The Sun Also Rises

Based largely on Ernest Hemingway’s own experiences in Europe in the early 1920s, The Sun Also Rises is the story of a group of young American and British expatriates as they pursue decadent and unfulfilled lives in postwar Paris and Pamplona. As a full-length novel, the book doesn’t quite work; its characters are too allegorical, the narrative is complex and contradictory, and the book is too often a series of disjointed set pieces rather than a cohesive story. But its best scenes are small masterpieces, and ones that explore deep themes of courage, honor, and authenticity — the same qualities that Hemingway so passionately tried to find in his own life.