Having read one of Ernest Hemingway's books before, I immediately noticed the same diction and style in one of his most famous books, The Sun Also Rises. 20% into the book (according to Kindle fire), I am enjoying this story and its characters.
The story evolves around a group of Americans living in France. My favorite character at the moment, who is the narrator, is Jake Barnes. He is a writer like the other characters (Cohn and Frances).
These characters, especially Jake, express dissatisfaction with their lives. Robert Cohn is in an unaffectionate and unhappy relationship with Frances. Frances desires to marry as soon as possible, while Robert feels there is large void in his life that could not be filled by marrying someone like Frances. Then there is Brett who Jake is in love with.
Unlike the other characters who openly express their sorrows, I think Jake locks his pain within his tight emotional realms. During World War I, he had a major wound that restricts him even now from making love to Brett Ashley, whom he is in love with. The two are very very much in love with one another, but Brett refuses to be in a relationship due to the fact that he is "impaired" (which I think is a ridiculous reason). Like Cohn, she also feels this void in her life. But unlike the former, she knows that Jake would have been the one to fill that sorrowful hiatus.
As Jake drives the storyline with his narration, he rarely speaks out his emotion to the audience. When he does communicate his emotions, it's usually in the form of extreme sadness, anger, or frustration, and his emotional expression is usually never direct. The audience has to infer from his responses to other characters or from his actions when he is alone or with others. I'm eager to find out how his story will end. I hope he has a happy ending.
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