Originally posted by AgentL It's a good book, a good approachable example of modernism from 20th-century writers. I highly recommend Hemingway if you find you like some of the tone/style. He is of course unique and so is F Scott Fitzgerald, but it's interesting to broaden your intake of what are roughly the same era and worldview. Hemingway's short story collections are an excellent investment.
I've read a a few pieces by Hemingway, and thought that they were SUPER easy reads. I was kind of baffled as to how simple they were. Prior to reading Hemingway, I was really put off by the classics written by Dickens. Though GREAT stories, the way it was written made it almost impossible to flip the page. Case in point, I've tried reading Tale of Two Cities on NUMEROUS occasions. Yet, I just cant seem to get past the first 15 pages. Why? Partly because Mr. Dickens would go at GREAT lengths describing the color red, but 4 pages later, refusing to actually call it 'red' and anything other than that. I mean, I am paraphrasing here, but humor me a bit. Would you rather:
"the scarf you were wearing was red"
or
"imagine you are walking down a cold winter patch of land that is covered in soot, dirt, water, and all horrid things imaginable. The smell above is vile. You were wearing a gray jacket, and a black hat. Because its so windy, you try to protect yourself with a scarf. Now, the color of the scar is rather interesting as its a very unique color. To describe the color, imagine if, on a sunny day you are reading a paper, New York Times, and the wind catches the edge of the news paper, and neatly slices the tip of your finger via a paper cut. You stare at it, and ponder, what would come out of it? Has it pierced the skin? You play with it, and eventually you feel a warm gush of liquid oozing from your skin. That color...yeah, that is not the color of your scarf. It is, but only darker. Howe much darker? Lets look at a plum fruit. Its pretty dark, right?....."
*sigh....
one day, i will be brave enough to read through it.
but i'm glad to hear that F Scott Fitzgerald's work is closely similar to Hemingway rather than Dickens
(mind you, i dont mind Shakespeare one bit. Dickens, I just cant seem to get around. Though my library does look more impressive as his books are very picturesque to look at)