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The Sun Also Rises

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The Sun Also Rises

By: Ernest Hemingway, Colm Toibin
Narrated by: William Hurt
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About this listen

Originally published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises is Ernest Hemingway’s first novel and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style.​

A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway’s most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. In his first great literary masterpiece, Hemingway portrays an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions.

©1926 Charles Scribner's Sons. Copyright renewed 1954 Ernest Hemingway. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form (P)2006 Simon and Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon and Schuster Audio Division, Simon and Schuster, Inc. Classics France

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Critic reviews

2007 Audie Award Finalist for Classics

"An absorbing, beautifully and tenderly absurd, heart-breaking narrative....It is a truly gripping story, told in lean, hard athletic prose...magnificent." (The New York Times)

“The ideal companion for troubled times: equal parts Continental escape and serious grappling with the question of what it means to be, and feel, lost.” (The Wall Street Journal)
All stars
Most relevant  
Wonderful and sparse, and full of longing and love for place and people. An excellent performance by William Hurt.

Excellent

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accents awful. emotion misjudged entirely. bizarre delivery by dipsomaniac narrator with no understanding of the english idiom.

terrible narration

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I like Hemingway’s style. Some snobs will call it simplistic but it works and, if you compare it with the writing in some modern best sellers, it is actually a great style.
If you want to learn about bullfights from someone who loved them, this is a great book. I have miss feelings about bullfights. I used to hate them but I’m starting to see why someone like Hemingway liked them. It also paints a fantastic picture of the Spanish landscape.
Over all I do not regret purchasing this book although if I have to pick only one book by the author I’d go for For Whom The Bell Tolls.

Great book but not the best Hemingway

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I love being immersed in Hemingway’s world, and feeling part of the Lost Generation.

However, the book lost 1 star due to William Hurt’s awful Scottish accent which seemed to morph from vaguely Scottish, to Welsh, to Russian.

The Lost Generation

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Thougherly enjoyed this adaptation. I was especially impressed with the narrators repertoire of accents, which seems to be an issue in some other reviews, but not for me. I felt like I was transported back to the 1920s and really got a feel for the characters.

Sad for it to come to an end

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The painful fall of a war-struck generation that has lost its path to the future, which really looks like our deprived, disorientated young generation.
Jake and Brett's true love is breathtaking.

William Hurt is superb

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I'm a Hemingway newbie, so this was a try-out for me. His writing style is engaging, although it's too staccato to call it "prose" and takes a bit of getting used to. The plot and themes are interesting, but it's difficult to relate to any of the characters, who are uniformly unpleasant and narcissistic, with their life revolving around alcohol and self-indulgent excess. Having just watched the TV series about Hemingway, it's very obvious where the novel's obsession with random violence and self-destructive amorality comes from, making it seem almost autobiographical. The narration is very patchy and makes for hard listening at times. While the tone certainly captures the detached cynicism of the text, there are too many places where it doesn't flow well and most sentences finish with an annoying upbeat. The attempts at British and European accents are truly awful.

Story OK, narration unreliable

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Hemingway has always delighted and offended in equal measure but whatever your view from the perspective of 2017 the man could write and this is a great book by any measure.
File under 'essential reading'.

Still Great

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I long for a time when such things, and such people, are possible...sadly I feel that I missed it, and them.

I long for a time...

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Littered with bizarre accents and odd intonation from William Hurt.
The stand out is Hurt’s ‘Mike Campbell’.
A worldwide accent roller coaster stopping in Ireland, India and North America but almost never in Scotland.
Book review - Paris annoying, Spain better. Can anyone really drink that much?

My ears Hurt

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