To be quite honest, I didn't know what to expect with The Sun Also Rises. The most exposure I've ever gotten to any of Hemingway's work was answering middle school Scholastic Bowl questions (if they mentioned "Hemingway" in the question, the answer was always "Old Man and the Sea", and vice versa). Following the enjoyable yet plotless The Mezzanine and Mrs. Dalloway, which contained plot but wasn't a book I really enjoyed reading (with the exception of Septimus's story and his influence), I was hoping for something that would be enjoyable, and have a plot which I could actually follow.
Three chapters into The Sun Also Rises, it seems like my hopes may come true. Then again, I liked As I Lay Dying and that turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments ever (frickin' Anse...only 2016 kids will get this). The novel has a character cast which is interesting, though I don't necessarily like them. Jacob has kinda come off as a douche so far, between his anti-Semitism, his homophobia, and the way in which he put down Cohn's idea of a trip to South America (sure, you may not think it's practical or worth the money, but just because "you can see all the South Americans you want in Paris" [17] doesn't mean it's the same deal...nor is his other reason that he could just go to Spain. I saw his responses, along with his thoughts on Cohn at the time, as shallow and condescending. I'm sympathetic towards Cohn, who's seemed to have been pretty successful with a couple hiccups along the way, who seemingly gets belittled by Jake every chance he gets.
Chapter 3 is also interesting with the dinner scene with the prostitute (whatever her name may be...Georgette or Hobin? more confusion, and we're barely through two chapters!), which shows us a rather odd side to Jake. Typically, from what I've seen/read/heard on prostitutes, they're typically not just rent-a-dinner-dates. I don't really know what to make of it. Jake doesn't even seem to be very interested in Georgette/Hobin, stifling conversation by claiming to be sick and having been injured in the war.Throw in his hatred towards the gay patrons, who "always made him angry", and he just keeps on looking worse and worse in my eyes. He just seems to hate or dislike everything...has there been anything which Jake has liked? I can't really think of one off of the top of my head.
So while so far the main character has not really come off as well-liked by myself (or by many others from the early classroom discussion we had), I think The Sun Also Rises has the potential to be a really good read. It's kept me captivated with some sense of a plot that is longer than an escalator ride, which is a good start. I wonder what'll happen from here on out!
