I really enjoyed reading about Bill and Jake's trip to Burguete, Spain to fly fish. Hiking and fishing on a river all day in the mountains was one of the things that I did on my spring break in Colorado--minus the excessive amounts of alcohol. Cohn decides to back out of the fishing trip to go meet Brett and Mike in San Sebastian, then accompany them to Pamplona for the running of the bulls. Cohn has had a romantic weekend getaway with Brett before they all left in San Sebastian. Once again Brett has slept around with another man while being engaged. 
     After the fishing trip comes to a close everyone finally meets up in Pamplona, the main goal, for the fiesta and bull fights. Once again, Jake Barnes and his friends indulge in alcohol. Way too much alcohol. This dysfunctional group of adults drowns the problems they have with each other by being drunk pretty much all the time. Despite one drunken fight so far between Mike and Robert Cohn. Mike finally is addressing the issue that Cohn slept with his fiancee, and not only is Mike mad at Cohn, but everyone seems to not like him. Surprisingly the first character that I was introduced to now is gone as Cohn finally picks up on the hatred that is directed towards him and decides to leave the fiesta. 
     The fiesta carries on without Cohn and the party continues to drown themselves in alcohol. The bull fights are attended and the highlight of them is the 19 year old prodigy Pedro Romero, who catches the eyes of everyone especially Lady Ashley. The characters in this book just seem to care about nothing at all. They just worry about having a good time as the throw money away like it's nothing even though they are all pretty much broke. Hemingway wrote the perfect novel about the "Lost Generation." Every character is disillusioned after the first world war and the way they deal with it is by spending money on alcohol to drown their problems in.
      Really I'm surprised I haven't gotten bored with this book yet due to the fact that nothing has really happened. They wake up and eat, then begin drinking, then go to the bull fights, then drink more, and why they're doing this the whole time they're still drinking. Yet, I am still engrossed in this story, perhaps just to see if anything will ever really happen. 
Nick Kolettis
4/10/2012 03:52:15 am

Jacob, I am sorry that you were so upset with this book as you read it as it does sound like a somewhat dull and uninteresting book. The other thing I found interesting is how you noticed the constant drinking of alcohol and throwing away of money to that specifically and the bull fights.

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Lauren LaBaumbard
4/10/2012 09:10:37 am

This story seems like it would be hard getting into because the plot is not going anywhere, however, that can make it interesting too. The drinking seems to be a major part of their lives, so maybe it will be a major part of the plot. Also, it appears that the characters may begin to resent one another because no one is honest with each other.

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