"The Sun Also Rises” was published in 1926 and at that time its author, Ernest Hemingway, received dubious feedback on his creation. Today it is considered to be one of the best novels created by Hemingway and an outstanding representative of modernist literature.

The book is centered on a trip of a group of expatriates, one of them is Jake Barnes, who travel to Spain for the festival. The Paris right after the First World War, where they reside, gets into them with its selfish inclination to live for yourself and receive as much as possible sensual pleasure out of life. So the group parties hard, drinks a lot and doesn’t hold their emotions.

They don't care about people, they don’t care about things, they don’t care about God. The alcohol makes them forget about the absurdity of the world around them and love constitutes the cure. But is it a cure or a temporary measure?

Among them is a beautiful lady Brett Ashley, who is just as frivolous and unpredictable as she is pretty. She captures a lot of hearts and breaks almost all of them. She seems to have feelings for Jake, but is engaged to another wealthy drunkard, yet runs away on a holiday with Cohn.  

Typically for the author, there are just as many things left unspoken as there are lines in the text. We never truly find out the reason why Jake and Brett can’t be together, but this is the decision the couple arrives at together with the reader.

The novel is full of partying, drinking, love affairs and drama. It is written in a typical Hemingway style, yet there’s less of hopelessness in “The Sun Also Rises” compared to his later works. It still has traces of hope, optimism, youth and thirst for life. The French streets, cheerful Spanish sun and a loud group of ambitious people create an atmosphere that must be discovered.

Author: Frank Frazier