So I just finished the novel by Hemingway. Can’t decide what I think.

On one hand, I hate it for being so incredibly self indulgent. Every character, setting, and plot point is rediculously full of itself. Yes, I do realise you want me to think bullfighting is exiting and honourable. No, you don’t need to stuff it down my throat. Lady Ashley’s personality left me wanting to scream at her.

It seems like Hemingway wanted to glorify the situation he found himself in at the time, but it doesn’t need glorification, or at least the way he went about it. I have to agree with the critics of his time: His style is abrasive and leaves the reader wanting more. The amazingly compelling scene of post-WWI Europe is simplified to a bunch of lazy unlikable drunks whining about how bored they are.

That doesn’t make for a likable read, and Hemingway’s “Plain Style” doesn’t do anything to brighten the it. His laundry lists of cafés, clubs, hotels, and country towns only serve to make the characters seem more active than they really are. The sparse descriptions of the scenery make the bland character interactions that much less believable.

Not to say the book has nothing to say. If you we’re to take it literally, the book is just as lost as the generation it claims to represent. While it may be a fine example of the author’s mindset, it doesn’t make a good read.