necessarily tragic ones). He makes you like or hate the characters as he chooses – which is the whole point of a fiction writer, no?
The descriptions of the bull-fights almost make you feel like you are right there watching. Don’t read this book if those sort of gory details are disagreeable to you!
If you are willing to suspend moral judgements, and read for the sake of immersing yourself in a different time and space, and sort of go with the flow, then this book is highly recommended.
