The romance also rises

Over the past few years I have been trying to fill in some gaps in my reading. For example, I checked out a few contemporary Japanese writers, I read some children's classics traditionally considered to be aimed at girls and I have even ventured into the world of romance novels.

Specifically, I am thinking of  'An American Marriage' by Tayari Jones, 'People We Meet on Vacation' by Emily Henry, 'Still Me' by Jojo Moyes, 'Beautiful World, Where Are You' by Sally Rooney, 'Tell Me Everything' by Elizabeth Strout, 'We Were Liars' by E. Lockhart, 'Tom Lake' by Ann Patchett, and 'Thank You For Listening' by Julia Whelan.

Imagine my surprise when, very recently, I revisited The Sun Also Rises and found it to a great read, yes, but also to be rather like a romance novel in many ways. It is so close to following the basic form of romance novel that I wonder if a reader more expert in this area than I would be comfortable calling it a romance novel.

There are some aspects of the novel which are not pure romance; for one thing, the story is told from the guy's point of view. But if you are a fan of romance novels but wished that the male reluctance to parse relationship distinctions were more on display and better explained, then you might find this an interesting variation.

I am not sure that I am in a great position to make this claim, so I am going to put it out there and see what people think: is The Sun Also Rises a romance? If you are a fan of the romance genre and have read The Sun Also Rises, I would love to hear from you: leave a comment on this post and let me know what you think.

-----------------

Brendan Hemingway

Executive Vice President & Secretary

Hemingway, LTD