Was not expecting to enjoy this novel as much as I did... having been living with the impression that Hemingway leaves the difficulty of writing to the readers and claims it is literary under his 'ice-berg theory'. In The Sun Also Rises, we have a good travel piece coupled with modernist themes. As a travel piece, it is excellent in the descriptions of the Spanish countryside and the San Fermin festival. Of course, what is more important is how all this is better related to our characters, the expatriates affected by World War I and the loss of innocence/trust/naivete that that entails. In particular, the bull fights and how the various parts relate to World War I or to the various characters is interesting. They take on the form of organic symbols, or rather, they are not the same for each character. It's that sort of adaptable symbolism that makes for a deep novel.

Now, The Sun Also Rises is a modernist novel and has to be understood as such. Without that understanding, the significance of conversation or Jake's emasculation are lost. It has to be understood within the context of a 'lost generation' (which Hemingway makes clear when he opens the book with a quote from Gertrude Stein). It is also very much a product of its time, what with Robert Cohn being capable of being interpreted as a sinister Jew. It's actually not that simple, but with people who are not use to reading older works where latent racism/ racial insensitivity lie, it might be a turn-off and a reason for people to judge the book and Hemingway as being anti-Semitic. I do not know about Hemingway, but when the main character throwing out 'Jew' as an insult is a metaphorically impotent drunk, I do not think the message is anti-Semitic. This is actually an example of the 'ice-berg theory' where the character is not hostile to Cohn because he's a Jew, but because he had an affair with his fiancee. And when you're angry at someone, you tend to bring to bear any insult you may have at your disposal, no matter how politically incorrect or insensitive they may be.

Overall, an enjoyable novel, but the context needs to be understood in order to get more out of it than a good piece of travel writing.