Set in the mid-1920s, the story deals with the 'lost generation' of American and British expatriates who have settled in Paris to live in a moral wasteland of drunkenness and promiscuity. Centering on the relationship between its narrator, Jake Barnes, an American journalist rendered sexually impotent by a wound suffered during World War I, and Lady Brett Ashley, the queen of the pleasure-seekers, it explores with great pathos the anguish and inadequacy of love when robbed of its physical expression, and of the latter in the absence of an emotional attachment. In true Hemingway style, drinking, fishing and the bull-fight provide the framework. Yet its crowning glory is perhaps the strength of Hemingway's vivid narrative technique which draws the reader into every scene, and induces an almost personal bond with each of the brilliantly crafted characters. Warmth literally permeates the novel, despite the various calamities of its principal actors, and those privileged to have experienced it shall surely be devouring Hemingway's works for years to come.
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