A 20th century masterpiece!

Hemingway is a really intriguing author, which is evident even in his early work "The Sun Also Rises."

What I especially like about Hemingway is his writing style. It is so simple, and he uses so many short sentences, yet at the same time, each word seems to be important. It makes reading this novel especially enjoyable.

"The Sun Also Rises" is a valuable examination of the lives and personalities of American ex-patriates, post-WWI. Each character is coming to grips, in his or her own way, with war-time experiences, and they all seem to possess a devil-may-care attitude...maybe war does that to you, with death being so close at hand..."eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die."

I found the character of Brett especially intriguing (as do many readers of this novel.) Brett is a female, by the way, the only significant female in the novel, and really the star of the show. She is very liberated for her time, embracing the flapper lifestyle. She drinks a lot, has many affairs, and has all of the men in the novel wrapped around her finger. She's definitely not the meek little Victorian woman around before WWI.!

I also loved the part of the book, where the characters take a trip to Spain to see the bullfights. I loved the description of the setting and the atmosphere of it. It was simple, yet vivid.

This book is a good introduction to Hemingway, especially since it is a very early work of his. His style is appealing and enjoyable...he was definitely one of the most gifted American writers we had.