These days I have been doing just that. Reading old Hemingway books. Right now, it's"The Sun Also Rises", a book I last read when I was a freshman in college. I didn't remember much about it, except that I had always thought the closing line of was the greatest of any book ever. The most heartbreaking one.
But I wanted to read it again. The story of American and British expatriates in Paris in the 1920's. The post WWI generation, the "lost generation". Their loves, their regrets, their vanishing illusions. As an 18 year old I found their lives interesting, but their problems and personal issues were a world away. After all, what are vanishing illusions or unrealized love for an average 18 year old?
Then suddenly you read this book at my age and it hits you harder. There are lines in the book that hit close to home. Suddenly these are not people a world away, but people you may know, you see their thoughts and actions reflected on your thoughts and you understand them better. The characters in the book are all full of flaws, but now instead of judging them, you forgive them.
And suddenly while re-reading it, you start really appreciating the simple and amazing Hemingway prose. And then there's that final line. Six words that say more about life and regrets that complete books or a hundred poems.
"Isn't it pretty to think so?"
Yes, it is.
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