As other reviewers have suggested, the Laments are aptly named. Tragedy visits the family frequently, but it is less of a jolt to the readers than it might be, thanks to Hagen's light touch.

It may be that Hagen's subjects evoke more sympathy for their disasters since the source of their troubles is typically not a personal defect or weakness, but the collusion of external racism, greed, callous speculation, or misinformation. Watch for one character in particular to shed naivete late in the book, and finally break down the last barrier to a more hopeful future.

My favourite quote from the book: "The things that happened could only have happened during a fiesta. Everything became quite unreal finally and it seemed as though nothing could have any consequences. It seemed out of place to think of consequences during the fiesta." Hemingway's description of the fiesta is euphoric. Maybe that's what euphoria is all about - feeling as if consequences have no place. To be high. I've felt this way on just a handful of (sober) occasions: Burning Man, scuba diving for the first time, fly fishing when the river comes alive with fish taking. These are the experiences I long for but so rarely experience.

Great book. I haven't read any Hemingway in years. His writing is so crisp and deliberate yet at times flows so beautifully and effortlessly. His description of the scenery during Jake and Bill's fly fishing trip is especially memorable.

Not that I expected a Hemingway novel to be cheerful, but I found this book to be more depressing than his other stories I've read. At least in the Spanish Civil War or World War II, there was a purpose to the sadness. In this one, there's just the floating and emptiness of people who don't have to work, don't have to be anywhere, and have nowhere to go. They spend their time drinking and partying and sleeping with one another. The connections they form are superficial and they do nothing productive. Their lack of focus is what made the book so depressing. As all his books are, beautiful and depressing.

A brilliant masterpiece of impotence, masculinity, femininity, the great war, and everything else we literature people like to talk about. All the characters are tragic in their own way and the vibrant backgrounds they move against are perfect for a story about expatriates and bull fighting (very loosely and superficially of course).

the only hemingway i actually like