Hot take: our club reading 'The Great Gatsby' and 'The Sun Also Rises' back to back showed a clear winner

Our group read both books this spring, and everyone seemed to love the glamour of Gatsby. But for me, Hemingway's book was far better. Gatsby feels like watching a pretty show, but the people in it don't feel real to me. In 'The Sun Also Rises', the talk between Jake and his friends, especially the parts in Pamplona, felt honest and raw. You get the hurt and the tired feeling after the war without it being said straight out. Fitzgerald tells you how people feel, but Hemingway makes you feel it by what they do and don't say. After two meetings on each book, I was the only one who argued this point. Has anyone else had a book club pick where you were the lone voice for the less flashy choice?

3 comments

3 Comments

iris_ellis22d ago

Exactly, that's the whole thing. Gatsby is all about the shiny surface, but the people in Sun Also Rises feel like they have real weight to them. They're messed up and tired in a way that sticks with you. Fitzgerald writes a beautiful sentence, but Hemingway builds a whole mood with the spaces between the words. It's the difference between being told a party was sad and actually feeling the quiet in the room after everyone leaves. I'll take that honest ache over glitter any day.

jakep2422d ago

My old professor said Hemingway's iceberg theory makes you work for the meaning.

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noahclark1h ago

Wait, isn't that kind of the point though? @jakep24, your professor is right that you work for it, but I always felt like the meaning isn't hidden like a puzzle. It's more like the feeling is so heavy it can't be said straight out. The quiet in the room iris mentioned, that's it. Hemingway trusts you to feel the weight of what's not said, not to solve for a secret message. Fitzgerald tells you the dream is broken, but Hemingway makes you sit in the broken pieces without telling you what they are. That's why it sticks.