The Sun Also Rises

By: Ernest Hemingway

Narrated by: Nathan Osgood

“You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.”

Set in the aftermath of World War I, The Sun Also Rises follows a group of young expatriates as they drift through Paris and Spain in search of meaning, love, and escape. At the heart of the story are Jake Barnes, a journalist and war veteran grappling with physical and emotional wounds, and Lady Brett Ashley, an independent Englishwoman exploring the opportunities afforded by a new era of liberated women and sexual freedom. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the disillusioned Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain in an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love and vanishing illusions.

Published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises was Hemingways first major novel and the one that established his authorial voice and gave voice to the “Lost Generation”—those scarred by World War I and adrift in a modern world that felt morally and spiritually bankrupt.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist renowned for his econimical, understated prose, adventurous lifestyle and outspoken public image. He began his career as a reporter and published a number of short stories before gaining fame with novels such as The Sun Also Rises (1926) and A Farewell to Arms (1929), and his experiences during the Spanish Civil War informed the best-selling For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, and some of his seven novels, six short-story collections and two non-fiction works have become classics of American literature.

Public Domain (P)2022 SNR Audio

The narrators pauses should give you pause

This was my intro to Hemingway. I expected a lot of drinking and internal monologue. I was right on the drinking.

It’s a story. Not a particularly interesting story, but a fairly well written one. Characters are well defined, you really know them. Too bad they never really do anything. But in a way, that’s the charm. It isn’t a story about someone that is saving the world; it is a story about everyday people doing everyday things.

The real issue with this title is the narrator. He insists on using a…dramatic pause before completing many sentences. I realized it’s almost after every “a” but not exclusively then. “He took a drink from a…leather wine bottle.” “They left the hotel and decided to dine at a…cafe nearby.” I really got tired of it with about an hour left, and managed to get to the finish line. But I will avoid anything read by Nathan Osgood in the future.

Maybe interesting for a high school student, but…

Clearly NOT one of the classics of English literature. It could have been written by a high school student plot was redundant and predictable. Character development was mediocre. Message was little more significant Dan, “drink too much and your life will be worthless.”

Great Hemingway Novel

One of Hemingways best. You really feel immersed in Paris and Spain. Pretty decent narration.

My Favourite Hemingway Novel

A modern classic. The prose is spoken so clearly, in that now famous Hemingway manner - "Isn't it pretty to think so." The narrator voices the characters incredibly well. The clarity of each remark makes this a perfectly listenable audible. Highly recommended, even if you know the book by heart.

Loved the reader!

This rendition was very good. The reader has a naturally brusk voice that fit an American of the era, and he did well bringing the characters to life. I really enjoyed his inflection.