My first taste of Hemingway and, honestly, i really have no idea what all the hype is about.

The Sun Also Rises is nothing but rich-alcoholics-get-bored-with-Paris-so-go-off-to-a-fiesta-in-Spain-for-a-week-to-get-drunk-there-instead.

They mostly do nothing but drink alcohol of various types and expenses of which Hemingway will inform you like any decent, decadent, wealthy alcoholic would.   They eat when they get hungry, sleep when they feel they need to and watch a few bull fights; about which, Hemingway is rather keen to portray to the world that the local Spanish know him to be an “officianado”, and that everyone must accept that it’s the height of art and wonder to brutalise animals for the entertainment of drunks.

Oh, and there’s lots of pathetic drunken arguments with pathetic drunken people arguing about other drunken people, or about people who won’t get drunk with them — with a good dose of antisemitism thrown in, which was only necessary if Hemingway was eager to portray his antisemitic credentials to the world as it brought absolutely nothing whatsoever to the actual story.

Blah, blah, blah…

…mostly, it’s all just typical drunken alcoholic boring twaddle written down through the haze of a hangover the next morning.

And now i can’t be bothered to write another word about Hemingway ever again, and i certainly won’t be reading any of his other books.   I gave him a chance and he failed miserably — but failing miserably is what alcoholics do best.

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