Book Review: Fiesta by Ernest Hemmingway

If you are expecting a romance-filled book of a guy with unrequited love, forget about Fiesta. You can't find it here and you can't find it in Hemmingway. He doesn't give tear-jerking stories or amorous lines. He writes real conversations, without much reflections on the part of the characters. Just plain and simple, everyday thoughts of his characters, Jake in this particular book.

Fiesta tells of France and Spain (in that order) and how Americans tried to live up the European lifestyle. Fiesta (which was also released with the title The Sun Also Rise) is my first Hemmingway and I have never read anything like it.

Everything about the book revolves around the theme Fiesta which might not be so familiar in the western or European environment except of course in Spain or other Mexican territories where such celebrations is an annual expectation.
A Background on Fiesta

I grew up in a country dominated by the Spanish for 300 years so Fiesta is also part of our culture, though not as big or as extended as the one in San Fermin in Spain and without the bulls as well. We celebrate Fiesta as part of the Catholic religion's pageantry, commemorating the patron saints of barangays (little villages) or towns all over the country. The celebration lasts for a whole weekend, including the besperas (day before), the main day and the day after. It's a time for people to drink, visit each other, cook the most delicious food and have a non-stop merrymaking. Big part of Philippine fiestas are the processions and a mass hell in the morning signals everything to start. There would singing contests, beauty pageants, games and the Hermana or Hermano who will prepare a grand feast in his/her house and the towns folks are all invited to eat for free.

The spirit of Fiesta is really all about being gay, enjoying the good food, alcohol and being around your friends and families. It's a very Spanish tradition, hiding behind the facade of religion.

In Spain, the biggest fiesta is held in San Fermin, the breeding ground for fighting bulls. You must have heard or read it in the media, where young bulls are released in the streets while people tries to get in their way, exposing themselves to danger.


The Story

Jake the editor is inlove with Lady Brett Ashley, who is engaged to Mike (a bankrupt) who loathes Robert Cohn (the Jew writer) who is also inlove with Brett. All of them are living in France. One day, Jake and Cohn decided to go fishing in Spain before the fiesta in San Fermin. Bill, the American writer also came along. He is Jake's bestfriend.

When the appropriated time came, Brett and Mike was stranded in San Sebastian, and Robert followed them there while Bill and Jake proceeded to the fishing in Irati River. When they finally joined each other in the fiesta in San Ferming, everything got a little "tight" between Robert and Mike while the fickle Brett run off yet again with the sexy torero Pedro Romero.

The story was open ended, its finished simultaneously with the fiesta. Everyone went back to their normal lives while Jake and Brett saw each other in Madrid.
My Thoughts

Fiesta is just a period in Jake's life and everybody has this time in their lives, where you let loose and enjoy life to the extent and then smile when youremember them years after. But there were no elaborately dramatic confessions of love for Brett. Just outbursts like "to hell with you Lady Brett Ashley". The story flow was very "manly" *for lack of appropriate terms, the mindset is of and by a man.

Nonetheless, I love the story to bits. Unlike in Eat, Pray, Love of Elizabeth Gilbert, where the author used much superlatives to describe the setting, Hemmingway doesn't need that much words to be effective in his storytelling. His straight to the point approach to writing is brilliant to avoid dull moments in the story and make them exciting. The term simple best described Hemmingway and this book.

But what makes it a good tale without much grandeur in thoughts compared the writing of say, Coelho or Poe or Marquez, and with no real conflict or climax, an element that would make a book exciting?

I guess, its the setting, the aristocratic France in the 20's, the quit old town near the Irati River, the gaiety of the Spanish fiestas and how Hemmingway described them in simple terms that a normal person without a writing background or love for deep words would appreciate.

Although there are parts that I skipped because I don't think that is still necessary in the story. The book is not perfect as there are moments that the reader will feel totally alienated to what Hemmingway is talking about. A little knowledge on Spain, drinking and a little history is needed to fully appreciate this book. And of course, an open mind.

Quotable Quotes

Here are some of my underlined sentences. I started marking in the middle of the book because it's borrowed. But I hope he wouldn't mind that I return it with orange and pink marks on it.

"There is no reason why because it;s dark, you should look at things differently from when it is light. The hell there isn't"

"Women made such swell friends. Awfully swell. In the first place, you have to be in love with a woman to have a basis of friendship"

"Enjoying living was learning to get your money's worth and knowing when you had it"

"That was morality, things that made you disgusted afterwards. No, that must be immorality. That was a large statement"

"I'm damned bad for religious atmosphere. Ive had the wrong type of face"

"If you want people to like you, you only need a little money"

"Im ot going to be one of these bitches that ruins children" - Brett on affair with Pedro Romero. *he was 19 years old.

*Photo above was part of a bull fight that I saw last time I was in Madrid. I didnt stay till the end. I was disgusted by the whole thing. Will blog about it.

I was also a week late for the San Fermin fiesta. Had I know, I would have come earlier to better relate with Hemmingway. But there's always the next.