I read this book years ago, in high school, and didn’t understand it much at all. It’s a sad, gentle story, despite all the tough dressing. I like what Virginia Woolf said about Hemingway, that he has “moments of bare and nervous beauty.” Occasionally the façade of guardedness and craftsmanship is split in two, and a simple, elegant beauty peers out through the split. It can’t stand being seen & it soon enough retreats, but its shy, vulnerable face is unforgettable. ( )

Read it while I was hiking in Spain, which made the experience extra cool. I remember liking his writing style but not enjoying the characters very much. ( )

I received this Authorized edition in exchange for an honest review. I had never read the book before however I have read The Old Man and the Sea and it is a classic, so I thought I'd give it a try.
This book was not for me. I felt it was trite in many ways. First of all, they drank a lot. And I mean A LOT. Everything revolved around how many bottles of wine they could drink and the way in which they could drink it. (Steal someone's wine bag and empty it before giving it back or keeping it chilled in a spring while fishing.) This book is a story of unrequited love, and although I realized that, I just wanted to shout Jake, leave her, she's never going to give in!
But I received this book because of the edition. I'll talk about that. For the most part, I liked the size of the book. It's small enough so my arthritic hands could hold it and I did not have to read while sitting at a table. ( )

Wow. This was disappointing. Essentially plot free with flat uninteresting characters. Even the bullfights were second-hand and two-dimensional. But guess it help generate the contemporary/literary fiction genre. Known for his sparse language it was surprising how often taxis are paid. ( )

Pretty good novel about bullfighting, romance, etc. in Spain, etc. ( )